Analysis: Dropout rate high for New Mexico's parent education program

SANTA FE — Home visiting programs for new parents in New Mexico are hampered by high dropout rates, and just 6% of the state’s children under 5 received the services in a recent one-year period, according to a legislative report issued Thursday.

The programs, however, show some signs of effectiveness at reducing child maltreatment, the report said, and enrollment is climbing.

The analysis comes as New Mexico turns increasingly to early childhood programs — including home visits designed to promote parenting skills — to help boost academic achievement and interrupt the cycle of poverty.

In a 61-page report, staff analysts for the Legislative Finance Committee said there’s evidence home visiting “likely reduces child maltreatment and improves parenting.”

But the benefit in New Mexico may be limited because so few parents complete the program. Only 11% of participating families finished their home visiting program in the 2022 fiscal year, the LFC report said.

Elizabeth Groginsky, the state’s Cabinet secretary for early childhood education and care, told lawmakers Thursday the agency is working to boost retention of families and limit turnover in the home visiting workforce.

Higher pay and strong professional development are part of the strategy, she said, for building a strong home visiting program.

“These findings are sobering,” Groginsky said of the LFC report.

But she also pointed to signs of success. The number of families with newborns enrolled in the program jumped 53% in a recent six-year period, according to the report.

The analysis also found evidence home visiting programs can help families, though the results vary based on what specific service is used. Analysts estimated the Nurse Family Partnership — a program that sends nurses to visit moms from pregnancy through the child’s second birthday — can reduce child maltreatment by 5%.

“The outcomes are very promising,” Groginsky said.

In New Mexico, legislative analysts said, families enrolled in a home visiting program had child maltreatment rates of less than half the state average. But the staff also noted the sample may be biased if families who opt in to home visits are already less likely to engage in child maltreatment.

And the Nurse Family Partnership — a program with strong outcomes — made up only 10% of the state’s home visiting slots.

The state, in any case, is pouring money into the home visiting program. Funding for home visiting tripled over the last six years, reaching almost $43 million in fiscal 2022.

Over that same period, the share of children under age 5 in a home visiting program climbed from 3% of the population to 6%.

Under home visiting programs, a trained professional visits a family with a newborn and tries to build a healthy, non-judgmental relationship with the parents, Groginsky said. They are required to report any danger to the child.

Home visitors can educate parents about promoting healthy brain development in children, and they can connect the families to child care or other services.

State Rep. Tara Lujan, D-Santa Fe, said it’s a delicate job where staff turnover can result in a family leaving the program.

“This is not an easy task, building trust,” she said.

Just 11% of New Mexico families completed the home visiting program, according to the LFC report, well below national averages that hover around 50%.

Legislative analysts said completion rates hit a nine-year low in fiscal 2022.

Home visiting is free to families in New Mexico expecting a child or with a child under 5. The programs vary in length and intensity.

In Thursday’s hearing, lawmakers expressed interest in the programs’ potential to prevent child abuse. In fiscal 2021, New Mexico’s child maltreatment rate was 14.9 per 1,000, well above the national rate of 8.4.

“Every possible avenue we have to increase home visiting we have to explore,” said state Rep. Nathan Small, a Las Cruces Democrat and vice chairman of the Legislative Finance Committee.