Experts document CYFD’s dismal performance in 2024

The year 2024 saw dismal progress in reforming the state Children, Youth and Families Department, a new report concludes, with more children than ever housed in inappropriate places and almost half of new protective service hires quitting in their first year.

The number of child placements in CYFD offices around the state “exploded” from the prior year. The number more than doubled, from 322 in 2023 to 709 last year, according to the latest annual report from two national child welfare experts retained by the state.

Thirty-three percent of the children or youth had to stay in an office after leaving a foster care placement, and nearly a quarter landed there after being removed from their homes. Some 63 children moved directly from an acute hospital stay to a CYFD office in 2024.

For the first time since 2021, none of the office placement documents for those children showed the required approval of then-CYFD Secretary Teresa Casados, who resigned in September, or the agency’s Protective Services director, the report stated.

Though a new management team at the agency took over in September, the experts stated, “this report is about 2024, and the report reflects a state system in unyielding crisis that lost significant ground, with multiple examples throughout these pages of worsening performance and deteriorating experiences and outcomes for children.”

The annual assessment by Judith Meltzer, a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of Social Policy in Washington, D.C., and Kevin Ryan, of Public Analyst, based in Iselin, New Jersey, was derived from data and interviews with 92 foster parents, 120 CYFD staff and supervisors, and additional interviews when they visited several CYFD facilities.

The compliance report is required under a settlement reached by the state in 2020 in a federal civil rights lawsuit, dubbed Kevin S. for one of its plaintiffs, who was a foster child.

The experts concluded that for 2024, “the State’s performance was dismal and a discredit to the many staff, (foster) parents, and community partners who are committed to improving the experiences and futures of New Mexico’s children, youth and families.”

CYFD, in a statement from new Deputy Secretary Kathyleen Kunkel, said it didn’t dispute the findings.

“The report reflects a child welfare system that struggled significantly during calendar year 2024 and we take full responsibility. However, CYFD’s new experienced leadership team, which came on board beginning in September, has been laser-focused on tackling the areas of greatest need identified in the report. We are moving forward aggressively to achieve better results this year and next.”

Tara Ford, a lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the Kevin S. case, said the report’s findings, particularly documenting the children placed in offices, shows “the need for change could not be more dire. The State must directly reckon with the harsh realities impacting children in foster care.”

The report also noted:

• Fourteen percent of children in state custody in 2024 experienced a placement in an office or out-of-state facility, double the rate from 2023, affecting nearly 500% more children than in 2019.
• The rate of housing moves for children in state custody because of abuse or neglect was the worst since 2020.
• Staff turnover continued to be a problem, with 48% of those who quit in 2024 leaving in their first year.
• Though the number of foster homes, both nonrelative and relative, increased from 970 in 2023 to 1,067 in 2024, the highest number since 2021, the number of nonrelative foster homes fell from 675 in January 2021 to 500 in December 2024.

“And fueling much of this: an overworked CYFD staff, forced to carry unreasonable high caseloads, supervise children housed in unsuitable CYFD offices with inadequate or no training, and work mandatory overnight and weekend shifts because the agency failed to staff adequately for its 24/7 mission in 2024,” the report stated.

It added: “The state’s performance either remained stagnant with 2023, or in numerous instances important to children, worsened.”

Of the 708 office placements reviewed for 2024, for example, 39% of the children stayed six or more nights, up from 21% a year earlier.

“CYFD caseloads drive much of the poor performance,” the report states. “When caseloads are too high, workers are unable to engage with children and families, complete needed assessments, develop and monitor case plans, assess children’s safety, support efforts toward permanency, in addition to other responsibilities.”

New Mexico Child First Network Executive Director Maralyn Beck said on Friday, “This report should raise every alarm we have. Our kids, our families, our workers — they deserve dignity. They deserve action. It’s time to do better.”