Op-Ed: CYFD Reform Proposals Just Scratch the Surface
April 4, 2014
Op-Ed Submitted by Senator Michael Padilla (D-14-Bernalillo)
Santa Fe, NM — The governor’s sudden interest in resolving the service delivery issues plaguing the Children Youth and Families Department (CYFD) is encouraging. But, from personal experience, I can say that these issues have been going on in New Mexico homes for decades. My sisters, my brother and I grew up in foster homes, as well as the All Faiths Receiving Home when it was a residential facility for homeless children. We always said that if we could do anything to improve the services provided to children in this critical area, we would.
Last year, from April through December, I worked to find solutions to the various problems facing CYFD by meeting with various child and protective service advocacy groups, and held a large town hall style meeting on the subject in my district. In addition to the community, I invited the governor’s staff, including the CYFD cabinet secretary, and area protective services managers, unfortunately none showed up. Since the Governor’s staff didn’t show up, I had to go the route of legislation to obtain information. In doing so, I sponsored Senate Joint Memorial 3, which sought to obtain 27 different data points and other information related to child protective services, foster care, and adoption programs. The governor’s staff did show up to one of my legislative hearings to oppose the legislation, citing that the department would need $60,000 to gather the data, because it was not available. The department has reverted over $6 million in unused funding since the governor has been in office, and the lack of available data and information demonstrates that it is needed in order to better manage the department. With bipartisan support my legislation was the first piece of legislation that passed the New Mexico Senate during the session that just ended.
Following the legislative session I have continued to meet with stakeholders in this critical area, and have now been able to meet with the CYFD cabinet secretary and division managers. In a bipartisan fashion, we have agreed to work together to improve the services provided by CYFD. It was our agreement that the department would develop a complete list of obstacles that would improve services. Instead, in a sudden effort to demonstrate that her office was involved in this effort, the governor rolled out a set of initiatives for the department that do not even scratch the surface when it comes to improving service delivery. Major items missing in the governor’s plan include:
- Consistent administration of CYFD polices from county to county. As an example, service delivery from Bernalillo County is wildly different from that of Valencia county, as evidenced by almost 80 percent of the children living in Valencia County are on the CYFD watch list.
- Development of a solid plan to increase the number of certified foster homes. There are some homes with up to 12 foster children. Foster families that did not sign up to be emergency placement homes have been asked repeatedly to take emergency placements. With the reforms the governor rolled out will require at least four times as many foster homes than currently exist.
- Creation of a division within CYFD that works specifically with the courts. Ensuring that the legal issues related to a child’s safety and wellbeing are adjudicated immediately can help reduce the trauma the child experiences.
- Full design, development and implementation of a CYFD information and case management system. The system currently utilized at CYFD is outdated, not tied to other systems utilized across the state, and was never fully implemented. A system wide information and case management system will help the department monitor service interruptions, automatically prescribe treatment plans by client type, drive consistency in how the department reacts to various issues, and other benefits.
- Foster home support services. In some cases too many children are being placed in a single home, the costs associated with having a foster child can be enormous, and basic necessities needed for a child are sometimes not thought of until after the placement. CYFD should have a defined set of resources, both physical and informational, available for foster families.
- Adoptive family support services for wards of the state or abandoned children. Many families are willing to adopt wards of the state and abandoned children, they just need support services to help them through the legal requirements and support during the foster period, while they are awaiting completion of the adoption procedure.
- Behavioral health plans for all consumers of CYFD services. Addressing mental health issues in these cases can have a large effect on preventing recidivism.
- CYFD employee pay and benefits market analysis. A market analysis will ensure that CYFD pay and benefits are competitive in order to attract and retain staff.
- Employee retention planning. The department needs to provide ongoing training for an employee’s current position, cross training from division to division, and career paving for employees to demonstrate that they are an integral part of the department’s success.
Other items exist within CYFD and as a community we need to admit that we have a problem in this critical area. This department was created over 25 years ago with the absolute best of intentions, and it will take a long term approach to reforming it. The children of New Mexico that find themselves in this situation need us more than ever. I call on the governor and the legislature to work in a bipartisan fashion to resolve these problems.
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