With overnight office stays now prohibited, advocates say foster youth spend all day in CYFD offices and leave each night to sleep on couches at youth homeless shelters
Child & Family Welfare
Posted inFeatured
Secret CYFD settlements, a rising trend, hit nearly $16M in fiscal year 2026
A lawsuit against New Mexico’s child welfare agency was recently settled for a staggering — but sealed — $10 million, according to a report.
Posted inFeatured
Youth homeless shelters shoulder burden for CYFD’s highest-needs kids
Following an executive order ending office stays for foster youth and an Attorney General investigation finding that the state is “warehousing” kids in group settings, the state is continuing to rely on shelters to house children.
Posted inFeatured
Gubernatorial candidates weigh in on CYFD reforms
Multiple candidates called for CYFD to be restructured, proposing to split the agency or relinquish control of it.
Posted inFeatured
AG report: CYFD fails to investigate abuse in congregate care facilities
A report issued Wednesday by the New Mexico Department of Justice outlines a litany of failures by the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department to protect children in foster care.
Posted inFeatured
New Mexico AG sues CYFD over ‘shroud of secrecy,’ refusal to disclose records
The state Department of Justice alleges CYFD wields state law in retaliating against critical foster parents and skirting accountability.
Posted inFeatured
‘Systematic moral failing’: Justice Department issues scathing report on CYFD
New Mexico’s child welfare agency is more interested in hiding its failures than protecting children, the state Justice Department wrote.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Read the New Mexico Department of Justice report on CYFD
Following a yearlong investigation, the New Mexico Department of Justice issued a 224-page report documenting the cases of at least 28 children involved with the state Children, Youth and Families Department, such as by being placed in foster homes and facilities or because their families were investigated amid allegations of brutal abuse or neglect. The […]
Posted inFeatured
Lawsuit: CYFD investigator crossed state — and ethical — lines to take custody of infant girl
The lawsuit alleges the investigator disregarded the parents’ demands to return their child before a court intervened.
Posted inFeatured
CYFD sets new annual targets for foster family recruitment
CYFD must recruit nearly 200 nonrelative foster homes and place hundreds of higher needs children in specialized care.