The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department sent a number of payment documents belonging to families caring for foster children to the wrong addresses last month, leading to the accidental disclosure of names and other information of kids in state custody, the agency said Friday.
The department is still working to determine how many of the remittances were sent to incorrect addresses, spokesperson Jake Thompson wrote in an email, and in the meantime is reprinting the documents — which serve as records of payments for caring for foster children — and sending them back out.
“We take very seriously our responsibility to protect the privacy of all foster families and foster children,” Thompson wrote. “We sincerely apologize for the accidental error that may have inadvertently breached that confidentiality.”
He added the error was caused by a printer malfunction, leading to the remittances being incorrectly addressed.
Steve Dodson, a former foster parent who lives in Roswell, was one of the recipients of the erroneous documents.
He said in an interview he received the remittance, which was addressed to him on the outside, in mid-September. However, when he opened the letter, the document contained the names of three foster children and the adults caring for them who lived in Albuquerque.
The letter also contained the amounts paid to that family, he said.
Dodson said he was disappointed by the agency’s early response to the errors. In an email chain between a child welfare advocate and department officials provided to The New Mexican, CYFD sought to delineate between “sensitive” and “non-sensitive” personal identifying information, and argued that while it had sent out details that otherwise should not be disclosed, it did not leak sensitive ones, like Social Security numbers or bank account information.
“At the end of the day, I don’t think it’s a huge deal. I just think that the department certainly could have handled it better and provided a little bit more guidance — Even an ‘Oops, we screwed up, and here’s our suggestion on how to fix it,’ ” Dodson said. “It seems like something that they could have easily done, and instead they’re kind of acting like it didn’t happen.”
Thompson said “this was an accident, and we are relieved that more sensitive information wasn’t released.”
“Our commitment to protecting the privacy of those in our care, whether it’s to the media or on remittance letters, remains the same,” he wrote.
Esteban Candelaria is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. He covers child welfare and the state Children, Youth and Families Department. Learn more about Report for America at reportforamerica.org.
