The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department has yet to release a public dashboard reporting various child welfare metrics, including the number of children who have died on the state’s watch, the number of abuse and neglect allegations made against parents and the number of children living in foster care or with relatives.
Lawmakers last year ordered the department to create the dashboard to better inform efforts to reform the state’s troubled child welfare system, but the legislation, Senate Bill 42, didn’t set a deadline.
“We are building the dashboard now and hope to have it go live in the first quarter of FY27,” department spokesperson Jake Thompson wrote in an email.
Thompson said the dashboard is being developed in-house, without an outside contractor.
“We remain committed to transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement in how data is shared with the public,” he wrote.
CYFD is required to produce an annual child welfare report compiling the same information, which it did earlier this year. The dashboard, which must be updated at least each fiscal quarter, is intended to provide lawmakers, advocates and the public with more recent numbers than the annual report.
SB 42 designates a deadline for the annual report but not for the online dashboard. Still, much of SB 42 went into effect in June 2025, indicating CYFD has been required to implement the dashboard for over nine months.
“We think the legislation calls for the dashboard to be completed as soon as possible and does not lay out a specific deadline,” Thompson wrote.
Two sponsors of SB 42 had mixed reactions over CYFD’s failure so far to publish the dashboard.
Rep. Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena, said the dashboard was an important component of informing the public on the state of New Mexico’s foster care system. She expressed disappointment the dashboard has not yet been created.
Armstrong, the House minority leader, said she plans to raise the issue with the governor or CYFD.
“People can’t get answers, and they can’t see the whole picture, and so this will give them enough information … about what’s going on,” she said. “And so that it’s not happening is, again, a failure on CYFD’s part.”
Sen. Michael Padilla, D-Albuquerque, said the dashboard is intended to provide as much sunshine on the foster care system as possible, arguing people’s ability to track that information is important to the state’s ability to help children.
But he also acknowledged it takes time to develop such tools and said he was willing to offer some grace to the department so it could roll out a complete product.
“At this stage, I don’t really care how long it takes them,” he said. “I do care, but I don’t care that they rush to get something out. I’d rather them get it right.”