The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department takes thousands of abused and traumatized children into its custody every year.
Meanwhile, the beleaguered agency is also tasked with management of the state’s juvenile justice system and oversees the custody of scores more kids in secure facilities.
Is it too much for one department to handle?
Lawmakers and law enforcement officials in recent months have pitched the idea of splitting CYFD into two distinct state agencies: one to manage child protective services and another to oversee juvenile justice. The pitch has come amid growing concerns of systemic issues at CYFD and calls for it to be structurally reimagined.
“CYFD’s breadth of responsibility (spanning child protection, juvenile justice, and behavioral health) is one factor that has made effective leadership extraordinarily difficult,” New Mexico Department of Justice spokesperson Lauren Rodriguez wrote in an email. “… No secretary has ever brought expertise across all three domains.”
CYFD spokesperson Jake Thompson said in a statement the agency would “consider any proposal that would provide successful intensive rehabilitation for youth in the juvenile justice system while holding them accountable for their actions.”
Transferring those services and programs out of CYFD would require deliberate planning, he added, but the department “would welcome the opportunity to collaborate with legislators and stakeholders to further develop this initiative or any other that maximizes positive outcomes for these young people.”
‘Diffusion of mission’
The idea of splitting the agency in two surfaced this year in the wake of a yearlong investigation by the state Department of Justice uncovering a number of systemic failures by CYFD to adequately serve children in its care.
As lawmakers and law enforcement officials pitched the idea of splitting CYFD, public figures also returned to a separate idea that has been proposed unsuccessfully a number of times in recent legislative sessions: removing the agency from the governor’s control and placing governance under an independent commission or similar panel.
Supporters argue it would provide stability to a long-troubled agency and divorce it from the political leanings of the governor. Critics argue direct involvement from the state’s top executive is crucial to reforming child welfare systems.
Those suggesting CYFD should be divided have focused on the argument that doing so could create a more streamlined child welfare agency.
Such a move isn’t unprecedented — the Legislature in 2019 approved legislation establishing the Early Childhood Education and Care Department, shifting another set of responsibilities away from CYFD. The new agency launched in 2020 and is now overseeing an expansion of its free childcare and preschool program, extending eligibility to all New Mexico families regardless of income.
Rodriguez noted the Justice Department’s investigation revealed the broad responsibilities of CYFD have contributed to ineffective leadership.
Former employees consulted in the probe said the department “should be restructured to focus solely on child protective services to enable more targeted leadership and operational accountability,” she added.
“The core finding is that no single leader can be expected to be expert across child welfare, juvenile justice, and behavioral health simultaneously, and that diffusion of mission has enabled accountability to slip through the cracks,” Rodriguez wrote. “The recommendation to separate these functions is aimed at allowing the agency’s leadership — and its organizational culture — to center exclusively on child safety.”
‘Outlived its usefulness’
Some 3,098 children entered or exited CYFD’s custody at some point last year as part of its child protective services duties, according to the agency’s public data dashboard. Meanwhile, the average daily population of adolescents in CYFD’s two youth detention facilities was 80 in fiscal year 2024 — the most recent year data was publicly available.
Among those suggesting juvenile justice services be transferred from CYFD into a new agency was House Speaker Javier Martínez.
The Albuquerque Democrat has long advocated for CYFD to be placed under the control of an independent commission. In April he also specifically highlighted the inefficiency of placing the onus of both juvenile justice and child protective services on one state agency.
“The truth of the matter is, the agency has long outlived its usefulness, quite frankly,” Martínez said. “The fact that we have the same agency dealing with foster children also dealing with criminal justice is insane, and that has to change.”
In a statement last week, however, he appeared less committed to the idea, writing, “As we prepare for the next legislative session and a new administration, House Democrats are looking at a wide range of ways we can re-envision and rebuild our child welfare system to better protect our kids.”
He added, “That includes continuing to make necessary reforms to improve transparency, accountability, and oversight, as well as considering significant structural changes.”
Juvenile justice successes
Thompson touted the agency’s current successes in juvenile justice programs, with staff having a “very low turnover” rate.
CYFD also has a strong record for providing education to young people in detention, with 58 earning high school diplomas or GED certificates this year — making up a graduation rate of 86%, which is four times better than the national average for comparable programs, Thompson wrote.
He added “disrupting the current structure would need careful collaborative study and implementation to ensure services do not lag for the youth involved.”
Thompson wrote lawmakers considering a proposal to split CYFD might consider how to ensure collaboration between departments could continue for youth involved in both systems, how to expand behavioral and mental health treatment for involved youth, and how to continue services for youth on probation.
What governor hopefuls say
Candidates to become New Mexico’s next governor have echoed the Justice Department’s and others’ arguments CYFD has too many responsibilities, and have said splitting the agency in two could be an effective way to streamline the child welfare system.
However, they stopped short of fully committing to the idea.
Former Congresswoman and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the Democratic nominee for governor, has expressed strong support for the idea of giving up gubernatorial control of CYFD and moving governance under an independent commission.
She also argued putting juvenile justice and child protection duties under one roof, while also managing understaffing, “puts children at risk.”
Splitting the department, Haaland wrote in a statement, “could be a path that is compatible with my end goal of creating an independent commission that provides the consistency our kids need.”
“Our kids deserve an agency that has consistent leadership. These two ideas will work together and will build a stable environment within the agency,” she wrote.
Republican candidate and former Rio Rancho Mayor Gregg Hull also argued in an email CYFD is “being asked to do too much, and the breadth of that mission may be contributing to the failures we keep seeing.”
However, he said he would need to study how CYFD’s broad mission could contribute directly to its most urgent problems, including high caseworker turnover and “uneven placement decisions” for foster children.
“My starting position is that structural changes must follow a clear diagnosis, not a reorganization for its own sake,” he wrote. “… Sometimes a split creates coordination gaps that end up hurting the kids who fall between both systems.”
Hull added, “What I can commit to is this: if the evidence points to a split as the most effective path to protecting children, I will pursue it.”
