New Mexico’s child welfare agency is under fire following reports it took a 15-year-old foster boy to the U.S.-Mexico border, where he was told to cross alone and reunite with his mother.
The boy, whose name is not being published for privacy reasons, is a U.S. citizen and has a serious heart condition.
Separated from his biological parents, he had been cared for by relatives for nine years and said he wanted to stay in the U.S. rather than reunite with his mother, according to documents and people close to the situation.
The actions of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department have prompted an outcry from child advocates and state lawmakers, who argue CYFD overlooked safety and medical concerns for the boy in an effort to push forward its strategy of reuniting him with his mother, who recently was deported to Mexico.
“What it really felt like is that nobody at the leadership level would just take a step back and objectively look at this situation and think about what made sense in the moment,” said Brandie White, program director of Mesilla Valley CASA Inc., which provided court-appointed volunteer advocacy services for the boy.
“It just felt like they were trying to push so hard to be right and to do the thing that they had decided that they were going to do, no matter what,” White said in an interview.
CYFD spokesperson Jake Thompson defended the agency’s actions, saying it acted in the boy’s best interest and that under state law, the department had “no legal grounds to retain custody and keep him in foster care.”
“Nothing is more important to CYFD than ensuring vulnerable children are safe, protected from harm and have a chance to thrive, and the department kept that mission front and center as it sought to unite the 15-year-old boy with his birth mother in Mexico,” Thompson said in a statement. “CYFD acted in the best interests of the child to unite him with his legal guardian, his mother, who was requesting unification.”
Thompson said as of Monday, the agency had confirmed the boy was still living with his mother in Mexico.
History of abuse
The boy was hospitalized in May because of behavioral health issues. When he was discharged in June, however, no one was able to take him in. CYFD took him into state custody and placed him in a foster home, according a document provided to lawmakers by the Office of the Child Advocate, a new agency in the New Mexico Department of Justice designed to bring accountability to the troubled CYFD.
Thompson noted the boy had been living in an “informal guardianship” with a couple who, in early June, petitioned to have the arrangement dismissed. That effectively left the boy without a caretaker. CYFD intervened and placed him with a foster family.
The agency later found the boy’s mother and started the process of reuniting the two.
CYFD reportedly told the boy’s foster parents of its plans to release him back into the care of his mother, and the foster parents tried to intervene, the Office of the Child Advocate document states. It notes the mother had faced drug-related charges in December and was deported in June. But during a July 6 court hearing, a judge granted CYFD’s request to dismiss his case.
White said when the boy heard attorneys and the judge discussing a plan for him to live in Mexico, “he just broke down in tears in the courtroom, and so that was pretty tough.”
CYFD also reported it had no concerns about returning the boy to his mother and denied knowing about any struggles she had with substance use or with keeping her child safe, the document states.
Thompson said CYFD and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services assessed the mother, with the New Mexico agency conducting two virtual home visits with her, and both determined “the child’s safety was not at risk by returning him to his mother.”
The agency had fielded 14 prior allegations of abuse or neglect against the woman from 2017 to 2021, 12 of which were unsubstantiated and involved a different child in the family, Thompson said.
In the two cases that did involve the 15-year-old, CYFD substantiated an abuse or neglect allegation in November 2019, he said, adding the agency did not verify an allegation of emotional abuse the following February.
“CYFD referred the mother for in-home services, which she accepted from November 2019 to March 2020, and closed the case in March 2020 because the mother was assessed to be safe for placement,” Thompson said in a statement.
After the July 6 hearing, CYFD drove the boy to a bridge in El Paso to cross the border, where his mother was to meet him — though the agency had lost cellphone contact with her hours before, according to the Office of Child Advocate’s document.
Thompson, though, said the agency confirmed she was there and said a CYFD employee spoke to her over the phone.
The agency told the boy to cross, but did not accompany him, the document states. Thompson said CYFD has “no jurisdiction to escort a person across the international border.”
The boy started walking, but then immediately cut back into the U.S. and, ultimately, into the hands of Border Patrol agents.
They told CYFD they could not force the boy to go into Mexico, and CYFD left him with the federal agents, the document states.
Border Patrol agents drove the boy to a homeless shelter, where he stayed for more than 10 days, with CYFD refusing to pick him up, according to the document and a letter to the Governor’s Office by state Rep. Doreen Gallegos, D-Las Cruces.
The Office of Child Advocate’s timeline of the incident also notes the boy had just four pills for his medical condition when he was dropped off, though Thompson said CYFD delivered more medication to the boy in person. He added the boy “declined further engagement with CYFD.”
The morning of July 17, CYFD coordinated with Texas and the Mexican consulate to escort the boy across the border.
“I feel really disheartened that the state had an opportunity to make different choices, and nobody seems to want to just take a minute to look at the situation differently,” said White, the child advocate.
‘Easy way out’
State legislators have expressed outrage over the situation.
“Several lawmakers tried to intervene, suggesting that CYFD follow the clinical needs of the child, without avail,” Rep. Rebecca Dow, R-Truth or Consequences, said in an interview. “And in essence, CYFD deported an American citizen against their wishes.”
Gallegos, also the executive director of the court-appointed special advocate organization White is a part of, said CYFD “took the easy way out” rather than provide “what’s best for the child.”
“I think the way it was handled was terrible,” she said. “Instead of waiting and getting clear assessments, we pushed this kid on not only to Texas CPS, but we pushed him on to Mexico, where he didn’t know what his future was going to be.”
During a Legislative Finance Committee hearing Wednesday, Rep. Nathan Small, D-Las Cruces, the committee chair, questioned acting CYFD Cabinet Secretary Valerie Sandoval about the incident, asking if the child indeed wished to remain in New Mexico. Sandoval declined to answer.
Small said it was “abundantly clear at this point to me that this child should be in New Mexico.”
Sandoval responded, “Child safety is my number one priority, and as I mentioned, I attended many of these staffings. I also met many times with Texas CPS and their leadership, who is also heavily involved in this case.”
White lamented the situation the teenager was forced into, noting he is a “really sweet kid” who loves to read and was protective of other children living with him in his foster home. She said he had expressed an interest in seeking employment through Job Corps, a training program for economically disadvantaged young people.
“He was actively trying to plan for his own future. And those are not opportunities that he probably will have in Mexico,” White said.
