In a few short months, New Mexico will have a new governor — and with it, a new team leading its child welfare system.
And one of the biggest concerns for everyone involved in a landmark settlement agreement designed to reform that troubled system is that the state’s progress will stall.
In preparation for a new administration, the state and plaintiffs of the Kevin S. lawsuit on Wednesday inked a new plan and obligations that will span 2027 and reach into 2028 to help continue New Mexico’s progress and to set realistic goals it was otherwise unlikely to satisfy. The deal establishes new targets for recruiting foster families and easing the heavy workloads of front-line caseworkers and works to improve the experiences and services provided to children in the state’s care.
“We intend to leave the incoming administration with clear priorities, reliable data, established systems, and a solid foundation on which this work can continue,” state Children, Youth and Families Department acting Cabinet Secretary Valerie Sandoval said during a virtual hearing. “The safety and well-being of children cannot depend on election cycles or changes in leadership. This work must endure.”
Plaintiffs in the case, who have long pushed the state to make good on its commitments in the Kevin S. settlement agreement, acknowledged the state has made progress but said it still had a long way to go. They said the new deal would help ensure continuity when a new governor takes over.
“Unfortunately, children in the state’s custody remain in harm’s way, and the state remains accountable for remedying the situation,” attorney Kayla Jankowski said. “This accountability must not only survive the upcoming changes in political leadership, but must be emphasized during this period.”
“This order was negotiated with the upcoming change in administrations in mind, which poses a real risk to the continuity of reforms affecting the state’s most vulnerable children,” Jankowski added. “As such, progress the state has made and has agreed to make in the next several months must not be undermined by contrary new initiatives or a decision to start over from scratch.”
Some progress
Wednesday’s agreement marks the fourth remedial order in the arbitration of the Kevin S. lawsuit, which was originally filed in 2018 by more than a dozen foster children and ultimately yielded a settlement agreement requiring reform of the state’s foster care system.
After years of stagnation, plaintiffs in 2024 argued the state was failing to make good on its reform commitments and started a lengthy arbitration process aimed at bringing it into compliance. That resulted in two orders handed down by arbitrator Charles Peifer last year largely siding with the plaintiffs and requiring New Mexico to make progress on targets in several key areas.
Then, Peifer signed off on another order earlier this year that represented a deal between the state and plaintiffs finding the state had largely satisfied those orders and laying out requirements to reach new and outstanding targets.
The state has made strong progress over the last year, officials argued, including in completing all mandatory health checks of children entering state custody on time and enrolling 63 children in its Foster Care+ program, which is designed to equip families with the training and resources they need to care for children who need greater care and supervision. The state has an annual target of serving 100 kids in that program.
The plaintiffs also acknowledged that CYFD met its midyear target of recruiting 40% of its annual goal of nonrelative foster homes — this year, the agency is supposed to recruit 180 — and implemented a data dashboard that can track caseloads and improve outcomes for its workforce.
More work ahead
However, the state is also struggling to meet obligations by the end of 2026.
For example, Kevin Ryan, one of the field experts tasked with tracking the state’s progress in the case, said it was “highly unlikely” CYFD would fulfill its obligation to ease the workloads of front-line caseworkers for the year. Jankowski noted that at last count, just 30% or so of workers had caseloads within acceptable standards. The state’s goal for the year is to push that number to 90%.
Ryan said the new agreement had targets due several months into the tenure of the incoming administration, which “feels realistic.” The state is required to ensure at least half of all its workers have acceptable workloads by March 31, 2027.
“I think the state has a lot of work to do. This has to continue to be the focus,” Ryan said.
CYFD must also meet interim targets by that date, including recruiting at least 30% of its 2027 annual goal for nonrelative foster homes.
The new deal covers a range of other obligations. They include expanding the state’s use of intensive case management and home-based services, decreasing by at least 15% the number of days children spend in residential treatment centers in 2027, working with treatment foster care providers to expand access and developing new policies for how to deal with critical incidents involving children in state custody.
Plaintiffs wrote in a news release that the state reached only 19% of its target this year to make 116 placements in treatment foster care from January through May. They added the state must define and track critical incidents more clearly and argued CYFD’s current policy “still needs to address psychotropic medication oversight, 911 calls, seclusion, restraint, and suicide attempts.”
Sandoval acknowledged more needs to be done and reiterated a previous commitment that she and her team are “not slowing down” in the final months of their tenure.
“We are not here to minimize those challenges, excuse the shortcomings, or suggest that our work is complete. It is not,” she said. “We are here, however, to demonstrate that CYFD has confronted these issues directly, remained focused on the requirements of the Kevin S. settlement, and made meaningful, measurable progress.”
Despite the progress the state still needs to make, Peifer lauded state officials for their efforts to reform the child welfare system, particularly in recent months.
“I want to express how grateful I am that you guys have taken on one of the most difficult jobs in the state and one of the most important jobs,” he said. “And for progress to be made, it means that quality people have to step up and assume responsibility to acknowledge where there are problems, to creatively identify how to solve them, and then to move a large ship where everything has to change at once in order to make progress.”
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.
