The New Mexico Children, Youth and Family Department has announced their budget request for next year including funding for filling positions and pilot programs.
CYFD has requested a 4.7% increase to their budget from the New Mexico state legislature totaling $422.3 million.
They say that the budget increase is necessary to make up for the lack of federal funding, add more services, and to comply with court-ordered reforms.
$14.8 million of the budget will go to hiring for protective services positions to meet requirements set by the Kevin S. lawsuit. According to the Kevin S. website, the lawsuit alleged that CYFD lacked safe, appropriate and stable placements and behavioral health services to meet the needs of trauma impacted kids.
Acting cabinet secretary at CYFD Valerie Sandoval says money from the budget can be used to improve conditions and address issues like children sleeping in CYFD offices.
“We want every child to be in a home-like setting with either relatives or one of our amazing foster parents. One way that this would help is additional staff to help us find and work on appropriate placement for all of these kids,” Sandoval said.
$13.7 million will go to filling approved but unfilled positions in the department. Sandoval says that this can help ease the work burden across the department.
“This funding helps fill current vacancies that are unfunded that can give our staff a break. We have staff working overtime and filling these positions would allow them to actually go be with their families and have a great work and personal life balance,” Sandoval said.
CYFD also requested funds for basic needs such as clothing, food, and hygiene equipment and also to expand behavioral health programs.
However, some people say that not all of the department's problems can be fixed with more money. Program director for Mesilla Valley Court Appointed Special Advocates Brandie White says that there has to be a culture change and better hands-on training as well.
“Classroom training in Albuquerque for three weeks and then coming home and being thrown a caseload where our families or our teens who stay in the office know more about the system than the poor new workers do. That is a recipe for disaster,” White said.
Along with this, White says that more staff would be helpful.
“I really believe that if we can get back to basics with more supervisors, more caseworkers and getting out of the office, getting into the community, getting into families homes, meeting families and kids where they are to provide support to both families and workers I think that is where it really is going to create some change,” White said.
Other concerns that CYFD has faced include the revolving door of cabinet secretaries. In the last six years, five different secretaries have served in this position. White says that is also part of the problem.
“When a new leadership team comes in, they bring their whole new perspective and it just changes the mark for all of the workers who are still trying to catch up with what the last secretary was trying to implement so I really feel bad for them,” White said.
CYFD controls many services from child protective services to juvenile detention and behavioral health. White says that while the department has its issues, many of the people there are trying to do good work.
“I hesitate to vilify them because it is a heart wrenching job and for people to show up every day and do this work is pretty incredible. What I often tell my volunteers that I train is that we can have compassion for the individual workers that we see day to day, but we can also hold our system accountable,” White said.
