Dec. 18 – After criticism of the use of group homes to house children in state custody, the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department recently opened a new shelter for girls for whom the agency is struggling to find foster homes.
The move, which comes after staff at another boys’ shelter left en masse within months of opening, is seen as a way to strike a middle ground between the ideal environment for children with high needs: placement with families who are equipped to help them, which the agency has struggled to accomplish — and allow them to remain in CYFD offices.
That would also free CYFD employees from overnight assignments to care for children staying in department offices, Cabinet Secretary Teresa Casados said in an interview. These tasks have often led to burnout among department employees and contributed to employee turnover.
“What we’re trying to do is place these kids. But we’re also trying to get them out of the office,” Casados said. “So these multi-use homes really serve as that bridge.”
The facility, called Hope House, houses about four girls, down from three who initially moved in when it opened in Albuquerque, Casados said. CYFD’s contractor for the home, Youth Development Inc., began serving youth on Dec. 12, Chief Executive Officer Robert Chavez said.
According to YDI’s contract with CYFD, the home wants to have beds for as many as a dozen girls. The contract of up to $1.5 million expires on June 30. Children must attend school or an alternative education program and have access to transportation to behavioral health care.
“It’s a beautiful house,” Chavez said in an interview. “It’s a nine-bedroom house. We have a therapy office where we have a therapist available to help with the trauma. … That’s the benefit you get [a] trained, highly qualified organization.”
CYFD’s use of group homes — the agency opened one for boys earlier this year — has faced some criticism from legislative staff and lawmakers, who say congregate care settings are not a best practice for housing children in state custody.
Rep. Eleanor Chávez, D-Albuquerque, said such homes don’t provide the consistency children need. She said group homes are often offered as a temporary solution, but children can end up staying longer than intended.
“To me, collaborative care means that children are kind of like a number, and they get a little lost in the system,” she said. “The other thing that worries me is that if we have joint care, it opens up the possibility of children really growing up in joint care.”
Chavez, the CEO, said congregate care settings can have a positive impact on youth, noting that residential placement is sometimes not an option for those who enter Hope House. YDI’s goal, he said, is to “improve their situation now.”
The boys’ home, which is operated in Albuquerque by the national nonprofit AMIkids Inc., has seen 16 employees leave in late September since the home opened in May. At the time, Casados compared the home’s staffing problems to the agency’s own problems keeping children in foster care.
But Chavez, the CEO, said YDI provides support for staff experiencing stress after dealing with traumatic cases, and that the agency fosters a sense of teamwork that helps with staff retention.
There are currently seven employees at Hope House, he said, and YDI is hiring more, including a manager.
Casados pointed to an upcoming program known as Foster Care+ as a means for the department to address the struggle to find homes for high-needs children, many of whom face behavioral or other issues that lead to them having to leave the house in which they were placed. in.
Modeled after an Oklahoma program, Foster Care+ aims to equip families with training and resources to serve these children. That program will start in early 2025; Casados has previously said that nearly half a dozen families have expressed interest.
“We can really start building individual placements for those children’s needs and really focus on one child at a time,” she said.
Esteban Candelaria is a member of the staff at Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. He is responsible for child welfare and the state’s Department of Children, Youth and Families. Learn more about Report for America at reportforamerica.org.
