Nov. 17 – Four years after a legal agreement aimed at improving care for abused and neglected children, the state Department of Children, Youth and Families still has not delivered on key promised reforms, two national experts said.
As a top priority this year, the experts recommend the agency proactively pursue authority to hire new workers to address a workforce crisis that is causing high workloads and burnout among caseworkers and protective services managers.
“There are some bright spots and areas for optimism about the future,” said an Oct. 1 letter from the two “co-neutrals” who monitored compliance with a series of reforms at the child welfare agency. Services for Indigenous children and families have improved, they found. And there is now one managed care organization for the medical and behavioral needs of children in state care as a result of neglect or abuse. They also commended CYFD for its recruitment of relative foster parents and found that some cases fell within established standards.
But some reforms have stalled.
For example, the number of abused and neglected children staying in CYFD offices doubled in the second half of 2023, with police being called via 911 in nearly 50 “critical incidents” at CYFD offices across the state. The children are the most difficult to place due to emotional trauma and other problems, and remain in some of the least desirable conditions due to a lack of suitable foster homes.
Additionally, the experts found that the number of foster homes in New Mexico has not increased since 2021, with 120 licensed foster homes in 2023. That is far short of the 190 target the agency agreed to under a 2023 corrective action plan. The plan was requested by a group of New Mexico child welfare attorneys, agencies and foster children who sued CYFD and the then-state Department of Human Services in 2018.
The experts reviewed data from the year 2023, the same year a new team took over management of CYFD, which investigates child abuse and neglect and works with the courts, families and others to ensure children are placed in safe, caring homes. placed. The report by Kevin Ryan of Public Catalyst and Judith Meltzer of the Center for the Study of Social Policy is required as part of a 2020 settlement of a federal lawsuit named Kevin S., a reference to one of the foster children named as a plaintiff named.
“While there are many dedicated staff committed to your work and the success of the Kevin S. Agreement, overall we remain extremely concerned about the barriers to acceptable performance: high workloads, staff turnover, children staying/sleeping in the CYFD district offices (and) lack of safe and appropriate family placements and community services,…’ read the Oct. 1 letter to CYFD Secretary Teresa Casados, and Kari Armijo, secretary of the state Health Care Authority, the agency that oversees the state Human Services Department.
A CYFD spokeswoman told the Journal in an email Friday that the agency does not believe the annual report provides CYFD with “adequate justice for its actions.”
“We believe we are making steady progress on many fronts as we improve our operations, services, staffing, recruiting efforts and other areas.” The agency said it aims to promote and implement improvements “that will create long-lasting and meaningful change.”
Foster care
Although the number of children in foster care fell each year from 2019 to 2022, the number rose to 1,942 children in December 2023, according to the Co-Neutrals’ 169-page follow-up report released Friday. The report was a follow-up to the letter of October 1.
Some findings:
“The majority of CYFD personnel the co-neutrals spoke with in multiple offices across the state reported the ongoing responsibility of monitoring children sleeping overnight in CYFD offices.
“In 2023, there was a sharp and alarming increase in the number of children housed in offices, especially in the second half of the year,” the report said.
In 2023, there were 322 office placements of children, more than double the 139 office placements in 2022. Between July 2023 and December 2023, according to CYFD, there were 52 critical incidents involving children housed in offices, resulting in a 911 call. Such reports are required if there is an allegation of harm, an allegation of abuse and/or neglect, an allegation of restraint/seclusion, or a change in a facility’s licensure.
Approximately 88% were 911 calls from CYFD personnel involving the children in the offices. “Many staff reported that children’s behavior when housed in the offices is negatively affected by the conditions they experience and the inattention to their needs.”
“Staff report that they are not trained or supported to provide the care and support these children need to feel safe and stable, and as a result their trauma and feelings of abandonment multiply.”
High case rates are a chronic problem for CYFD investigators and staff, and agency officials have noted that lawmakers rejected a CYFD request for funding to add more conservation staff during the last legislative session.
But the co-neutrals recommend that CYFD leaders take “every reasonable step” as soon as possible to ensure adequate staffing and repair conditions in the CYFD offices. Make it a priority to hire more staff by now being given the authority to increase the number of FTEs (full-time equivalent positions) to “stay ahead of the attrition rate that will continue until the workforce is stabilized.”
They added that the state should also create and fill new positions with sole responsibility for after-hours and emergency child abuse and neglect investigations.
In interviews with the experts, CYFD employees reported “in fact, they routinely work more than their compensated hours, with offers of flex time that they cannot use as they meet the needs of their job.
“Without exception, staff reported that this system of mandatory overtime to conduct child abuse and neglect investigations, respond to emergencies, and provide in-office child care is the greatest source of burnout and exhaustion, and has had a negative impact on their personal lives and their lives.” own families.”
The annual report is the fourth to be published by the co-neutrals and is based on interviews conducted at offices and elsewhere with employees, managers, foster families and others.
“We reported this to you last year and it is still happening across the CYFD today: in multiple cases and in numerous provinces, CYFD caseworkers and supervisors said they were forced to go without sleep for more than 24 hours due to the mandatory night and weekend shifts on top of their existing responsibilities, sometimes several times a month, including in cases during extended journeys where they had to transport children. This practice remains a serious safety problem. CYFD staff and supervisors said the practice has consistently fueled numerous decisions by colleagues to resign.”
Employees in some offices reported recent improvements in job submissions and workload reductions, the co-neutrals said: “But even in those offices, employees are concerned that these improvements may be transitory as staff are then asked or required to take on additional responsibilities in other offices. have problems or have unexpected staff vacancies.”
Although CYFD had agreed to prevent CYFD supervisors from handling child abuse or neglect cases, the co-neutrals wrote: “Many CYFD supervisors we spoke with reported that they directly handle child cases and were concerned that they were not were able to supervise their staff. appropriately.
“Until CYFD addresses this reality with real solutions, the agency will continue to experience high workloads and substantial vacancies, as well as the high costs of recruiting and training staff, only to lose them within the first 18 months of employment .”
Child welfare agencies in New Jersey, Michigan and Oklahoma are proactively hiring more people in anticipation of an increase in employment and expected turnover, the co-neutrals reported.
“If CYFD continues to wait for staff to resign before beginning the hiring process for their replacements,” they said, “the agency will continue to experience severe staffing shortages and be burdened with dangerous workloads that far exceed what the state has committed to. reaches.”
In addition, the experts stated: “CYFD has not yet recovered from last summer’s decision to suspend hiring. Hiring has not kept pace with attrition and due to the time required to attract and develop new staff the workload is excessively high for many employees.”
The hiring was “paused” by Casados for several months in the summer of 2023 as part of an agency reorganization.
“None of the states we worked with have stopped hiring and training caseworkers amid reform efforts. And in fact, New Mexico’s workforce crisis is calling for an escalation in both hiring staff and expanding/accelerating training opportunities.”
