Cabinet Secretary Kari Armijo
Health Care Authority
By ESTEBAN CANDELARIA
The Santa Fe New Mexican
The governor’s Cabinet circled around Children, Youth and Families Department Secretary Teresa Casados on Friday in an effort to protect her job against legislation that would eliminate it.
Chiefs of the state’s Health Care Authority, Early Childhood Education and Care Department, Public Education Department and Department of Workforce Solutions all stood against House Joint Resolution 5 at a House Health and Human Services Committee hearing on Friday. The measure would, if approved first by the Legislature and then by voters, amend the state constitution to cut CYFD as a Cabinet-level position and install in its stead an independent five-person commission that would hire an executive director to manage the agency.
“I’m very concerned about anything that would destabilize the structure and organizational culture at CYFD right now,” Health Care Authority Cabinet Secretary Kari Armijo said. “I think that they are working really hard to rebuild that structure and culture. I would hate to see that progress upended right now.”
Supporters of the resolution argued it would provide the stability and structural changes to bring necessary reform to the troubled agency. Opponents, including CYFD Deputy Secretary of Protective Services and Juvenile Justice Valerie Sandoval, say HJR 5 would be damaging to the agency and “hinder collaboration with key state agencies essential to child welfare, education and health.”
Despite all the opposition, HJR 5 was greenlit by the panel on a 9-1 vote. Nevertheless, the resolution — a proposal that failed last year — faces an uphill battle before it could go into effect. With less than 30 days to go in this year’s 60-day session, HJR 5 has yet to clear its first chamber and next faces the House Judiciary Committee.
The resolution does have a powerful sponsor in House Speaker Javier Martínez D-Albuquerque. Fellow Albuquerque Democrat and co-sponsor Rep. Eleanor Chávez said in an interview she thinks the proposal can make it through the Roundhouse this year.
“We’ve gotten bills through in shorter time frames, and I think that we also need to consider who the opposition is,” she said.
That said, the governor’s Cabinet and CYFD gained a somewhat unlikely ally this week in Judith Meltzer and Kevin Ryan, the independent field experts tasked with tracking the agency’s progress in the Kevin S. case, who wrote a letter opposing HJR 5.
The experts, who noted they ordinarily do not weigh in on legislative matters but felt it was important to on this one, are tasked with tracking New Mexico’s progress in complying with the landmark settlement. That case was originally brought in 2018 by over a dozen foster children who argued the state was failing to adequately care for young people in its custody.
As monitors of CYFD’s progress, Meltzer and Ryan are often some of the first to point out the agency’s struggles. A recent report found the state fell far behind on several of its goals in 2023, and particularly on pledges to increase the number of foster homes in the state, perform mandatory wellness checks on children within 30 days of them being taken into state custody and improve CYFD worker caseloads.
In Tuesday’s letter regarding HJR 5, Meltzer and Ryan wrote that despite a need for effective leadership and accountability at CYFD, overhauling its structure the way the resolution proposes “may, in fact, make improvement efforts even more difficult.”
Meltzer and Ryan wrote other states with child welfare system problems as extensive as New Mexico’s saw improvements after or as part of establishing Cabinet-level leadership structures. A governor having direct oversight over agencies like CYFD, they said, eliminates barriers in collaboration and enhances accountability.
“In our view, child welfare services cannot be successfully operated in a vacuum and having the direct Cabinet level support of the health agency, the departments of early childhood and education, developmental disabilities services, and other state governmental agencies — such as personnel and budget — is essential for success,” they wrote.
Meltzer and Ryan’s letter caused some unease from lawmakers on Friday.
“They have seen better outcomes with the Cabinet-level direction of CYFD. They say they’ve seen it eliminate barriers and advancing accountability, which is what I’m hearing the other Cabinet secretaries say as well,” said Rep. Jenifer Jones, R-Deming, who ultimately voted in favor of the resolution. “… Who do I believe, at this point?”
Editor’s note: 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.