STATE News:
SANTA FE — Following the Department of Justice’s report on the Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD), House Republicans are demanding immediate accountability and reform, calling on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, CYFD leadership, and the legislative majority to answer for years of ignored warnings and blocked efforts to fix a broken system.
The findings in this report are disturbing. They describe a system that failed to protect children, missed clear warning signs, and allowed dangerous situations to continue when intervention was needed most. These failures are not isolated. They are systemic, with real and devastating consequences for children across New Mexico. For years, the warning signs were clear, and the system, including the Legislature, chose not to act.
Time and again, Republicans have introduced legislation aimed at strengthening oversight, improving investigations, and ensuring accountability within CYFD. Those efforts were consistently blocked or dismissed by a progressive Democrat-controlled Legislature, allowing serious problems inside the agency to persist.
Here are just a few examples of legislation that sought to address these failures:
HB 65 (2026) CYFD SHORT-TERM STABILIZATION PILOT PGM
SB 67 (2026) BEST INTERESTS OF THE CHILD STANDARDS
SB 236 (2026) CYFD ABUSE & NEGLECT CASE TORT CLAIMS
SB 237 (2026) CYFD CRITICAL INCIDENT INVESTIGATION TEAM
HB 181 (2026) REPORTING ON CHILDREN STAYING IN CYFD OFFICES
HB 173 (2025) CYFD INVESTIGATION FOR PLAN OF CARE FAILURE
HB 343 (2025) CYFD PLANS OF SAFE CARE FOR CERTAIN CHILDREN
HB 463 (2025) CYFD PERINATAL INVESTIGATION & SUPPORT UNIT
SB 83 (2024) CYFD PLAN OF CARE FAILURE ASSESSMENTS
HB 121 (2024) CYFD PLAN OF CARE INVESTIGATIONS
HB 34 (2023) FAMILY IN NEED OF COURT-ORDERED SERVICES
HB 196 (2023) PLACEMENT OF TEMPORARY CUSTODY CHILDREN
SB 207 (2023) CHILD ABUSE BEST INTEREST STANDARD
SB 373 (2023) OFFICE OF CHILD ADVOCATE ACT
HB 145 (2022) CHILD WELFARE OMBUDSMAN ACT
HB 188 (2022) CONFIDENTIALITY OF ABUSE & NEGLECT RECORDS
These were targeted efforts to fix the kinds of failures now laid out in this report.
In response to the report released today, House Republican leadership issued the following statement:
“What this report lays out should outrage every New Mexican. Children were left in harm’s way, and the system that was supposed to protect them failed at every level. These were not isolated incidents, they were allowed to continue, and the consequences were devastating. Enough has been ignored and excused. It is time for accountability, and it is time to fix this.”