Mar. 9—New Mexico’s embattled child welfare agency says it has made considerable progress reducing a jarring backlog of more than 2,000 reports of alleged abuse and neglect.

Two nationally recognized experts on child welfare reform sounded the alarm in January on “a clear and urgent safety risk for children,” saying New Mexico needed to take “immediate action” amid crushing caseloads and what records show were nearly 2,300 overdue investigations.

“Some of the pending investigations, we were told, date back to the first half of 2023,” Judith Meltzer and Kevin Ryan wrote in a Jan. 26 letter. They were brought in as “co-neutrals” in a class action civil case, tasked with overseeing the implementation of a groundbreaking settlement agreement meant to improve the state’s child welfare system.

“Staff in one office reported there are numerous investigations where children have never been seen by [the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department] even after the agency determined that a report of alleged abuse or neglect warranted investigation,” they experts added.

Since then, CYFD has whittled the number down to 1,395 overdue investigations statewide, a nearly 40% decrease.

“As with most other child welfare agencies and departments nationwide, CYFD continuously works to address the issue of overdue investigations, which, for CYFD, is defined as an investigation that is open for over 45 days,” CYFD spokeswoman Jessica Preston wrote in an email.

“In addition to our current workforce, we have brought in additional resources to work the cases that have not been closed within the 45-day time frame,” she wrote.

Preston wrote the agency is making “steady progress” and striving to finalize cases within its 45-day timeframe.

“The additional resources are assisting staff in reviewing and finalizing overdue investigations,” she wrote. “Leadership has made it clear that investigators cannot nor should not close cases so quickly that family needs or follow-up are overlooked. It is imperative that investigators ensure child safety and appropriate services are provided for families, whether or not they are overdue.”

The agency provided a report that shows overdue investigations fluctuate from month to month but reached a record high in the last 13 months at 2,453 in December.

“Additional teams dedicated to overdue investigations are needed during time frames when that number is high,” Preston wrote. “CYFD is actively working to ensure the safety and well-being of the children and youth identified in each overdue investigation.”

The agency did not directly respond to questions about the number of abuse and neglect cases that have been substantiated or how many children, if any, have been removed from their homes stemming from the backlog of investigations. The agency instead provided a report showing the number of completed investigations, substantiated reports and children placed in CYFD custody over the last 13 months.

Preston also wrote CYFD spent the last several months addressing gaps in the system by revising processes to ensure effectiveness and efficiency, though she did not identify those gaps.

“It is important to note that, according to CYFD data, from January 2023 through January 2024, 96% of investigations, including investigations that became overdue for closure, were initiated timely, meaning that a CYFD investigator conducted an initial safety assessment within the required time frame based on the priority of the abuse/neglect referral,” she wrote.

The agency has been the subject of increased scrutiny amid high staff vacancies and turnover, including three Cabinet secretaries during the administration of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, as well as highly publicized cases of abuse and neglect of children and a number of fatalities.

During the 30-day legislative session that ended last month, lawmakers considered a constitutional amendment to take CYFD oversight out of the governor’s hands, but the proposal died in a committee. The lead sponsor, Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, attributed the proposal’s demise to pressure from the governor.

CYFD Secretary Teresa Casados told lawmakers she is working diligently to improve the agency. As they were considering the proposal to remove CYFD from the governor’s Cabinet and create a commission to oversee it, Casados said she believed the structure would create barriers to consistent and effective collaboration with other state agencies and New Mexico’s 23 tribal governments.

Casados, who joined the Lujan Grisham administration as the governor’s chief operating officer, took the helm at CYFD on an interim basis in April following the resignation of Barbara Vigil, a former state Supreme Court justice brought on in 2021 to provide stability to CYFD, and then took the job on a permanent basis in November.

Casados has declined repeated requests for an interview with The New Mexican, and the agency will respond to media inquiries only via email.

The New Mexican submitted a list of questions about the backlog of investigations Feb. 22. Although the agency responded the next day, it failed to answer most questions and instead provided a statement complaining the agency’s request for additional funding to hire more investigators had fallen on deaf ears during the legislative session.

“Lawmakers declined to appropriate enough money to solidify a long-term solution,” an unidentified spokesperson wrote in an email. “Our hope is that, in the future, lawmakers come to the table prepared to give the department the financial support it needs to do critical work for children and families in the state.”

Rachel Mercer Garcia, the Legislative Finance Committee’s analyst for CYFD, addressed the agency’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year in a memo Thursday to leaders of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee. She noted the Legislature considered “significant operating budget increases” for CYFD in recent years, which show a 36% increase between fiscal years 2021 and 2024, and “spending that has not fully leveraged available resources.”

“The Legislature maintained a relatively flat agency operating budget, while making significant multiyear, nonrecurring appropriations to the department to pilot and evaluate evidence-based workforce development and prevention and early intervention programs, before moving these programs into the agency’s base operating budget,” Mercer Garcia wrote.

CYFD has faced challenges, including high vacancy and turnover rates and significant unspent appropriations, including $20 million to increase children’s behavioral health providers, Mercer Garcia wrote in the memo.

Lawmakers have criticized CYFD in the past for asking for a bigger budget when it hasn’t been able to spend the money it has received in previous fiscal years, a point highlighted in Mercer Garcia’s memo.

“LFC analysis of CYFD’s funded vacancy rate in December estimated the agency could hire an additional 159 positions within their existing operating budget,” she wrote.

Pressed to answer the questions submitted Feb. 22, the agency provided another response with more details March 5. It attributed the response to Preston, who emphasized 96% of CYFD’s investigations have been “initiated timely” since January 2023.

“This measure exceeds the federal goal that 80% of investigations be initiated timely,” she wrote.

Overdue investigations are an issue facing child welfare agencies across the country, according to Preston.

“There are several factors that can contribute to overdue investigations, including staff turnover, spikes in reporting, and outdated policies and procedures,” she wrote. “Another contributing factor is case priority. Once there is an initial assessment of safety during an investigation, CYFD staff will always prioritize a new investigation regarding an incoming report of abuse and or neglect because, unlike a pending or overdue investigation, CYFD has no information about the safety of the children subject to a brand-new report.”

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.