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New Mexico awards $157M in grants to child care providers
New Mexico's child care department is sending millions to child care centers in an effort to keep them in business, awarding grants to pay for everything from salaries to rent. The state Early Childhood Education and Care Department announced Wednesday $157 million in awards to 1,004 child care providers, from large centers to those who offer child care out of their homes.
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Data on child abuse in New Mexico called into question
Data on child abuse in New Mexico has been called into question after lawmakers raised concerns that the former director of the state’s child welfare agency provided inaccurate statistics. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports legislative committee staff has since found child abuse deaths in the state have more than doubled in fiscal year 2020 from the previous year and the state has the second-highest rate of repeated child maltreatment in the nation.
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New Mexico pledges support for tribal adoptions in state law
The new leader of New Mexico's child protection department pledged to restore the agency's credibility following a series of scandals under her predecessor. New Mexico Children Youth and Family Department Secretary Barbara J. Vigil also promised to enshrine federal law prioritizing tribal members in adoptions of Native American children into the practices of her department and state law.
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Behind bars since age 16, juvenile lifer watches New Mexico struggle over sentencing reform
Michael Brown is one of dozens of people in New Mexico who received what juvenile justice reformists call “de-facto life sentences” — sentences so long they will likely never be released — for crimes committed as minors. He is a vocal supporter of youth sentencing reforms, part of a national movement to rehabilitate juvenile offenders and make them eligible for parole earlier.
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Pandemic relief for foster youth expires, ending aid to thousands
UPDATE: The Supporting Foster Youth and Families through the Pandemic Act expired Sept. 30 without an extension. The results of failing to act, advocates warn, will be an estimated 20,000 young adults kicked out of the foster care system and cut off from aid that they have relied on to weather the financial challenges caused by the pandemic.
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New Mexico education policy director resigns over remarks
An education policy expert has resigned her post at the New Mexico Legislature following a long-simmering controversy over remarks she made about Native American students in 2019. Legislative Education Study Committee director Rachel Gudgel announced her resignation last week, ending her tenure as a top nonpartisan adviser to lawmakers focused on education policy, where she earned around $130,000 per year.
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New Mexico head of child services steps down following controversies
Brian Blalock, the embattled cabinet secretary of the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department, stepped down as the leader of the state’s child protective services agency. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham cited “administrative missteps” when announcing the leadership change.
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New Mexico to begin distributing $1.8 million in pandemic aid to former foster youth
A first round of pandemic aid payments to young adults transitioning out of foster care is expected to go out this month after New Mexico received $1.8 million from the federal government for the program. Information on the second round of applications—open to New Mexicans aged 21 to 26 who were involved in the state foster care system—will be available on the CYFD.org homepage in early August, according to the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department.
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