JOURNAL EDITORIAL: CYFD head’s Senate confirmation nothing to get excited about

“I don’t believe it’s a failing agency,” a former top aide to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham told state lawmakers Wednesday when being considered for confirmation as the next head of the state Children, Youth and Families Department.

It was as if Teresa Casados were in another state — a state of denial.

The “serious risk” to the safety of children was driven home last week when two national child welfare experts monitoring CYFD’s compliance with a legal settlement aimed at improving conditions for children in state custody urged CYFD leadership to take extraordinary, urgent action to stabilize conditions at the agency, including addressing an “unsafe” backlog of more than 2,000 child abuse and neglect investigations.this is a long sentence They also found a lack of trained staff and crushing caseloads for investigators of maltreatment complaints.

A seven-page report from “co-neutrals” Judith Meltzer of the Center for the Study of Social Policy and Kevin Ryan of the Public Catalyst agency was shocking, but predictable. It found:

bullet Just seven CYFD investigators in Bernalillo County were carrying more than 40 investigations each, including two employees who reported caseloads of more than 120 referrals. The caseloads are simply unmanageable.

bullet There is a backlog of more than 2,000 pending abuse or neglect investigations in CYFD’s Metro and Northeast New Mexico regions. Thousands of children are probably being abused and nothing is being done about it because of the unacceptable backlog. Some cases date back to the first half of 2023. Numerous investigations are pending in which children have “never been seen by CYFD even after the agency determined that a report of alleged abuse or neglect warranted investigation.”

bullet Abused or neglected children are staying temporarily in CYFD offices in Roswell, Las Vegas and Albuquerque because there’s no other suitable placement. This unacceptable practice has occurred consistently for more than a year as CYFD has also failed to retain its foster families. Children, some with serious emotional, mental and behavioral issues, should not be sleeping on the floors of CYFD offices, or even worse places.

What are the overwhelmed CYFD staff doing? Well, in Roswell, which lacks a juvenile detention facility, CYFD staff frequently call law enforcement and transfer children to hospital emergency rooms.

Back in November as the Thanksgiving holiday approached, CYFD began making arrangements for a comfortable place to house a half-dozen foster kids who were living in the agency’s office buildings. So the department moved the foster kids to Sequoyah Adolescent Treatment Center in Albuquerque, where they would spend Thanksgiving in cell-like rooms with cinderblock walls.

How is a child with serious behavioral health issues, sometimes caused by abuse by a family member, going to get qualified emotional help sitting in a police station, an ER or a jail cell?

Sara Crecca, an attorney who is part of the Kevin.S legal settlement implementation team, said the report shows the state must, under the settlement, recruit and train an adequate workforce, build evidence-based community mental health support for children and families, ensure an adequate number of foster placements, and build relationships with tribal governments to support Native children in foster care.

Does anyone believe Casados, who has no direct training in the child welfare field and who had served as interim secretary since April, is up for the task?

Apparently the Democratic-controlled state Senate does. The body confirmed Casados by a 32-8 vote on Wednesday, largely along party lines, making her the third CYFD secretary since 2019.

Casados apparently has the full-throated support of top state leaders. The state conducted a nationwide search for a new CYFD Cabinet secretary after the departure of retired state Supreme Court Justice Barbara Vigil, who spent nearly 18 months on the job.

No outside candidates emerged, so the job went to Casados, a true insider lauded for her knowledge of the inner workings of state government and her operational and managerial skills.

Casados’ family and multiple other state government department heads spoke in her favor during an hourslong hearing before the Senate Rules Committee earlier Wednesday. Why wouldn’t they? Not many government folks likely have children in CYFD custody sleeping in a jail cell or on an office floor.

“I don’t believe it’s a failing agency,” Casados said. “We are making some change. It may not be as noticeable to the outside world. We’re building back bigger and stronger.”

Once again, what state is she talking about?

The CYFD buck doesn’t stop at the interim or permanent Cabinet secretary of CYFD. The buck stops at the governor’s desk on the fourth floor at the Roundhouse.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has announced pilot program after pilot program in recent years, and none of them have made any difference at all at CYFD. In fact, the governor has been an obstructionist when it comes to CYFD reform, consistently opposing legislative initiatives aimed at reforming the agency.

“It seems like CYFD is burning,” said state Sen. Mark Moores, R-Albuquerque, who voted “no” on Casados’ appointment, “and she’s playing the fiddle.”

“There’s a lot of work we can do right now at CYFD that doesn’t require legislation,” Casados responded.

Yes, there is. We can start by reinitiating a national search for someone with training in the child welfare field to lead the state’s child welfare agency, and not settle for someone who cites her experience with children as someone who was a “teen mom.”

“What I lack in actual training and experience, I make up for just in the work I’ve done and the struggles I’ve had,” Casados said.

That line may work on the campaign trail, but it doesn’t hold water running a state agency tasked with the critical job of protecting children.

Prior moves of appointing a former Supreme Court justice, Barbara Vigil, and former top political aide of the governor, Casados, have not worked.

CYFD needs a leader with the boldness to challenge the governor and the temerity to lead reform efforts in the Legislature. Casados clearly isn’t that person. The agency made little to no progress during her interim leadership.

Why should anyone expect different results with the same leadership at the top?

Saying CYFD needs some tweaking is like saying the Titantic needed some Flex Seal. The agency lacks transparency and accountability like none other in state government.

CYFD needs to show regular progress on its plan to tackle the backlog and get the kids off the floors and into stable homes. If Casados can’t demonstrate an ability to protect the state’s most vulnerable children, and soon, lawmakers should demand she step aside.