News Report | March 24, 2019
New Mexico Governor Proposes Overhauling Children, Youth & Families Department
The transition team of New Mexico’s new Governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham recommended overhauling the state Children, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD). The transition team review found lawsuits against CYFD, low staff morale, persistent staffing shortages, an investigation backlog of more than 2,000 reports of potential child maltreatment, and reports of “preventable” child deaths. To act on those recommendations, the Governor’s proposed budget increased the CYFD budget by $36.5 million, about 13% over the previous year, raising the budget from $279.9 million for fiscal year (FY) 2019 to $316.3 million for FY 2020. Additionally, the . . .