The Abundance of Foster Care Placements in New Mexico

Foster care placements in New Mexico are far too high — the rate of short-stay placements (less than thirty days) in Bernalillo County alone is nearly nine times the national average — posing a financial burden and causing unnecessary emotional harm to parents and children.

The abundance of foster care placements is largely attributed to the fact that New Mexico is one of only four states that grants law enforcement sole authority to remove children when they deem an environment unsafe for the child. Once the child is removed by law enforcement, there is a regulatory two-working-day period to petition the court for the placement of the child into foster care, also known as a “48-hour hold.” When a child is removed from the home by law enforcement, they are delivered to CYFD and investigators review the need for keeping the child in protective custody. If CYFD fails to petition the courts to retain custody, the child is released back to the parent or guardian. In New Mexico, the child is returned to their homes within 30 days nearly 50% of the time. In addition to the avoidable trauma caused by these short-stay foster care placements, they also cause a tremendous financial burden on the families and the state — up to $13.7 million a year for the state $16.5 million a year for the affected families.

This issue is not new nor has it been ignored and public discourse plays a huge role. In the most recent legislative session, advocacy group NMCAN supported Senate Bill 324, a bill that would shift the authority to remove a child from the home based on suspected abuse or neglect from law enforcement to CYFD among other changes. In preparation for this bill, the agency conducted a survey of law enforcement statewide on whether law enforcement should retain the sole removal authority was nearly split down the middle.

“Police officers are put in that awkward situation of trying to figure out, do I make one of the most important decisions I can possibly make impacting a parent’s life; do I physically remove that child and put them into foster care or not?” (Comments made by CYFD Cabinet Secretary Brian Blalock, May 2020)

And then there is the long-running and public distrust of CYFD. During the last hearing of SB 324, there was a significant presence of foster care parents from across the state protesting the bill. The pushback was so strong that the bill did not advance. In the same session, House Bill 284 was introduced, which would create a grievance process independent of CYFD for all stakeholders such as foster care parents, foster children, families, etc.

“For decades this agency’s decisions have happened under a cloak of darkness and secretivity, and for decades retaliation has thrived as part of its culture.”

“I have been in the trenches of child welfare and I have seen firsthand CYFD retaliation against both myself as a former employee and against foster parents.” (Statements made in support of HB 284)

Although the foster care system is critical in ensuring the safety of children in unsafe environments, there are many structural improvements we can make to the system to help protect children while decreasing unnecessary trauma and costs. Below I outline policy options and my preferred policy combination to battle the issue of short-stay foster care placements while reducing placements overall.

Policy #1: Increase Number of Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) Caseworkers
This policy proposes increasing the number of CYFD caseworkers by 25% or 20 caseworkers (in addition to filling all current vacancies). At an average annual labor cost of $47,000 (+ 35% fringe), this increase in workers would cost the agency $1,269,000/year or a .4% increase of the agency budget. Although the state recommends caseworkers have around 11 cases at once, the average caseload is almost 16. Increasing the number of caseworkers by 25% would get the caseload for each worker closer to the actual caseload ratio recommended by the state. Alleviating the burden of overly large caseloads on workers would allow them to spend more time investigating each case to utilize strategies to keep the child in the home such as collaborative relationships with the parents and referring the family to in-home services. Keeping a child out of foster care and instead offering alternative services would tackle the issues the child and family are facing more directly, improving their future outcomes and reducing unnecessary costs or trauma.

This policy would also require improvement in caseworker recruitment and retention– the average annual turnover rate of caseworkers has hovered around 45% as of January 2020. In addition to costs associated with the recruitment, CYFD would need to introduce retention strategies, requiring additional funds and resources.

Policy #2: Increase the use of in-home services and counseling
This policy option proposes the expansion of in-home services to children at marginal risk of foster care placement by 25%, costing an additional $675,000 or about $4 million total in in-home services provided by CPS. Although CYFD offers in-home services such as counseling or other family preservation models, they are rarely offered to families prior to the child entering custody. In Bernalillo County in 2019, none of the 257 children who had a short-stay foster care placement had received in-home services prior to being removed from the home. However, 47 of those children (nearly 20%) received in-home services after their placement, meaning in-home services may have been more appropriate, less traumatic, and less costly than entering the foster care system. There is evidence that home-based services can reduce the rate of placements in foster care. In 2018, Hawaii expanded its offerings of home-based services to attempt to reduce the number of children placed in the foster care system. The case study found that of the 198 children served, who were all deemed safe but at imminent risk, only 14 of them (7%) were later placed in foster care. This policy would inevitably result in an increased workload for agencies offering in-home services and counseling and may require new training modules that promote the use of these services among caseworkers.

Policy #3: Remove the sole authority for removal from law enforcement
This policy proposes rescinding the sole removal authority from law enforcement and instead granting it to the CYFD CPS unit. In New Mexico, the rate of short-stay placements is largely attributed to the policy that law enforcement has sole authority to remove children when they deem an environment unsafe for the child. However, these cases are often dismissed, and the child is returned to their homes within five days, causing unnecessary trauma and significant costs to the families and the state. Removing the sole authority from law enforcement and granting it to CYFD could significantly reduce the number of short stays in Bernalillo County and New Mexico. Although law enforcement is trained in how to assess whether a child is in imminent danger in their home environment, patterns show that they tend to overuse this privilege and remove children before CYFD can conduct a thorough investigation and recommend alternatives such as in-home services or placement with a family member. Reassigning sole removal authority would require a significant overhaul in protocol and could potentially delay the removal of children who are at imminent risk in their homes, however those cases are rare.

Policy #4: Extend holding period to 72 hours
This policy proposes the expansion of the 48-hour hold to 72 hours which would allow more time for investigators to consider a case and offer recommendations for alternative services to decrease the chances of a subsequent placement. Although it wouldn’t directly contribute to the rate of short-stay placements, extending the holding period would allow CYFD to investigate cases more thoroughly and provide services to the family once the child is returned. This could potentially reduce the chance of return placements of the child. This policy would be quite costly, specifically to families affected by the foster care system. Currently, the cost to families whose children are placed in foster care for up to 48 hours is about $16.5 million a year, or on average $355 per day in placement. Expanding the 48-hr hold to 72 hours would increase the costs incurred by New Mexico families to about $25 million per year.

Recommended Policy: Remove the sole authority for removal from law enforcement and increase in-home services
The preferred policy is to remove the sole authority for removal from law enforcement, granting that authority to CYFD, in addition to increasing in-home services. Removing the sole authority from law enforcement and granting it to the CYFD could significantly reduce the number of short stays in Bernalillo County and New Mexico, saving the state and families significant costs spent on unnecessary placements and eliminating unnecessary trauma to the child and families. Revoking the sole authority from law enforcement would also reduce the number of cases and eliminates the need to hire more CPS caseworkers.

This policy combination would not require much structural change but rather a reallocation of resources and would only cost $675,000, a .002% increase in the overall annual CYFD budget. Allowing CYFD to handle the case from start to finish without law enforcement intervention would allow CYFD to recommend alternative services to the families which could lead to better outcomes for the child and their family. Although CYFD offers in-home services such as counseling or other family preservation models, they are rarely offered to families prior to the child entering custody.

Increasing these resources and making them more readily available while allowing CYFD caseworkers to manage the case entirely could make a significant impact on the number of short-stay placements specifically while also improving the foster care system overall.

Implementing this two-pronged solution would likely lead to public pushback, specifically from foster care parents who deem CYFD too timid when determining whether a child should be placed. It would also require justification of an increase in the CYFD annual budget. To counter that, I would recommend a comprehensive and intentional information campaign aimed at political leaders and agencies to garner support from a broad-based coalition.

References:

Children’s Bureau, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Administration For Children And Families, U. S. Department Of Health And Human Services (2018). Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), Foster Care File 2017 [Dataset]. National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect. https://doi.org/10.34681/7424-0J56

Costello, Brittany. “ House committee passes bill that aims to hold CYFD accountable.”KOB [Albuquerque, NM], March 1, 2021. https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/house-committee-passes-bill-that-aims-to-hold-cyfd-accountable/6028450/

Courtney, Mark E. “Reentry to Foster Care of Children Returned to Their Families.” Social Service Review, vol. 69, no. 2, 1995, pp. 226–241. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30012850.

Doyle, Joseph J. “Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Foster Care.” The American Economic Review, vol. 97, no. 5, 2007, pp. 1583–1610. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30034577.

Freundlich, Madelyn. “Legislative Strategies to Safely Reduce the Number of Children in Foster Care.” National Conference of State Legislatures.

Hager, Eli. “The Hidden Trauma of “Short Stays” in Foster Care.” The Marshall Project, February 11, 2020. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/02/11/the-hidden-trauma-of-short-stays-in-foster-care

Nathanson, Rick. “Who to decide on foster placements?” Albuquerque Journal, March 26, 2020. https://www.abqjournal.com/1459805/who-to-decide-on-foster-placements.html

New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee. “Program Evaluation: Short-Term Foster Care Placements.” https://www.nmlegis.gov/Entity/LFC/Documents/Program_Evaluation_Reports/Short-Term%20Foster%20Care%20Placements.pdf

Sanchez, Arika. (March 29, 2021). Personal interview [Phone].

United States General Accounting Office. “HHS Could Play a Greater Role in Helping child welfare agencies recruit and retain staff.” https://books.google.com/books?id=faER25TPJ40C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false