HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 10

54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2019

INTRODUCED BY

Rebecca Dow and Kelly K. Fajardo and Patricio Ruiloba

 and Gail Armstrong

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE SECRETARY OF CHILDREN, YOUTH AND FAMILIES TO CONVENE A CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES TASK FORCE TO REVIEW AND RECOMMEND CHANGES TO CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES RULES, POLICIES AND PROCEDURES AND CREATE STANDARDIZATION AND CONSISTENCY ACROSS ALL CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES DIVISION OFFICES AND TO CREATE A PARALLEL AND EQUAL PROCESS TO BETTER SERVE AND SUPPORT FOSTER FAMILIES AND RESOURCE FAMILIES ACROSS THE STATE.

     WHEREAS, the child protective services division of the children, youth and families department serves the state's most vulnerable populations, who are children in need of the state's intervention and protection; and

     WHEREAS, resource parents, which include guardians and kinship caregivers, and foster parents are individuals who volunteer their time, energy and resources to provide a safe home for children in need of intervention and protection; and

     WHEREAS, there are numerous critical issues in the child protective services system that have not been addressed and need to be rectified in order to better promote the safety and security of children being cared for by foster parents and resource parents; and

     WHEREAS, many foster parents and resource parents report feeling disenfranchised by current rules and procedures; and

     WHEREAS, the push by the state for parental reunification over other options raises questions about the safety of children and families, as reunification is not always in a child's best interest; and

     WHEREAS, foster placements by the child welfare system without care and consideration of a long-term plan cause further trauma to children; and

     WHEREAS, safety monitors are placed in a precarious situation because they are often related to or are friends of the biological family, and safety plans may not keep New Mexico children safe nor out of the child protective services system; and

     WHEREAS, many populations of youth within the foster care system have specific needs that are not adequately being addressed; and

     WHEREAS, the current child protective services environment creates a revolving door of ongoing child abuse in New Mexico;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the secretary of children, youth and families be requested to convene a child protective services task force to review and make recommendations to the children, youth and families department for updating department rules, policies and procedures to create standardization and consistency across all child protective services offices and programs and to create a parallel and equal process to better serve and support foster families and resource families across the state; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force be requested to:

          A. review existing children, youth and families department rules to ensure that all rules are consistent across all child protective services division offices and programs throughout the state;

          B. ensure that all children, youth and families department rules are given to every foster family and resource family, as well as all interested stakeholders and members of the general public, and that the rules are readily accessible to the public;

          C. ensure that current rules and procedures support New Mexicans who devote themselves to being foster parents or resource parents and streamline the foster care system to reduce bureaucratic burdens on foster parents;

          D. review training, support and ongoing opportunities to retain foster parents and resource families, to study foster parent and resource family retention and to determine desired and needed training topics and best sources of support;

          E. undertake a study on the success of a preference for reunification over a period of five years;

          F. determine whether New Mexico's push to reunify families separated through child protective services is overburdensome in comparison to other states;

          G. analyze family reunification policies and procedures and recommend safeguards to create safe and lasting reunification of families;

          H. study the benefits of long-term foster placements to avoid multiple, disruptive placements;

          I. consider whether there should be a requirement that removal of a child from a safe and committed long-term placement with a foster family or resource family should occur only by court order;

          J. evaluate the efficacy of safety monitors and identify solutions to better keep children, biological families and safety monitors safe and healthy;

          K. identify better ways to recruit, support and retain resources that foster families, resource families and children and family service providers need to support the state's most vulnerable population;

          L. consider ways to permit runaways to be placed in protective custody if they are determined to be in danger and to allow the state to maintain custody of children for a maximum of seven business days, versus the current maximum hold of forty-eight hours, while abuse claims are being investigated; and

          M. request the child protective services division of the children, youth and families department to report a child known to be, or who is suspected to be, in danger of human trafficking or a child known to recruit, or is suspected of recruiting, other children to be trafficked to any potential foster or resource families; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the secretary of children, youth and families be requested to include the following participants in the task force:

          A. the chair of the children's cabinet;

          B. two foster parents;

          C. a guardian of a child or a child's kinship caregiver;

          D. a certified medical health expert;

          E. an expert representative of law enforcement;

          F. a classified children, youth and families department employee;

          G. a family reunification expert; and

          H. a children's court improvement commission representative; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the secretary of children, youth and families be requested to invite as at-large members of the child protective services task force:

          A. a child care services or other children's service provider;

          B. a court-appointed special advocate;

          C. an expert in education;

          D. an expert from a nonprofit children's advocacy organization;

          E. a medical professional with New Mexico forensic or significant child abuse or neglect experience;

          F. an expert in the federal Every Student Succeeds Act or the federal Family First Prevention Services Act;

          G. an expert in the state's medicaid system;

          H. experts in commercial health insurance; and

          I. a professional attachment or trauma expert in infant, child and youth behavior; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that findings and recommendations of the task force be presented to the legislative health and human services committee by December 1, 2019; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the chair of the legislative health and human services committee, the secretary of children, youth and families, the co-chairs of the children's court improvement commission, the director of the child protective services division of the children, youth and families department and the chair of the children's cabinet.

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