Wednesday, state analysts shared with lawmakers how best to spend the state’s money to tackle the problem.
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – It’s no secret New Mexico scores as one of the worst states for child well-being, and the rates of abuse and neglect within the child welfare system reflect one piece of the problem. Wednesday, state analysts shared with lawmakers how best to spend the state’s money to tackle the problem.
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“We know that the rate of maltreatment, that’s the number of children for every thousand is how the feds measure it, in New Mexico is considerably higher than the nation,” said Rachel Mercer Garcia, principal analyst for the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee (LFC).
It’s estimated that 13% of New Mexico kids in the child welfare system experience abuse or neglect, compared to less than 8% at the national level. That’s according to data analyzed by the LFC. “If you break down what is that maltreatment, these are the federal categories that are collected by the administration of children and families, and the majority of that tends to be neglect,” Mercer-Garcia said.
State analysts told lawmakers: the rate of maltreatment when kids are either in state custody or involved with the system has consistently been higher over time than other states and the rate of repeat maltreatment has been significantly higher than the national average for more than a decade.
“In New Mexico, that rate currently is about 15 percent, that has gone up slightly over the last year. And that is the rate at which children experience another instance of abuse or neglect after coming into contact with the system a year prior,” Mercer-Garcia said.
Analysts said there are conditions in the state that contribute to those stark statistics, like many adults having bad experiences in their own childhood: “We know that about a quarter have four or more adverse childhood experiences, and those are risk factors that likely contribute and underlie the data you see in front of you when it comes to child maltreatment,” Mercer-Garcia said.
The number of children in foster care in the state has risen since the pandemic to just over 2,000 kids. Analysts told lawmakers their recommendation would be to invest in programs that intervene with at-risk families before there’s a problem that requires the state to step in; not only because it’s less costly, but: “Children in foster care often experience consequences due to family disruption and multiple placements that results in lasting trauma,” Mercer-Garcia said.
The New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department has said one of the ways they are trying to improve the agency is to boost staffing. In the past year, the turnover rate was more than a third of child welfare workers at the agency; almost three times what is considered an acceptable rate.