Court oversight likely isn’t best way to fix foster care

It’s clear New Mexico’s foster care system has had its share of problems. Shocking cases, such as the incident where kids continued to be assigned to a foster family despite years of claims of abuse, make that clear.

It’s also clear the volume of kids removed from homes after findings of abuse or neglect — more than 4,000 during fiscal 2017 — puts a serious strain on the foster care system. And it goes beyond sheer numbers. Many of these children face mental, emotional and physical challenges, while the good people who step forward to be foster parents often lack the necessary skills or support from the state to deal with these troubled youngsters.

It’s much less clear the best way to handle the challenge is another agreement where a federal judge essentially takes on running the foster care program administered by the Children, Youth and Families Department. A proposed class-action suit filed by child care advocates last week seeks court intervention, contending the foster care system is “broken.” (This is separate from a suit filed this week on CYFD child-care subsidies.)

Regarding the foster care lawsuit, the state has had enough experience with court oversight agreements — in which lawyers and professionals involved have no financial incentive whatsoever to resolve the issues and end their billable hours — for this to only be a last resort.

The predecessor agency to CYFD was under such an agreement for 25 years aimed at faster adoptions of children in foster care. The city of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County have been struggling since the mid-1990s to get out from under federal court oversight of the Metropolitan Detention Center. The state is still working to move out from under federal oversight for a disability rights case brought in the 1980s by people released from two state mental hospitals. The city of Albuquerque has entered a federal consent decree to oversee reforms of the police department — in which it seems every step forward is accompanied by one back.

The foster care lawsuit sets out examples of troubled children being removed from their homes only to be dumped in a system that fails to treat their trauma, and in some cases puts them in overly restrictive housing where they continue their downward spiral. There are allegations of drugging difficult kids, with one residential treatment center accused of threatening “booty juice” if kids don’t shape up.

In response, CYFD points to significant improvements. It has added protective services workers in the field and reduced staff turnover. It has opened a “kid-friendly” receiving center in Albuquerque so kids don’t have to sit in a sterile office while awaiting placement, and in December there will be a new $20 million wellness center with cots and mats for children who need to stay overnight before being transferred. The agency says behavioral health clinicians are assigned to each CYFD office to screen children taken into state custody to “find the right treatment in the least restrictive environment.” And, the agency has bolstered the ranks of foster parents to 1,325, a net gain of 258 over the past three years.

On balance, it’s fair to say there have been improvements, but serious problems still need to be addressed. Lawyers tend to like litigation. And in these cases, litigation spawns its own bureaucracy that can last for decades and cost untold public dollars. So it’s in the interest of all New Mexicans, especially abused and neglected kids, to work toward a child-centric solution rather than one more adult-centric federal oversight system that takes on a life of its own. Advocates should sit down with legislators and a new administration in Santa Fe to find ways to address legitimate concerns in a reasonable way.

That would put kids first.