It’s time we stop letting CYFD be used for retaliation

Abby’s law would penalize false reporting, free up staff to investigate real abuse

With Feb. 18, the final day to pre-file a bill in the state Legislature fast approaching, I am asking for your support in helping me encourage Rep. Moe Maestas and Sen. Michael Padilla, both D-Albuquerque, to co-sponsor Abby’s Law. Both have expressed empathy for my family’s story.

This legislation makes it a crime to knowingly file a false child-abuse claim.

In New Mexico, an angry neighbor, dishonest teacher, ex-spouse or anyone can call the Children Youth and Families Department (CYFD) child abuse hot line and knowingly make a false child abuse allegation in retaliation for, well, anything, and it is perfectly legal.

Today the woman who made three false allegations against my 7-year-old son, my wife, and myself is free and has never been prosecuted for what is a crime in most states.

What makes so many cases like mine absurd is that CYFD knows that its child abuse hotline is widely used as a tool of retaliation. According to CYFD, 72% of calls it investigates are unsubstantiated. This means three innocent families in New Mexico face a traumatic investigation for every one case of actual abuse.

As Paul Williams, head of CYFD’s Statewide Central Intake Office said to Searchlight New Mexico, “We don’t want our agency to be used as a mean guard dog.” He added, “But I see it all day long.” Williams added, “I think part of the low substantiation rate is that not everything coming through is a legitimate concern about child abuse, but they (accusers) say the right things on the phone so we can’t call them a liar from the intake.” Shockingly, CYFD and its leadership do not want to outlaw knowingly making false child abuse allegations.

This abuse must stop. However, it is unlikely as long as it is legal to do so and perpetrators go unpunished.

I am asking the New Mexico Legislature to pass Abby’s Law, which would change state statute 32A-4-3(F) and make it illegal to knowingly make a false child abuse allegation.

The statute reads, “Any person who violates the provisions of this section pertaining to the duty to report is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be sentenced pursuant to NM 31-19-1.” You can go to jail for not reporting a suspicion, but not for making a false claim?

Abby’s Law would read, “Any person who violates the provisions of this section pertaining to the duty to report or knowingly makes a false report is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be sentenced pursuant to NM 31-19-1.”

By passing Abby’s Law, both innocent families and actual victims of abuse would benefit because criminalizing retaliation would discourage false reporting. This would allow CYFD, which is currently facing more than 150 lawsuits for its ineptitude and misconduct, to improve its competency.

Cutting false allegations in half would mean a 36% to 40% reduction in the total number of child abuse investigations.

In asking Maestas and Padilla to cosponsor legislation outlawing knowingly making a false allegation, I am asking our Legislature to prevent other families from suffering the tragedy that still plagues my family as we go through protracted lawsuits against Calvary Christian Academy, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and CYFD. Detractors will suggest that Abby’s Law and others like it discourage legitimate reports of child abuse. My son and daughter would beg to differ and have the permanent scars to show how harmful false allegations are to a family. Dismissing our family as collateral damage is unforgivable.

Passing Abby’s Law in New Mexico is a first step to creating a needed disincentive to using CYFD as a weapon for retaliation. It will also give the victims of false allegations the opportunity to hold criminals accountable.

Please help me encourage Rep. Maestas and Sen. Padilla to sponsor Abby’s Law.