CYFD goes digital, makes access to child care easier
This week, the state Children, Youth and Families Department joined the Metropolitan Court in Albuquerque in trying to drag New Mexico’s bureaucracy into the digital age. The rest of our status-quo bureaucrats should put down their rotary phones and take note.
On the heels of Metro Court cutting no-shows in half by texting defendants notice of upcoming hearings, CYFD has launched an online application that allows families to apply for the Childcare Assistance program from their phone, tablet or computer. Consider:
Less than a third of residents ■ eligible for Childcare Assistance currently take advantage of it;
The traditional system ■ requires a stressed parent, grandparent or guardian to drive to an office during business hours and wait in line to fill out forms just to sign up — work and kids notwithstanding; and
There have been too many high-profile tragedies involving ■ children left with unacceptable or over-taxed caregivers to keep track of (Journal headlines include “Mom’s boyfriend charged in death of 1-year-old,” “Man gets 25 years for child’s death,” “Grand jury indicts 2 in child’s death,” “4-month-old allegedly abused by 19-year-old man has died,” “30 years for rape, death of baby girl”).
The intent is to make it easier and faster for eligible families to get the application process started. The bottom line is to help ensure more N.M. kids are safe. CYFD Cabinet Secretary Monique Jacobson says “childcare assistance is one (of) the greatest tools we have in the fight to improve the quality of life for children in New Mexico. We all too often see that tragedies occur when parents leave their children with an inappropriate caretaker or when parents themselves reach a breaking point.”
What a concept, to help as many kids as you can rather than to take the stance, as N.M.’s traditional public schools establishment has, that if you can’t help everyone, help no one. (Albuquerque Public Schools, teachers unions and school board association shot down a bipartisan bill in this year’s Legislature that would have required a data-driven texting program to alert parents to absences and upcoming tests because some parents may not have smartphones.)
It will be essential CYFD provides analysis on its program, and if the results follow those of Metro Court, the rest of the bureaucrats have no excuse not to join the digital age.