CYFD worker files whistleblower suit

Woman says she was demoted after telling department about problems, including children sleeping in CYFD offices

A worker with the state Children, Youth and Families Department who says she was “swept up in a political witch hunt” is suing the agency for demoting her in the wake of a case involving Albuquerque parents accused of forcing their young daughter to engage in prostitution.

Former investigations supervisor Elisabeth duPassage, in a whistleblower lawsuit filed in state District Court in Santa Fe, cites severe understaffing at the department, which in recent years has been under intense scrutiny over a spate of high-profile child abuse cases.

“Ms. duPassage was demoted from her position permanently after she informed Children, Youth and Families Department officials about unsafe investigation numbers, the inability to complete timely work, unavailable resources and children sleeping in CYFD offices,” the suit says.

“At the time of Ms. duPassage’s demotion in January 2019,” it continues, “she was required to supervise more than 200 open cases.”

Employees often had to work overnight shifts to care for children at risk of abuse when no foster homes were immediately available for them, the suit says. “When Ms. duPassage was required to work the overnight shift, she could go 48 hours without a break from her job.”

DuPassage still works for the department, where she’s been employed for more than 20 years. She’s now a social worker in the agency’s western Bernalillo County office.

“Currently, Ms. duPassage’s caseload as an investigator for child protective services is more than 30 cases per month, plus any cases not completed from the prior month, greatly exceeding recommended safety and CYFD standards,” the suit says.

According to the suit, the department did not increase the number of positions for investigators in western Bernalillo County between 2015 and 2018, when it had a staff vacancy rate of 40 percent.

Charlie Pabst-Moore, a spokesman for the department, said Friday he couldn’t comment on pending litigation. But he said the current vacancy rate for Child Protective Services staff is 18 percent, up from 11 percent in late June.

The increase, he said, is due to jobs being added to the division when the new fiscal year began July 1. “We’ve been hiring like crazy,” Pabst-Moore said.

According to duPassage’s suit, she was demoted over a case involving parents charged in April 2018 with forcing their 10-year-old daughter into prostitution. There were more than 15 referrals to the agency concerning the parents and their children in a 10-year period, the suit says.

It’s not clear whether the complaint was referring to a well-publicized case last year in which an Albuquerque couple was charged with human trafficking and accused of forcing their 7-year-old daughter into prostitution.

A judge in February declared a mistrial in that case against the girl’s father, James Stewart. The case is still pending.

DuPassage’s lawyer, Diane Garrity, couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

The lawsuit says the Children, Youth and Families Department placed duPassage and 10 other employees on administrative leave in June 2018, and former child welfare Secretary Monique Jacobson, who served under previous Gov. Susana Martinez, made several public statements criticizing the department’s handling of the case.

Eventually, duPassage was demoted and suspended for seven days without pay.

“CYFD has acted inconsistently when administering discipline for employees who work in child protective services,” the suit says, noting several other highprofile child abuse cases that did not see the same result. “CYFD did not take similar actions to discipline employees performing the same or similar work.”

Despite a change in administrations this year, the suit says, duPassage “remains in a retaliatory work environment.”

The suit asks for “all damages provided under the Whistleblower Protection Act,” including double the amount of all back pay she has lost, with interest; compensation for “special damages”; litigation costs and legal fees.