WITH FIVE DAYS TO GO IN THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION, NM HOUSE DEMOCRATS BLOCK LEGISLATION TO PROTECT VULNERABLE CHILDREN

SANTA FE, NM – With less than a week to go in this year’s legislative session, the state agency that is responsible for protecting New Mexico’s most vulnerable children will not be receiving the help it needs, even though the Secretary of Children, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD) said that the department needs immediate reform if they are going to remediate the major policy and departmental issues that have resulted in painful tragedies across the state. 

House Republicans have introduced critical pieces of legislation, including HB 95-family in need of court ordered services, HB 97-prenatal substance exposure task force, HB 103-child exposure to controlled substance, HB 106-fentanyl exposure as child abuse, and HB 121-CYFD plan of care investigations. All these bills are crucial fixes to the bureaucratic setbacks that have blinded CYFD and stained its image to the public. Every single one of these bills have yet to be seriously considered by House Democrats or the Governor.

House Republicans prioritized the children in New Mexico who rely on CYFD for safety and wellness, making sure they are not in situations where their lives or wellbeing are at risk. The most radical pieces of legislation in state history have rolled through committees, stripping the rights of New Mexicans, yet our children who need us the most have taken a back seat to the radical Democrats’ socialist pipedreams that hurt New Mexico families, destroy our economy, grow the government, and create career violent criminals.