A report issued Wednesday by the New Mexico Department of Justice outlines a litany of failures by the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department to protect children in foster care.
One notable finding in that report: When abuse occurs in a “congregate care facility” — a type of group living arrangement that includes youth crisis shelters, residential treatment centers and acute care hospitals — that abuse is recorded in an internal licensing database and not shared with foster care caseworkers, investigators, attorneys and others responsible for overseeing children’s care.
In most cases, instances of abuse or neglect are entered into CYFD’s FACTS system, a database that holds a vast array of information on a given child, from foster placements to safety and risk assessments. That information is critical for a child’s caretakers, the NMDOJ report said…