ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An 18-month-old girl is dead, and her mother is facing charges of child abuse resulting in death. This is now the sixth child fatality in New Mexico in just four months, all of the cases involving the state’s Children, Youth & Family Department.
Vanessa Chavez appeared briefly in court Thursday following her arrest. Police say officers responded to a home near Coors and Milne in northwest Albuquerque over the weekend, where they found the baby girl unresponsive. She died after 20 minutes of CPR.
The incident is drawing renewed outrage from child advocacy groups, who say the state’s child protection system is failing and placing direct blame on New Mexico’s leadership…