NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Four children have died under the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department’s watch since April. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said she’s had enough and said the current system to keep families together is not working. Now, the state is changing how it handles babies born with drugs in their systems.
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Police were called to an Albuquerque home last month where a four-month-old was dead. The parents say they fell asleep with their baby between them and when they woke up, their son was unresponsive.
Many argue, he should never have been in the home in the first place. The baby was born with meth and fentanyl in his system but was still sent home from the hospital with his parents under a CYFD safety plan where someone was supposed to be checking on him. “I agree we have a really big problem with babies leaving the hospital and going back to the hands of parents that aren’t in treatment even. The safety plans currently aren’t truly safe,” said Sen. Nicole Tobiassen (R-Bernalillo County).
Many lawmakers have been vocal about the state’s failures and the federal CARA Act, which lets moms with drug problems take their babies home after they’re born. “We really lean in to family reunification. There is too much risk here,” said Governor Lujan Grisham.
Lawmakers this year moved the program to the New Mexico Health Care Authority and it has a fed-up governor implementing the changes early. “You cannot send a child home in those circumstances. No matter what the federal framework is. I’m rejecting that. It doesn’t work,” said Governor Lujan Grisham.
An email directive sent to all protective services staff this week stated, “For all screened-in investigations involving children born exposed to methamphetamines, fentanyl, or diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome, the child must be taken into custody and an abuse/neglect petition must be filed prior to discharge from the hospital.”
Hospitals would now hold drug addicted newborns until at least CYFD files an abuse and neglect petition. A judge would ultimately decide on that petition, including whether CYFD would continue to have custody of the newborn. The governor made it clear, “Babies do not go home. That’s the bottom line.”
“The job is to stand up for these babies. Alright? That’s happening. Number two, that we’ll get families into recovery. I need them to be motivated to get well. It’s a disease that needs attention.”
In the last three weeks, the state has made 149 visits to families with children exposed to drugs, who they say are not complying with safety plans. In the past 10 months, 693 babies born addicted to drugs were reported to CYFD.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
