Child Safety

Fixing CYFD is about protecting kids and rebuilding trust.

New Mexico’s Children, Youth and Families Department has struggled for years, and those failures have taken a real toll on children, families, and taxpayers. High staff turnover, weak oversight, and uneven decisions have left too many kids at risk.

When the system fails early, the consequences follow children for life, showing up later in poor school outcomes, higher crime, and growing public costs.

Gregg Hull’s Kids Come First Plan starts with real accountability, clear standards, stronger support for frontline workers, safer placement decisions, and better tools to identify risk before problems turn into crises.

Setting Clear Standards and Real Accountability

CYFD should be measured by outcomes that matter to families: child safety, stable placements, school progress, and steady movement toward permanent homes.

Gregg’s plan starts with real accountability and clear standards for how the agency operates.

Accountability Priorities

• Measure CYFD by child safety, stable placements, school progress, and movement toward permanent homes.
• Use independent oversight and transparent review.
• Identify and correct problems early.
• Stop waiting until another child is hurt before the system changes.

Strengthening Independent Oversight

Independent oversight and transparent review are critical to rebuilding trust in CYFD.

Problems must be identified and corrected early, not after another child is hurt. Strong oversight helps protect children, support good caseworkers, and give families confidence that the agency is being held to clear standards.

Oversight Priorities

• Strengthen independent review.
• Increase transparency around agency performance.
• Create clear standards for correcting problems.
• Hold the system accountable for outcomes that matter to children and families.

Stabilizing the CYFD Workforce

A stable workforce is the foundation of child protection. CYFD cannot do its job when caseworkers are overloaded and constantly leaving.

Gregg supports setting realistic caseload limits, strengthening pay and training, and improving day-to-day support for frontline workers.

Workforce Priorities

• Set realistic caseload limits.
• Strengthen pay and training.
• Improve day-to-day support for frontline workers.
• Reduce turnover so caseworkers can better protect children and support families.

Using Better Tools to Manage Risk

New Mexico needs better tools to manage risk before problems turn into crises.

Other states have adopted modern data systems that give supervisors real-time insight into caseloads, safety concerns, and pending actions. These systems flag overloaded workers early, identify high-risk cases sooner, and help leadership make smarter staffing decisions.

Gregg believes New Mexico should move in the same direction.

Risk Management Priorities

• Give supervisors real-time insight into caseloads.
• Flag overloaded workers early.
• Identify high-risk cases sooner.
• Track pending actions more clearly.
• Help leadership make smarter staffing decisions.

Putting Safety First in Placement Decisions

Placement decisions must always put safety first. Reunification can be the right outcome, but only when a home is truly safe.

Too often, children have been returned to situations with clear danger signs. Every reunification decision should include a structured risk review that takes issues like drug use, domestic violence, and past neglect seriously.

Safe Placement Priorities

• Put child safety first in every placement decision.
• Require structured risk reviews for reunification decisions.
• Take drug use, domestic violence, and past neglect seriously.
• Require clear documentation for high-risk decisions.

Creating an Independent Safe Placement Review Board

Gregg supports creating an independent safe placement review board that can weigh in on difficult cases and provide an extra layer of protection when red flags are present.

A stronger voice for foster parents and relatives will further protect children and support good caseworkers.

Review Board Priorities

• Review difficult placement cases.
• Provide extra protection when red flags are present.
• Strengthen the voice of foster parents and relatives.
• Support good caseworkers with clearer review and documentation.

Protecting Children Today, Building Safer Communities Tomorrow

Protecting children today leads to safer communities tomorrow. Strong casework and stable homes reduce future strain on courts and corrections.

Gregg Hull’s goal is to rebuild CYFD into an agency New Mexicans can trust, one that protects children, supports families, and uses clear data and strong oversight to prevent failure instead of reacting to it.