New Mexico

Context Data | Outcomes Data | State Comment | Federal Comment

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New Mexico [State Comment]

Angela Adams, Director
Protective Services
New Mexico, Children, Youth and Families Department

The following are New Mexico's comments on the State's data presented in Child Welfare Outcomes 2002-2005: Report to Congress.

New Mexico attained an estimated population of 1,928,384 in 2005. This state is distinguished by its racial and ethnic composition. Persons of Hispanic and American Indian origin account for more than 50% of New Mexico's population. This is significantly higher than the estimated 15.4 percent seen nationally. Thus, New Mexico's population distribution requires child- and family-serving agencies to address needs specific to multicultural populations and to address unique sovereignty issues with Tribal governments.

Notably, New Mexico stakeholders have worked together to significantly improve performance that has resulted in a decrease in the number of children in foster care who were victims of maltreatment by a foster parent or facility staff member. Additionally, over the last couple of years New Mexico has allocated significant resources to the enhancement of its SACWIS (called FACTS), to more accurately capture child welfare data. In 2006 New Mexico's data system was awarded Tier 1 status by ACF, signifying compliance with all SACWIS requirements.

Concerning issues in Section B, in 2005, the State made a significant commitment in resources both to accelerate the disposition of pending investigations and to rewrite its NCANDS batch software. The increase in child victim numbers is attributable to these factors. Concerning Sections C and D, New Mexico is collaborating with ACF staff to modify FACTS to take into account the dropping of child cases and missing Termination of Parental Rights information from federal reporting. Once these mapping and coding modifications are complete, the State is planning to resubmit the AFCARS files as part of the CFSR/Round II review. These changes will provide more accurate data.

For outcome measure 1.1, the State has conducted a Repeat Maltreatment Summit to review data, identify critical factors, and develop a preliminary work plan to reduce repeat maltreatment. Additionally, New Mexico is developing work groups to identify strategies to decrease the incidence of repeat maltreatment, including increased family engagement, visitation strategies/supports, post-reunification support, etc. Further, changes to New Mexico's NCANDS mapping may contribute to the difference in the 2002 and 2005 rates for the recurrence of maltreatment.

For outcome measure 4.1, the methodology changes, especially the 8-day rule, for the Round II CFSR is not necessarily reflective of the State's statutory functioning and the consequent work focus for the child welfare system. In New Mexico, approximately 50 percent of the children brought into the child welfare system, exit care in under eight days. This is because many children enter the child welfare system through the sole discretion and direction of law enforcement. Thus the Round II measures exclude a significant part of the child welfare system's work in New Mexico. This issue is being discussed and addressed by the CFSR Round II Self Assessment Team.

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New Mexico [Federal Comment]

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

New Mexico's performance in achieving outcomes related to the safety and permanency of children served by the child welfare system is discussed below. The discussion focuses on performance in 2005 and change in performance over time, which is determined by calculating the percent change from a prior year to 2005. The prior year selected varies depending on the availability and reliability of data. A percent change that is less than 5.0 (either positive or negative) is considered to represent "no change."

The discussion incorporates information about performance on the seven outcomes that have been part of the Report to Congress since its inception. In general, data are provided for these outcomes from 2002 to 2005 and their measures are identified using the labels provided in the data pages (e.g., measure 1.1, 2.1, etc.). The discussion also incorporates information about performance on measures included in four composite data indicators recently developed for the Federal Child and Family Services Reviews. (See appendix B for a discussion of these measures.) The composites and measures are presented on the last page of the data pages and are identified below using the labels provided on the data page (e.g., measure C1.2, C1.3, etc.). Data are available for these outcome measures for 2004 and 2005 only.

Outcomes Pertaining to Safety

• In 2005, 8.6 percent of the children who were victims of child maltreatment in the first 6 months of the fiscal year experienced another maltreatment incident within a 6-month period (measure 1.1). This percentage exceeds the national median of 6.6 percent and represents a decline in performance from 2002 (24.6 percent change).
• In 2005, 0.36 percent of children in foster care in New Mexico were found to be victims of maltreatment by foster parents or facility staff members (measure 2.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 0.42 percent and represents improvement in performance from 2003 (75.5 percent change).

Outcomes Pertaining to Permanency

Performance with regard to exits from foster care to a permanent home (i.e., children discharged from foster care to adoption, guardianship, or reunification).

• In 2005, 95.4 percent of all children exiting foster care (measure 3.1), 90.4 percent of children exiting foster care who had a diagnosed disability, and 88.0 percent of children exiting foster care who were older than age 12 when they entered foster care (measure 3.3) were discharged to a permanent home. All percentages exceed the national medians for these measures (national medians for measures 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 are 87.8 percent, 79 percent, and 73.1 percent, respectively).
• In 2005, 37.7 percent of the children in foster care for 24 months or longer on the first day of the fiscal year were discharged from foster care to a permanent home by the last day of the fiscal year (measure C3.1). This percentage exceeds the national median of 26.4 percent and represents an improvement in performance from 2004 (38.1 percent change).
• In 2005, 95.5 percent of the children exiting foster care who were legally free for adoption (i.e., a parental rights termination date was reported for both parents) were discharged to a permanent home (measure C3.2). This percentage is about equal to the national median of 95.7 percent.

Performance with regard to children remaining in foster care until emancipated.

• In 2005, 2.3 percent of the children exiting foster care had a discharge reason of "emancipation" and 34.9 percent of these children were age 12 or younger when they entered foster care (measure 3.4). This latter percentage exceeds the national median of 27.6 percent, but represents an improvement in performance from 2004 (20.5 percent change).
• In 2005, 53.4 percent of the children exiting foster care with a discharge reason of emancipation had been in foster care for 3 years or longer (measure C3.3). This percentage exceeds the national median of 48.1 percent, but represents improvement in performance from 2004 (10.6 percent change).

Performance with regard to the timeliness and permanency of reunifications.

• In 2005, 69.7 percent of the reunifications of children who were in foster care for 8 days or longer occurred in less than 12 months from the time of the child's entry into foster care (measure C1.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 70.4 percent and represents a decline in performance from 2004 (5.0 percent change).
• Measure C1.3 indicates that 28.5 percent of the children entering foster care in the last 6 months of 2005 were reunified in less than 12 months from the time of entry into foster care. This percentage is less than the national median of 38.7 percent.
• Measure C1.4 indicates that 9.7 percent of children exiting foster care to reunification in 2005 reentered foster care in less than 12 months. This percentage is less than the national median of 14.8 percent and represents an improvement in performance from 2004 (24.8 percent change). Because measure C1.4 is a longitudinal measure of foster care reentry, it is intended to replace measure 4.2 as the assessment of foster care reentry.

Performance with regard to the timeliness of adoptions.

• In 2005, 32.1 percent of finalized adoptions occurred within 24 months of the child's entry into foster care (measures 5.1 and C2.1). This percentage exceeds the national median of 29.1 percent.
• In 2005, 33.0 percent of children in foster care for 17 months or longer at the start of the fiscal year who did not exit to reunification or guardianship were discharged from foster care to a finalized adoption by the end of the year (measure C2.3). This percentage exceeds the national median of 20.9 percent and represents an improvement in performance from 2004 (26.0 percent change).
• Measure C2.5 indicates that 51.2 percent of children who became legally free for adoption in 2005 (i.e., there was a termination of parental rights date reported for mother and father) were adopted in less than 12 months of becoming legally free. This percentage exceeds the national median of 45.1 percent and represents an improvement in performance from 2004 (28.6 percent change).

Outcomes Pertaining to the Stability and Appropriateness of Placements

• In 2005, 78.4 percent of the children in foster care for at least 8 days but less than 12 months experienced two or fewer placement settings (measure C4.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 82.4 percent.
• In 2005, 19.0 percent of children in foster care for 24 months or longer experienced two or fewer placement settings (measure 6.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 32.3 percent. The extensive variation in percentages for this measure suggests data quality concerns.
• In 2005, 11.6 percent of the children entering foster care at age 12 or younger were placed in a group home or institution (measure 7.1). This percentage exceeds the national median of 7.2 percent, but represents an improvement in performance from 2002 (10.8 percent change).

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