Issue Position: Child Safety and Well Being

Issue Position

The children of New Mexico represent 40% of our present and 100% of our future. While that has a cute little play on words, it has some deep meaning that we need to keep in mind when dealing with the difficult issues of the State. Children don't vote but we must enact laws and policies as if they do. We must look to the future and children represent that for the state.

The status of children in New Mexico is not good. We have to many children living in poverty, without health care, lacking caring adults, without proper nutrition, and a host of other problems. From the Kids Count Data Book the 2011 information show improving trends in five categories and worsening in 3 categories. We are in the bottom third of the states in all but two categories and are 48th of 50 in teen death rate and percentage of children in single-parent families. The one positive metric is in infant mortality rate of 6.4 deaths per 1000 live births. This places us 13th among the states. These low numbers should be a wake-up call for the states policy makers. We need to do a better job of taking care of our children. We cannot use the excuse that there is no money for children's issues when, in 2003, we gave personal income tax cuts for filers with incomes over $100,000, benefiting primarily higher-income filers.

What can we do to improve the lives of children in New Mexico? Research clearly shows that investments in early childhood learning is good policy. Early learning prepares children for school and life. We need to start before third grade to help children learn. We need to increase spending on early learning by investing an additional 1% of the state budget to this. It should not just be re-allocation from K-12 funding.

We need to support families. When there are economic difficulties in the home, it carries over to schools and other aspects of children's lives. Sound economic development that reduces the number of children living in poverty has a positive impact on educational success and stress in the home.

We are next to last in the nation for the teen birth rate with 64 births per 1000 females age 15-19. The national average is 41 per 1000 teens. While this problem has both cultural and religious aspects, the public health concerns require us to take action. Children born to teen mothers have a much lower chance at the American dream. We need programs to provide accurate pregnancy prevention programs and help teens plan for a future that includes delayed parenting. Most pregnant teens don't plan to get pregnant but not practicing birth control is planning to get pregnant.

We need to increase the number of social workers who work directly with families. Social work is difficult but social workers make a positive difference for families. They assist before the situation becomes a crisis. Currently the social welfare departments are understaffed, particularly in the southern part of the state. This results in crisis management with workers dealing with problems when they are most difficult rather than proactively to prevent problems. While more staff is expensive, it is much less expensive when all of the costs of poverty, child abuse, adoption, and lower educational achievement are factored in.

There are more than 30 children in Dona Ana County right now who are eligible for adoption. We need to streamline the process to help get more children placed in good homes. Currently everyone who inquires about adoption is referred to a central intake in Albuquerque so they can keep statistics on the number of inquires. As a result, some people who inquire, don't follow-up and potential adoptive parents are lost. Local Child Protective Services should be able to collect information on inquiries and start the adoption process. While I think the training, background checks, and home visits are important and should not be eliminated, we need to sure we are not losing people because their initial inquiry re-directs them somewhere else. The children are waiting for homes. They don't need bureaucracy.

The child protective laws in New Mexico have been strengthened in recent years with increased enforcement and prosecution. We need to spend more money and effort on prevention. The children are counting on us.

Source