IN THE NEWS: — New Mexico Child First Network

All-Politics.-All-New-Mexico.2-1170x150-1170x150.png

‘Outsider’ CYFD secretary looks to turn around troubled department

https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2019/02/25/outsider-cyfd-secretary-looks-to-turn-around-troubled-department/

Foster care changes

Maralyn Beck is a foster parent who began by making her home available for respite care or temporary and sometimes emergency placement of children in foster care . Now, after seeing how the system works from the inside, Beck is a full-time foster parent and recently founded New Mexico Child First Network, a nonprofit advocacy group.

“This has changed the course of my life,” Beck said of working with children in foster care.

A public relations specialist who has also worked for public agencies, Beck said she got involved with child advocacy after becoming disillusioned with disingenuous politicians calling for changes, but never implementing significant changes.

Now she spends most of her time in Santa Fe, meeting with lawmakers and speaking in committee meetings about foster care needs.

Right now, Beck said, the state needs to improve its foster system, by listening to and providing more training and resources to foster families.

Beck worked with a team of other advocates and legislators to come up with House Joint Memorial 10, which would create a child protective services task force and make recommendations to CYFD on how to improve the foster system. Now, that bipartisan joint memorial is headed to the Senate. Since memorials do not change state law, it does not require the governor’s signature.

As head of CYFD, Blalock is already navigating a handful of pending lawsuits against CYFD, over issues ranging from allegations that the department did not do enough to protect children to at least one allegation that the department violated a family’s constitutional rights. He’ll also be tasked with overseeing the juvenile justice and early childhood services aspects of the department. But New Mexicans like Beck are optimistic.

“We’ve had really productive and optimistic meetings with the secretary,” Beck said. “We know that he’s definitely the right man for the job and we all need to work together to support him.”

And Blalock seems more than ready to listen to ideas.