IN THE NEWS: New Mexico Legislature has wins, losses for foster youth
New Mexico Legislature has wins, losses for foster youth
By Steve Jansen Youth Today
Mar 7, 2020 Updated Mar 8, 2020
Padilla’s Foster Youth Changes Act, Senate Bill 168, aligns New Mexico with a federal foster care and adoption law and triggers about $2.3 million in federal funding for the state. The aid package is accessible through the state Children, Youth and Families Department for foster youth 18 to 21 who need financial help as they transition out of care.
Like SB 168, Lopez’s Senate Bill 130 received unanimous support from both chambers. The measure gives students in foster care partial credits when they’re forced to transfer to another public school due to a foster home move.
Foster youth advocates said the lack of transfer credits has been a huge issue, forcing some students to repeat entire academic years or drop out of school entirely.
Lopez and Rep. Susan Herrera, D-Embudo, advanced Senate Bill 146, which aligns with the state’s recent push to place more foster youth with extended family, such as grandparents or other siblings, or fictive kin — caregivers who are not blood-related but have become like family members.
Lopez said SB 146 closes a loophole created by “outdated federal law” that prevents many kinship guardians from receiving financial support.
Maralyn Beck, founder of the Albuquerque-based New Mexico Child First Network and a foster parent, said, “This possibly is the greatest and one of most important bills our Legislature passed in 2020 to improve the state of child welfare in New Mexico.”