On November 22, adoption attorney Harold Atencio revealed that he has witnessed widespread misconduct at New Mexico’s child welfare agency throughout his 30-year career. He has encountered everything from blatant policy violations to the destruction of public records.
Atencio, wanting to expose what he sees as rampant wrongdoing at the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, had previously refrained from doing so due to the risk of criminal prosecution under a state law. However, a recent ruling resulting from a U.S. District Court lawsuit filed earlier this year could now allow him and others to speak out about the troubled agency.
Atencio’s lawsuit, filed in April, sought to change a provision in the New Mexico Children’s Code that makes it a petty misdemeanor to release information tied to CYFD abuse or neglect cases. U.S. Magistrate Jennifer Rozzoni issued a judgment in October, prohibiting the prosecutor from enforcing the law after an agreement was reached between Atencio and District Attorney Sam Bregman. The suit faced no pushback from the defendants, with the Attorney General’s Office even filing a brief in the case declaring the provision unconstitutional.
Atencio brought the lawsuit based on a 2022 opinion from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, which struck down a similar statute in Colorado. The recent ruling in favor of Atencio will not directly impact the operations of the CYFD, according to agency spokeswoman Jessica Preston.
For years, the New Mexico CYFD has faced criticism and calls for reform due to numerous child maltreatment reports, high-profile child deaths, and a staffing shortage leading to case overloads and low worker morale. The agency has been labeled as “dysfunctional” by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, prompting efforts to recruit and train workers.
Furthermore, the department has been grappling with numerous lawsuits accusing it of failures and negligence that harmed the children it was meant to protect. At least two civil complaints in recent months blamed CYFD for the deaths of infants.
Atencio is hopeful that the federal court judgment in his case will bring a new level of transparency to CYFD and drive the changes necessary for the department. The threat of criminal charges for speaking out about abuse cases has had a “chilling effect” on people involved in confidential proceedings which, Atencio believes, has prevented greater exposure of the issues plaguing the agency.
“We’re just scratching the surface,” Atencio said. “We have finally opened the door enough to let some light in to everything that’s going on. I’m hoping that a lot of people out there — not just attorneys, but the parties themselves — are made aware that this confidentiality statute is no longer enforceable.”
