Let鈥檚 Talk New Mexico 5/20 8am: Life can be tough for kids in New Mexico鈥檚 foster care system. In fact, a lawsuit brought against the state in 2018 alleged that by severing them from contact with extended family members and their community, shuffling them from home to home, not providing adequate mental health care and not considering factors like tribal enrollment when placing kids with families. But that all may be changing for the better.
Last year, New Mexico鈥檚 Children, Youth and Families Department agreed to a legal settlement that by 2023 would radically reform how kids in New Mexico鈥檚 foster care system are treated.
On this week鈥檚 Let鈥檚 Talk New Mexico, we鈥檒l be taking a look at those reforms and how the state is doing with implementing them. We鈥檒l talk to plaintiffs in the , young people who came out of the foster care system and organizations that support foster kids in our state. And we want to hear from you! Are you, or, have you been a kid in a foster home? What was the experience like? Or, are you a foster parent? What do you think works or doesn鈥檛 work with the system as it鈥檚 currently operating? Email us at LetsTalk@kunm.org or call in live during the show.
Guests:
Therese Yanan,
Brian Blalock,
Ezra Spitzer, Executive Director,
Hope Alvarado, Youth Leader,
Marissa Vigil, Youth Leader,
