{"id":25710,"date":"2011-02-03T08:22:02","date_gmt":"2011-02-03T15:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=25710"},"modified":"2016-09-02T11:19:05","modified_gmt":"2016-09-02T17:19:05","slug":"martinez-is-up-to-the-task-of-fixing-cyfd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/02\/martinez-is-up-to-the-task-of-fixing-cyfd\/","title":{"rendered":"Martinez is up to the task of fixing CYFD"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Three-year-old Leland Valdez, who died last week. His mother and her boyfriend are charged in his death, which came after CYFD returned the boy to his mother\u2019s custody following an investigation into abuse allegations in the home. (Courtesy photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

For 3-year-old Leland Valdez, who died last week, change will come too late, but let\u2019s hope the governor is able to make changes that help prevent such deaths in the future<\/h4>\n

Gov. Susana Martinez<\/a> was in her element on Tuesday talking about cracking down on problems at the state\u2019s Children, Youth and Families Department<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The former district attorney confirmed that a CYFD supervisor, who is on leave during a probe into how she handled a case involving a Pojoaque boy who died last week, was herself investigated by CYFD \u2013 and the agency substantiated abuse allegations against her.<\/p>\n

The supervisor, Gabriella James, remained on the job. She continued making decisions about whether to substantiate abuse allegations in CYFD cases despite the fact that the agency had substantiated child abuse allegations against her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is outrageous, and it will not continue in the Martinez administration,\u201d the governor told me. \u201cIt simply is unacceptable. It is as though you have someone enforcing the law who breaks the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martinez has taken control of the investigation into James\u2019 actions and the problems at CYFD. For those still trying to get a feel for how she\u2019ll govern, look no further than this situation.<\/p>\n

When Martinez is passionate about something, she immediately takes charge. When she perceives that a situation is being handled improperly, she loses patience. When she\u2019s dealing with something that\u2019s outrageous, her emotion \u2013 be it anger or heartbreak \u2013 is apparent.<\/p>\n

An outrageous situation<\/h3>\n

The story of 3-year-old Leland Valdez, who died last week, is an outrageous one. According to The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a>, the boy\u2019s father reported abuse allegations to CYFD in August. Instead of intervening, according to the newspaper:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201c\u2026the state allowed the boy and his 4-year-old sister to return to the custody of their mother, Tabetha Van Holtz. Last week, Van Holtz, 22, and her boyfriend, Steve Gallegos, 20, were arrested and charged with first-degree child abuse resulting in death and are each being held in the Santa Fe County jail in lieu of a $500,000 cash bond.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo CYFD workers (including James) have been placed on paid leave while their handling of the case is being reviewed. After their investigation was closed, a custody battle ensued, and Van Holtz won the right to raise the children.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Leland was unconscious when he was taken to the hospital on Jan. 24. His body was covered in bruises and abrasions, and doctors said he had injuries in \u201cvarious stages of the healing process.\u201d He never regained consciousness.<\/p>\n

A long history with such cases<\/h3>\n

Martinez immediately inserted herself into the investigation of Leland\u2019s death, to the surprise of some. It\u2019s highly unusual for a governor to become personally involved in the investigation into how a state agency handled a particular case.<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t surprised. Martinez has a long history of dealing with such cases. From 1993-1996, she worked for CYFD as a children\u2019s court attorney. And as the district attorney in Las Cruces, she prosecuted family members in the deaths of many children. There were seven such deaths in a span of 3.5 years starting in 2001.<\/p>\n

I know those cases intimately. I covered them as a crime reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News.<\/p>\n

Martinez\u2019s passion for protecting children from abuse, her heartbreak when the system fails, and her disdain for the abusers is apparent. You can see it in her face and hear it in her voice in this campaign ad<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I remember, while sitting in Martinez\u2019s office looking through Baby Brianna\u2019s<\/a> autopsy photos years ago, seeing Martinez tear up as she talked about the pain that poor girl suffered. I remember sensing Martinez\u2019s horror when I interviewed her a couple of years later about the Court of Appeals overturning the convictions<\/a> in Baby Brianna\u2019s death \u2013 convictions that were later reinstated by the state Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

No tolerance for harming children<\/h3>\n

Martinez has absolutely no tolerance for those who allow children to be harmed. I talked with her about that this week in the context of her involvement in the investigation into Leland\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided to get involved in this case because I have committed the last 25 years to doing everything I can to make kids safe\u2026 and fighting for kids that have been killed,\u201d Martinez told me.<\/p>\n

She said it was unacceptable that the previous governor\u2019s administration \u201cput employees, and their rights to maintain employment, above the safety of kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Martinez had her office fax me the police reports from probes into abuse allegations against James. One report includes a CYFD intake sheet that states that James, who was fostering an eight-year-old girl, had the girl removed from her custody after CYFD substantiated abuse.<\/p>\n

Also concerning, the intake report states, was that James continued to somehow have knowledge of CYFD\u2019s investigation into the allegations against her, even though she wasn\u2019t supposed to have such access.<\/p>\n

The reports Martinez sent are public documents. But it\u2019s unusual for a governor to gather those and send them to a reporter. This is an example of Martinez\u2019s take-charge style in instances like these. She\u2019s outraged, and she wants the public to know the full extent of the circumstances surrounding Leland\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

The authority, knowledge and experience to fix CYFD<\/h3>\n

Martinez\u2019s primary concern is that an employee who CYFD determined had abused a child continued to be making decisions about whether to substantiate abuse in other cases \u2013 and in one of those, abuse wasn\u2019t substantiated and now a child is dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne who is making life-changing decisions\u2026 should never have similar allegations against them that have been substantiated,\u201d Martinez told me. \u201cThat is unacceptable and that is something that is going to be changed immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

I can tell you from experience as a crime reporter that CYFD has a lot of problems. Martinez knows that well, and she is in the unique position of possessing the authority, passion, knowledge and experience to fix the structural and cultural problems.<\/p>\n

Martinez said she intends to do just that. She said fixing CYFD will include changes in personnel and policy, in addition to proposed legislation.<\/p>\n

For Leland Valdez, a boy who was buried this week with his favorite SpongeBob SquarePants blanket draped over his casket, the changes will come too late. Let\u2019s hope Martinez is able to make changes that help prevent such heartbreaking and unnecessary deaths in the future.<\/p>\n

Haussamen bio<\/a> \u2502\u00a0Commentary archives<\/a> \u2502\u00a0Feed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov. Susana Martinez has the authority, passion, knowledge and experience to fix problems at CYFD. Change will come too late for 3-year-old Leland Valdez, who died last week, but let\u2019s hope Martinez is able to make changes that help prevent such deaths in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[3304,142,107],"class_list":["post-25710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-child-abuse","tag-crime","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25710\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}