The tragic death of another child in New Mexico has prompted a child advocate to blame the governor and the children’s safety agency that had been warned about the threat.
Vanessa Chavez was charged with child abuse resulting in death after her 18-month-old daughter was found unresponsive and died after 20 minutes of CPR, Albuquerque police said. The girl’s death is the sixth in only four months of incidents that involved the state’s Children, Youth & Families Department, according to KOB-TV.
‘This is on the governor. There is blood on the governor at this point.’
New Mexico Child First Network founder Maralyn Beck said the death was preventable and places the blame squarely on the governor as well as the child safety agency.
“Every single one of these deaths was preventable,” Beck said to KOB.
She added: “This is on the governor. There is blood on the governor at this point.”
The child had been taken away from Chavez when she was born premature because the girl had been drug-exposed. KOB reports that the girl was returned to the parents for a trial period and died soon afterward.
“One call to child protective services in a functioning system should save the life of a child,” an emotional Beck said. “One single call. That’s a functioning system, and we don’t have that.”
KOB put the criticism to Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, and she said that it would be a priority for her office as she nears the end of her term but admitted that the agency had troubles.
“You’re chasing your tail, and we’ve been chasing our tail for decades,” she said.
When asked if she was going to make progress in the 18 months she has left, she responded, “We’re gonna make some damn important progress, yes sir.”
The governor’s office also released a statement.
“Gov. Lujan Grisham is working diligently to address flaws in the system for protecting New Mexico’s most vulnerable children, most recently announcing a bold overhaul of the way our state protects babies born to drug-addicted parents,” reads the statement in part. “New Mexico must also urgently address its addiction crisis — a contributing factor in recent child deaths.”
CYFD also released a statement about its involvement in the death of the child. The department confirmed that two of the three children belonging to Greg Montoya and Vanessa Chavez had previously been taken into CYFD custody. On June 18, an attorney for the couple asked for the abuse and neglect case to be dropped because the parents had complied with a “court-ordered reunification plan,” according to the CYFD.
CYFD said that none of the parties at the hearing objected to the dismissal, including social workers from the Office of Family Representation and Advocacy and the presiding judge.
“The death of this child is a tragedy of immeasurable proportions. CYFD extends its deepest condolences to all those affected by this loss,” the agency said.
Beck believes far more needs to be done to prevent the child deaths.
“If this isn’t a public health crisis, it’s a moral health crisis,” she said.
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