The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department paid out $1.4 million to settle a lawsuit in which the agency was accused of placing two young siblings with a family where the children were starved, beaten and one was sexually abused.
The lawsuit, filed in 2022 in First Judicial District Court, was settled in late July, with $700,000 being paid out to each child. The children, who are not identified in court records, suffered abuse over a number of years while staying with the Taos family, and CYFD failed to substantiate allegations of abuse against the family and signed off on the children’s adoption, leading to more abuse, the original civil complaint filed in the lawsuit alleges.
"These children have been through a lot of adversity. It's our hope that through litigation and through a process where those harms are brought to light, there's hope ... no other children suffer similar similar outcomes," attorney F. Michael Hart said in an interview.
CYFD spokesperson Jake Thompson wrote in an email the agency does not admit fault in settlements, adding the department— with the help of outside attorneys and the state General Services Department’s Risk Management Division — assesses each lawsuit based on the facts and the risk of allowing it to go to trial.
“In this particular case, the department determined after that assessment that it was appropriate to settle the matter ahead of trial,” he wrote.
So far this year, CYFD has paid out more than $1.8 million to settlelawsuits and tort claims, according to the New Mexico Sunshine Portal, which appears to largely only track civil cases filed in state District Court. The $1.4 million settlement in this lawsuit represents the largest one so far this year.
The two children were taken into state custody amid allegations of abuse and neglect against their biological parents, according to the lawsuit. CYFD identified the Taos parents as possible adoptive parents for them in 2014. The children stayed with the family while adoption proceedings moved forward, the lawsuit adds.
In 2017, the state received a report of suspected abuse of the children, specifically involving physical abuse and inappropriate discipline in the home, the lawsuit states. It alleges CYFD actually found there were safety concerns in the home.
However, the agency did not substantiate the allegations, closed its investigation, and referred the family to community services, the lawsuit alleges.
Later, the children were adopted by the Taos family, a move CYFD signed off on, the lawsuit alleges. Then, in 2019, the agency received another report of physical abuse and inappropriate discipline involving the family. The lawsuit alleges CYFD again closed its investigation and referred the family to services to help. The lawsuit accuses CYFD of overlooking the family’s failure to access those services.
A year later, one of the children’s schools reported to CYFD they suspected child abuse and neglect, expressing serious concerns that the adoptive parents were hoarding food from one of the children, a boy. During that investigation, the child — 11 at the time — weighed between 56 and 62 pounds, but CYFD still closed its investigation without taking serious action, the lawsuit alleges.
In December 2019, the boy seized an opportunity to flee the home and run to a neighbor’s house wearing only a paper bag. The boy was emaciated and covered in bruises and other injuries, the lawsuit states. The neighbor let him in and protected him when his adoptive father tried to take him back.
The boy later said he was being starved by his adoptive parents, who were “only giving him one hot dog at noon and one hot dog for dinner,” and would withhold food from him for bad behavior, the lawsuit states. At the time, he hadn’t eaten in two days.
The boy was also not allowed to leave his room to go to the restroom and was forced to relieve himself in his room. He also reported being brutally abused, including by beatings from older children in the home on the orders of his adoptive parents, the lawsuit states. His sibling, meanwhile, was being physically and sexually abused, it adds.
CYFD finally substantiated allegations of physical neglect and abuse, the lawsuit states, and the adoptive parents were criminally charged with multiple counts of child abuse. The father was also charged with first-degreecriminal sexual penetration of a child and other crimes. The adoptive parents each struck deals with prosecutors and pleaded no contest to lesser crimes. The mother was sentenced to a total nine years in prison and the father was sentenced to20.
Esteban Candelaria is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. He covers child welfare and the state Children, Youth and Families Department. Learn more about Report for America atreportforamerica.org.
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