• Protect kids and teens online. Children and teenagers are particularly vulnerable to harmful online content and addictive platform features. I will work with the Legislature to require online platforms to limit addictive features, prevent the targeting of minors with harmful content, restrict late-night notifications to minors, prohibit targeted advertising and unnecessary data collection for minors, and require robust parental controls and transparency.

• Keep schools and neighborhoods safe from gun violence. No parent should worry that their kid might not come home from school safely. New Mexico has one of the highest gun-death rates in the country and firearms are the leading cause of death for our children. I will make the gun laws we recently passed real by training officers and prosecutors on red-flag orders, speeding up records so background checks are complete before any sale, running compliance checks, and getting safe-storage information and free locks to families statewide. And, drawing from my experience as a prosecutor, I will create a Gun Violence Prosecution Unit that targets straw purchasers – people who buy firearms on behalf of someone else to thwart background checks – gun traffickers, and repeat violent offenders.

• Prevent juvenile crime and hold offenders accountable when they commit criminal offenses. New Mexico is seeing rising youth violence involving firearms. In Bernalillo County alone, there have been over 900 cases involving kids with guns since 2019. As Bernalillo County District Attorney, I instituted a zero-tolerance policy for guns on school grounds and a firearm-plea policy requiring youths to disclose a gun’s source. I also worked closely with legislators, law enforcement, other prosecutors, school boards, and advocacy groups statewide to update the Children’s Code with two clear priorities: holding violent juveniles accountable and implementing meaningful preventative and rehabilitative measures. I will build on that work as Governor, both deterring crime and closing gaps in the juvenile justice system. Read more in my plan on the justice system.

• Protect children from harm. Every child deserves a safe home. But too many minors have been removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect, abandonment, or other circumstances that make it unsafe for them to remain with their biological parents or guardians. New Mexico has one of the nation’s highest rates of child maltreatment. Fixing this devastating challenge means investing in prevention of these problems before they start. I will put my experience to work to strengthen prevention, protect children, and hold the system accountable.

• Invest in prevention to cut maltreatment rates by half. We need to direct resources where they will generate the biggest impact: making smart, proven investments in prevention that will save money over time; drawing down every available federal dollar; supporting child protection workers; and prioritizing outcomes. Prevention is both the right thing to do and fiscally responsible. Every dollar spent helping families early can save several more by avoiding the far higher costs of foster care, emergency services, and court intervention. As a prosecutor, I have seen the devastating impact abuse and neglect have on children and families. I know that preventing harm – and responding swiftly when it happens – can save lives. We will draw down every available federal prevention dollar and put it to work in proven programs that keep kids safe at home, saving lives and money. 

• Expand proven parenting supports that prevent abuse and neglect. I will scale evidence-based both home visiting programs for expecting and new parents as well as targeted parent coaching for families. These programs connect families with trained social and health workers who provide guidance on child development, parenting skills, and available community resources. The Nurse-Family Partnership home visiting program cut abuse and neglect by nearly 50% and delivered up to $5.70 in benefits for every $1 invested. And evidence-based parent coaching models such as Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and Nurturing Parenting have reduced repeat maltreatment.

• Build community hubs to connect families with housing, child care, and mental health care. Families should not have to navigate a maze of programs to get help. Neighborhood- and school-based family resource hubs connect families with wraparound supports like mental health care, housing, food, and benefit navigation before problems escalate. These services improve family stability and reduce the likelihood of child welfare involvement by addressing challenges early and in familiar, trusted settings.

• Help at-risk families recover and stay together safely. I will expand family-centered addiction treatment that includes built-in child care, peer mentors, and coordinated case management. And I will ensure that low-risk neglect cases receive real help – such as housing, child care, food, and counseling – instead of just a case closure. This will reduce repeat reports and keep more children safely at home.

• Prioritize kinship care. Children thrive when they can stay with relatives or close family friends. We will ensure kinship caregivers receive the same financial support, benefits, and licensing access as foster parents.

• Recruit and retain foster families. We’ll use targeted recruitment to find homes for teens, sibling groups, and children with special needs and provide 24/7 crisis support, mentorship, training, and increased stipends to reduce disruptions and help foster families succeed.

• Prevent children from moving from foster care into the juvenile justice system. I will require coordination and shared case planning between child welfare and juvenile justice agencies, invest in therapeutic and community-based alternatives to detention, and expand staff and court training to identify trauma early and connect youth to services that stop cycles of crime and victimization.

• Strengthen the workforce at and oversight of New Mexico Children, Youth & Families Department (CYFD). New Mexico’s Children, Youth & Families Department rightly has become the focus of intense public scrutiny and legislative action. Children have died while under CYFD supervision, and the Department is struggling more broadly with protecting children. As governor, I will move aggressively to reform the Department.

• Make CYFD more accountable. I will start by ordering an independent, top-to-bottom audit of the agency and requiring monthly reports to the Governor’s Office and regular reports to the public on progress. I will put proven leaders in charge of CYFD’s most critical areas, give them the tools and authority to succeed, and hold them directly responsible for outcomes. My administration will demand clear goals, transparent benchmarks, and regular public reporting so nothing falls through the cracks. We will keep open lines with frontline staff and protect whistleblowers so problems get fixed early. And We will treat the Kevin S. Settlement, which requires major reforms to its child welfare system as the floor, not the ceiling, for reform, imposing accountability, transparency, and stronger oversight so that families see real improvements, not just paperwork.

• Fully staff caseworkers and strengthen the child protection workforce. Social workers are underpaid and overworked. We have a shortage of caseworkers and the results of these shortages can be devastating. My administration will work to fully staff these positions and cut turnover in half by raising compensation, offering flexible schedules, providing mentoring, adding mental health days, and continuing to recruit caseworkers through tuition support and job placement for social service students. We’ll also bring in temporary contract staff and cross-agency deployments to stabilize frontline teams until vacancies are filled.

• Leverage federal funding for prevention, foster care and adoption services, and family preservation programs. New Mexico should not be leaving federal money on the table when it comes to protecting children. For example, I will make sure the state fully implements the Family First Prevention Services Act so that federal dollars pay for prevention programs like home visiting, parent coaching, and family therapy – not just foster care. We will also maximize Medicaid reimbursement for behavioral health and family services. And we’ll make sure that Title IV-E funds are fully used – not only to support foster families, but also to help relatives raising children, to provide adoption and guardianship assistance, and to fund prevention programs that keep kids safe at home.

• Modernize technology. CYFD is upgrading its technology to make casework faster and more effective. But too often in state government, new systems are rolled out badly, wasting money and leaving frontline workers frustrated. I will ensure that every caseworker has – and knows how to use – effective, modern, mobile-friendly tools to track cases, flag risks, and spend more time in the field. We will use artificial intelligence responsibly, for example, to help identify early red flags in high-risk cases or spot patterns of concern across the system, while keeping final decisions in the hands of trained professionals. Other states are already doing this: Indiana uses AI to help screen child welfare hotline calls more accurately, and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, uses predictive analytics to identify families most in need of support. I will also launch public dashboards to report on response times, caseloads, and outcomes so families and lawmakers can hold the system accountable.

• Invest in innovative and proven child welfare practices from other states — like Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams in Ohio and Kentucky, which pair caseworkers with peer mentors to support parents struggling with addiction; Intensive Family Preservation Services in Washington State, which provide round-the-clock crisis support to help children remain safely with their families; and Community Response Teams in Nebraska, which connect at-risk families with housing, food, and counseling before problems escalate.

• Partner with faith-based and community organizations to support children and families. Faith-based and community groups in New Mexico already play a central role in tackling poverty, supporting foster and kinship families, running pre-K and afterschool programs, operating food pantries and shelters, and providing addiction recovery and mental health services. I will establish an Office of Faith- and Community-Based Partnerships to serve as a single point of contact and expand cooperation between state government, local nonprofits, and communities of faith. The Office will coordinate across agencies and issues but put a particular focus on children: helping recruit and support foster and kinship caregivers, partnering with early childhood providers to expand pre-K and home visiting in underserved areas, and connecting families with wraparound supports like housing, food, and counseling. While its reach will extend to broader community challenges, the Office’s top priority will be ensuring that every child in New Mexico has the safe home, strong start, and caring community they deserve.

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As a prosecutor, I have fought for justice for the most vulnerable, and I know what it takes to stand up for kids who cannot stand up for themselves. As Governor, I will bring that same determination to building a New Mexico where every child is safe, supported, and able to thrive. This is not just policy to me – it is my commitment to every family in our state.