Short-Term Foster Care

The State of New Mexico's Children, Youth and Families Department Juvenile Justice and Protective Services Divisions seeks to decrease the number of youth referred to detention facilities by offering an alternative placement for up to 50 youth a month. The primary goals of the program are to reduce the number of youth inappropriately referred to detention and placed in emergency custody; to keep youth in a familiarly structured and safe environment; and to avoid exposing youth to inappropriate peer contact. The program strategy is to implement a short-term family based care program that will provide a five-day respite alternative to detention for youth who need to be removed from their home environment, but are not appropriate candidates for detention, and children temporarily removed from their homes during investigations of possible abuse or neglect. Performance measures will include the number of youth referred to the program; the number of youth determined to be at low- and medium-risk who receive overrides to detention; the number of youth who return to the system either through referrals for delinquent acts or Protective Services referrals. NCA/NCF