Searchlight New Mexico (https://searchlightnm.com/category/new-mexicos-children/)
New Mexico is now officially ranked as the worst state in the country to be a child, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. With the spring session of the Legislature starting and a newly seated governor in place, advocates for the state's children weigh in on what should be done to turn things around.
In the coming days, governor-elect Michelle Lujan Grisham will take the first major step to fulfill her sweeping campaign promises on education – appointing a secretary to lead New Mexico’s troubled Public Education Department.
With the closure of La Familia-Namaste, options for treatment foster care in New Mexico will be reduced further, leaving families scrambling to find vital services for their kids.
Throughout much of New Mexico, finding a doctor can be difficult. In a small village, the specialized services required for a diagnosis of autism are hard to come by, and treatment is nonexistent.
Bitter competition between Presbyterian and UNM has meant kids who need specialized care are getting sent out of state — instead of to the competitor. Now the hospitals are finally talking about a partnership.
New Mexico's infant mental health pioneers aim to eradicate “the myth,” as they call it, that babies cannot remember what they see or hear. Rather, they say, those early experiences can be life-defining for early childhood.
The two-year grant will support news coverage “directed toward child well-being, policy change, and a healthy, just New Mexico."
In this four-part series, Searchlight New Mexico evaluates the impact of Gov. Susana Martinez' two terms in office. Our journalists focused in particular on how her policies and appointees influenced the lives of and prospects for our state's children.
At least 44 states have introduced formal protocols or programs to boost oversight and monitoring of psychotropic drug use by children. Yet while other states work to limit psychiatric drugs, 30,000 NM children have prescriptions.
Albuquerque doctor is under investigation in 36 patient deaths.
We asked five national experts in child well-being, health, education and policy to write short essays in response to recent stories we have covered. Here's what they had to say.
