Office of Performance and Accountability
CYFD’s Office of Performance and Accountability (OPA) is a distinctive group of bureaus within the Department under the Cabinet Secretary.
OPA’s bureaus work together to identify strengths and challenges, help develop improvement strategies, and communicate with agency leaders to evaluate practice and outcomes.
Protective Services Data Dashboard
The dashboard includes information on children in state custody, removals, adoptions, calls to the Statewide Central Intake (SCI), cases transferred to tribal jurisdictions, and fatalities and near fatalities.
Data will be updated quarterly and includes all data reported to the Governor and Legislature.
This initiative supports CYFD’s broader efforts to strengthen accountability, promote transparency, inform data-driven decision-making, and foster collaboration with providers, lawmakers, advocates, and community members.
Data Updated: April 2026
*Note: Any numbers <10 (less than 10) are noted as such as to avoid any identifying factors of those children or youth.
*Note: On Page 4 CPS Statewide Central Intake Calls – Unknown categories for gender, race, and ethnicities are due to information that was not provided by the source at the time of the call.
32A-4-33.2. Creation and maintenance of a dashboard on the department website; annual report.
C. Data shall be disaggregated by age, race, ethnicity, gender, disability status and geographic location.
Dashboard data definitions:
- Children in State Custody: Metric: The number of children in department custody and the average length of time in custody, including the number of in-state and out-of-state placements in which children are placed. Definition: Children, ages 0-17, who entered custody (foster care) through an Ex Parte Custody Order or Voluntary Placement Agreement. This also includes “short stayers,” children in temporary custody for 8 days or less. Out-of-state placements include children placed through the Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children (ICPC) and children placed in residential treatment centers or other therapeutic congregate care institutions out of state.
- Children in Foster Care: Metric: The number of children in foster care and the length of time in foster care or living with relatives or fictive kin. Definition: Children in foster care are defined the same as Children in State Custody, but exclude short stayers. This metric focuses on children placed with licensed relatives and fictive kin, and the length of time in that placement. Relative and fictive kin definitions can be found at 8.26.4.7 R NMAC and 8.26.4.7 FF NMAC.
- Reunifications: Metric: The number of children returned to a household from which they were removed. Definition: The number of children in foster care who have been reunified with their parent, guardian, or custodian as part of their permanency plan.
- Runaways: Metric: The number of children placed in the custody of the department who have run away while in custody. Definition: Children in foster care who have left their current foster care placement without permission of CYFD.
- Removals: Metric: The number of children removed from the custody of a parent, guardian, custodian, or other person and the reasons for removals. Definition: The number of children, ages 0-17, removed from the custody of a parent, guardian, or custodian through an Ex Parte Custody Order or Voluntary Placement Agreement. This also includes short stayers.
- Adoptions: Metric: The number of adoptions and the number of adoptions for which funding was terminated prior to the child reaching the age of eighteen. Definition: Children in foster care whose adoption has been finalized as part of their permanency plan. Children and youth who have been adopted and received either a State or Title IV-E adoption subsidy because the child met special needs criteria. Adoption subsidies support successful adoptions and provide the adoptive family a monthly subsidy amount based on what the family and child received while in foster care. Subsidies generally terminate at age 18, but if a child is adopted after age 16, the subsidy can be extended to age 21. Subsidies are generally not terminated unless a child passes away or the adoption dissolves and the child comes back into custody.
- Calls to Statewide Central Intake (SCI): Metric: The number of complaints received alleging abandonment, abuse, or neglect. Definition: All reports of abuse, neglect, or abandonment made to Statewide Central Intake before a screening decision is made. A screening decision is made to either accept a report for investigation or to not accept a report for investigation based on Safety Decision Making and allegations meeting the statutory definition of child abuse and neglect. (Screen-in/accepted for investigation or Screen-out/not accepted for investigation).
- SCI Screened-In and Screened-Out Reports: Metric: The number of investigations resulting from complaints, the number of complaints accepted for investigation, and not accepted for investigation, and the identified reasons in the aggregate for not investigating a complaint. Definition: Of reports received alleging abandonment, abuse, or neglect, the number of screened-in reports for investigation (accepted), the number of screened-out reports (not accepted for investigation), and the reason why the report was screened out.
- Transfers to Tribal Jurisdictions: Metric: The number of children and cases transferred to the jurisdiction of Indian nations, tribes, and pueblos pursuant to the Indian Family Protection Act (IFPA). Definition: Investigation or foster care cases in which CYFD transfers jurisdiction of a foster care case or investigation to the Nation, Tribe, or Pueblo.
- Absconded: Metric: The number of cases in which families subject to court-ordered treatment plans or Voluntary Placement Agreements have absconded with children placed in the custody of the department. Definition: The number of children in foster care that have been taken involuntarily by their parent, guardian, or custodian without the consent or knowledge of CYFD or the court.
- Fatalities/Near Fatalities: Metric: The number of fatalities and near fatalities of children in the custody of the department or as a result of abandonment, abuse, or neglect when in the custody of a parent, guardian, custodian, or other person. Definition: Children ages 0-17 and their parents, guardians, or custodians who have an open case with CYFD (active investigation, family services case, foster care, and extended foster care) or who had a case or involvement with the CYFD within the last three years.
Programs
CYFD Data Analytics & Reporting
The Office of Performance and Accountability houses the Department’s data analytics and reporting teams and provides end-user support and data quality assurance for the CYFD’s case management system.
Federal Reporting Bureau
The Federal Reporting Bureau ensures timely eligibility determinations for children in foster care as well as access to Medicaid and other federal benefits.
The Bureau also oversees the federal Child and Family Services Review; Child and Family Service Plan and Annual Progress and Services Report; Title IV-E audits; and ongoing county-based case reviews.
CYFD's Reports & Publications
Find CYFD’s Reports and Publications Here.
Quality Assurance Bureau
The Quality Assurance Bureau consists of case review teams focusing on safety-related practices; systems improvement implementation including initiatives related to the Kevin S settlement agreement; the Fostering Connections (extended foster care) program; and training.