CYFD says intake hotline remains busy as committee presses for more data and transparency

Acting Cabinet Secretary Valerie Sandoval told the Legislative Finance Committee that New Mexico's Statewide Central Intake (SCI or "Sky") remains a 24/7 gateway for reporting suspected child abuse and neglect and that the department will not decline any report received through the hotline. Sandoval described Sky as a continuous operation with backup procedures if systems go down and said the intake process combines a structured decision-making (SDM) tool with supervisor review.

The department uses the SDM tool developed by Evident Change as an evidence-informed aid to guide intake staff in determining whether a referral should be screened in for investigation or screened out. Sandoval emphasized that the SDM output is advisory: staff and supervisors may override the tool and staffing with supervisors occurs before field initiation. She also outlined the response priorities that govern field timelines: emergency responses require face‑to‑face contact with alleged victims within three hours, priority‑1 responses within 24 hours and priority‑2 responses within five days.

Sandoval provided multi-year intake volumes and operational measures requested at earlier hearings. She said that in 2022 Sky received more than 38,000 reports, with roughly 21,000 screened in and 17,000 screened out. Through October 2025 the intake center had received over 33,000 reports (about 18,000 screened in and 15,000 screened out). She noted September 2025 saw more than 4,000 reports in the month alone (approximately 2,100 screened in and 1,800 screened out). Sky tracks caller sources and peak hours and uses a triage queue during busy periods.

Sandoval described prevention and follow-up work for screened-out referrals. Since launching the Family Outreach unit in 2021, CYFD reported helping 1,238 families in the last 12 months (2025) with needs such as food, housing and behavioral-health referrals through warm handoffs to community providers. She also said a recent quality assurance review showed 98% accuracy for screened‑in decisions and reported an 88% accuracy rate for screened‑out determinations. Sky staffing was listed at 61 full‑time equivalent positions with three current vacancies at the time of the hearing.

Committee members pressed for additional data that Sandoval offered to supply. Questions included whether the state's per‑capita call volume is higher than peers, the share of duplicate reports versus unique children or families, a breakdown of allegations by percentage, substantiation rates, and the family outreach acceptance/refusal rates. Sandoval committed to providing follow‑up spreadsheets and county breakdowns.

Legal clarifications came from CYFD general counsel Amanda Romero, who explained the legal standard for substantiation relies on the New Mexico Administrative Code (cited in the hearing as 8.10.3) and the concept of "credible evidence" (child disclosure, parent admission, physical evidence, collateral information, etc.). Sandoval and counsel also emphasized that all intakes are cross‑reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency and to tribal social services or licensing entities when jurisdictional or facility reports require it.

The hearing closed with legislators requesting several data deliverables, including duplication analysis, comparative state rates, family outreach monthly breakdowns, and clarity on the planned CCWIS case management build and its timeline.

Sandoval's presentation and the committee's questions represent the immediate operational view of New Mexico's intake system; the committee asked for the department to return data and documentation to allow more precise benchmarking and oversight.

The committee signaled it will use the incoming information to evaluate resource needs, oversight questions and how the forthcoming CCWIS implementation may affect analytics and supervisory workflows.