New Mexico
What New Mexico reported to the federal government about the children in its custody and the children it investigated. Where a year says not reported, that is the record.
The funnel, FFY 2024
New Mexico vs. national
What happened to reports of child maltreatment in New Mexico in federal fiscal year 2024, at each decision point. Rates are what make states comparable; raw counts mostly measure population.
| Stage | New Mexico | Rate | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referrals to CPSCounts: referrals | 39,491 | 88.2per 1,000 children | 59.3 |
| Screened in (became reports)Counts: referrals | 21,75955.1% of referrals | — | 47.1% |
| Screened outCounts: referrals | 17,73244.9% of referrals | — | 52.9% |
| Children investigated or given an alternative responseCounts: children | 24,983 | 55.8per 1,000 children | 40.6 |
| Child victims (substantiated or indicated)Counts: children | 6,293 | 14per 1,000 children | 7.2 |
| Child fatalitiesCounts: children | 17 | 3.8per 100,000 children | 2.41 |
Referrals, reports, children, and victims are four different denominators and are not interchangeable. A referral may concern more than one child; a child may appear in more than one referral; a victim is a child with a substantiated or indicated disposition. National figures are the Children's Bureau's own estimates, not sums of the state rows.
Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS), Tables 2-3, 3-1, 3-3, 4-1
What New Mexico does not report
For the measures on this page, New Mexico reported a figure in every year covered. That is not the same as the figures being complete or comparable — see the methodology for what the federal record does not measure at all.
Maltreatment and fatalities over time (NCANDS)
Child fatalities reported to NCANDS, New Mexico, FFY2020 to FFY2024
Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)
KARA VerifiedChild Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)FFY 2024Counts: child fatalities
Child maltreatment victims, New Mexico, FFY2020 to FFY2024
Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)
KARA VerifiedChild Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)FFY 2024Counts: child victims (substantiated or indicated)
Foster care (AFCARS)
| Measure | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adopted with public agency involvement | 310 | 315 | 295 | 306 | 311 | 297 | 336 | 281 | 319 | 203 |
| Entered foster care | 1,858 | 2,120 | 1,795 | 1,872 | 1,902 | 1,679 | 1,447 | 1,184 | 929 | 927 |
| Exited foster care | 1,669 | 1,808 | 1,655 | 1,715 | 1,824 | 1,793 | 1,609 | 1,372 | 1,188 | 950 |
| In foster care on September 30 | 2,077 | 2,366 | 2,471 | 2,610 | 2,657 | 2,508 | 2,326 | 2,120 | 1,841 | 1,800 |
| Children served in foster care | 3,746 | 4,174 | 4,126 | 4,325 | 4,479 | 4,299 | 3,933 | 3,489 | 3,027 | 2,748 |
| Termination of parental rights | 518 | 523 | 507 | 531 | 812 | 597 | 621 | 629 | 480 | 455 |
| Waiting for adoption | 880 | 990 | 1,134 | 1,263 | 1,424 | 1,205 | 1,194 | 1,040 | 785 | 704 |
Source: AFCARS state tables, FY2013 to FY2022
AFCARS 2020 rule, FFY2023 to FFY2025 (preliminary)
Collected under the AFCARS 2020 final rule, first effective FFY 2023. Counts include ages 0 to 23. Figures are preliminary estimates from submissions received by February 27, 2026, and states may still revise them. This series is not comparable with the FY 2013 to FY 2022 series, which was collected under the 1993 rule and counted a narrower population; this site does not join the two. Wyoming first submitted under the new rule for FFY 2024 and Washington for FFY 2025; earlier years for those states are shown as not reported.
| Measure | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entered foster care | 1,310 | 1,216 | 1,161 |
| In foster care on September 30 | 2,049 | 2,207 | 2,282 |
| Exited foster care | 968 | 936 | 945 |
Counts: children (ages 0 to 23)
Source: AFCARS Dashboard, preliminary FFY2025 estimates (No. 33)
New Mexico in the archive
What the numbers above cost, in KARA's own reporting.
- School Performance, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow & What To Do
KARA reportingMike TikkanenMay 5, 2026
• “Since 2020, national and state test data show steep declines in foundational reading and math skills that are not bouncing back on their own. If current trends hold, by 2034 a majority of U.S. students will need remedial support, deepeni...
- From Classrooms to Homeless Shelters: How Our Choices Hurt Children
KARA reportingMike TikkanenMarch 24, 2026
Compared to other advanced nations America treats children and the people who care for them as an afterthought and then acts surprised when our schools and child‑welfare systems are overwhelmed with troubled children suffering from health a...
- COVID + ICE RAIDS Impacting America's Schools
KARA reportingMike TikkanenFebruary 26, 2026
COVID school closures and ICE raids have combined to drive U.S. reading, math, history, and civics scores to historic lows. This post outlines national NAEP data, the states with the deepest learning loss, and what these trends mean for chi...
- Politics, Religion, and At-Risk Children
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJune 6, 2025
This is a dangerous time to be an abused child in America. Slash and burn politics and religious organizations are dismantling a large percentage of government and non governmental agencies keeping children safe. The COVID lockdown kept def...
- Child Welfare News Fall 2024 (compiled articles)
KARA reportingMike TikkanenSeptember 12, 2024
KARA compiles child abuse and neglect stories and data about abused and neglected children
- Domestic Violence Around the World
KARA reportingMike TikkanenDecember 21, 2021
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD WINTER 2021 The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that we are seeing a horrifying global surge in domestic violence all over the world and is urging leaders to include prot...
- October Is Domestic Violence Awareness Month
KARA reportingMike TikkanenOctober 4, 2021
Watching your mother being beat up or raped is the same trauma as being beaten or raped to a five or nine year old. Untreated trauma lasts forever and it changes a person forever. The United Nation's-Secretary General Antonio Guterres has w...
- For New Mexico's At Risk Children - Life is Very Hard (find your state here)
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJuly 18, 2020
Across the board, America's Southern States seem to maintain an anti tax mantra that devalues the well-being of other people's children. This clear from the KIDS COUNT statistics over the years. This is their most recent data for 2020