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If you talk to any state leader, they’ll tell you they want New Mexico to be a state where New Mexicans of all abilities have access to the services they need to lead meaningful lives. They will say they want to advocate for children with disabilities who need help at school. They will say they support adults with disabilities who need a guardianship but whose families cannot afford the guardianship process. Who wouldn’t? These are bipartisan issues that cut across all political lines.
The New Mexico Council on Developmental Disabilities is a small state agency that does this kind of large-scale, important work in every corner of the state. For students with disabilities and their families, the special education system can seem difficult to understand. Since its launch in December 2021, the City Council Office of the Special Education Ombud has supported more than 440 families in 61 school districts and 28 counties and advocated with 236 families in more than 370 school meetings for more than 2,100 hours.
A guardian provides important services and facilitates the care of a ward when a judge determines that the ward is incapable of making medical, financial, or other important life decisions. The council’s guardianship office is currently serving a record 1,043 guardians (up from 992 at this time last year) and is receiving an average of 35 new guardianship applications a month. (350% of the pre-COVID-19 application rate).
While the guardianship system is the subject of intense scrutiny across the United States, the Bureau of Guardianship has addressed New Mexico’s unique guardianship issues and has worked tirelessly to improve the state’s guardianship system. To protect the rights of vulnerable people, the Department has implemented safeguards in the law and state-funded guardianship system, and expanded access to less restrictive options where appropriate. The Guardianship Office now completes cases in three to four months (compared to many cases less than a decade ago, which took more than a year). Already, 147 guardians have been appointed this year, exceeding the previous year’s total of 132.
For the coming fiscal year, the Legislative Finance Committee recommended a budget of $2.3 million. Under It was $1.7 million less than the council’s budget request and executive recommendation. What does this mean for New Mexicans who rely on the council’s services? With no funding for new cases and no guarantee that emergency or priority cases can be handled, guardianship waiting lists will explode. States will lose quality guardians and legal providers. Finding guardians for cases involving homelessness, mental health, and drug use will be nearly impossible.
Each country’s leader has said in real sincerity that these programs are essential and should be fully funded. But on January 29, the House voted to approve the Legislative Finance Committee’s horribly inadequate recommendations. What’s at stake if the council can’t find more funding in the Senate? New Mexicans with disabilities will be ignored at best, or killed at worst. New Mexico cannot afford such tragedies.
It is time for our elected officials to put taxpayer dollars where their mouths and hearts are and fund the critical lifesaving work of the Council on Developmental Disabilities.
This article was written by Council President Joel A. Davis and Council Vice Chair Katie Stone.
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