New Mexico Administrative Code
Title 8 - SOCIAL SERVICES
Chapter 26 - FOSTER CARE AND ADOPTION
Part 4 - LICENSING REQUIREMENTS FOR FOSTER AND ADOPTIVE HOMES
Section 8.26.4.6 - OBJECTIVE
Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 6, March 26, 2024
To create standards for licensing of relative, fictive kin, non-relative foster and adoptive care providers in New Mexico which are consistent with the best interest, safety, permanency, and well-being of children by:
A. enabling protective services division or licensed child placement agencies (CPA) to license and monitor foster and adoptive homes;
B. enabling protective services division to set standards for the application and operation of non-relative foster and adoptive families to protect the best interest of children in foster or adoptive placement;
C. enabling protective services division to set standards for the application and operation of relative and fictive kin care providers to protect the best interest of children in foster, guardianship or adoptive placements; and
D. complying with the New Mexico Children's Code, the New Mexico Adoption Act and regulations, the Indian Child Welfare Act, the Adoption and Safe Families Act, the Interstate Compact on Placement of Children, the Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance, the Multi-Ethnic Placement Act, as amended by the Inter-Ethnic Adoption Provisions of 1996, the Safe and Timely Interstate Placement of Foster Children Act, the Adam Walsh Act, the Fostering Connections for Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Reauthorization of 2010, Every Student Succeeds Act, Family First Prevention Services Act, and the New Mexico Administrative Code.
E. The agency shall give placement preference to relatives and fictive kin as foster care providers. In the event that a child is not placed in a relative foster care placement, the agency shall continue to make diligent efforts to search for, identify, and assess relatives throughout the life of the case for potential placement of the child. The agency shall assist relatives with meeting licensing requirements through identifying barriers, informing the applicant, and providing support. If a relative cannot be licensed to provide foster care for a child, this shall not preclude the relative from maintaining a meaningful relationship with the child while in foster care.
