How Could You? Hall of Shame-New Mexico Foster Parents

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Albuquerque, New Mexico, “[w]hen M.P. , then age 4, was placed in foster care in Albuquerque along with his sister in 2011, he could see.

By the time he was removed from foster care four months later, he was blind.

That’s the bad news – or some of it.

The good news is that M.P. and his younger sister were adopted in 2012 by a caring couple, Joel and Nicole Belding, and the boy is now in school learning Braille and the use of a cane.

The other piece of good news is that a civil lawsuit on the boy’s behalf against the Children, Youth and Families Department and its contractor Hogares Inc., was settled for an amount considered sufficient to meet the medical and psychological needs of a child traumatized by his injury. The amount is confidential.

According to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, which names John and Jane Doe foster parents, social workers and supervisors as defendants, the boy lost his vision after he suffered traumatic brain injury on Oct. 9, 2011.

The parents took him to the University of New Mexico Hospital that day, where doctors found subdural hematomas and brain tissue death. The lawsuit alleges they also found “evidence of hypoxia in the brain for a period of time, presumably caused by either strangulation or asphyxiation.”

“The doctors overwhelmingly concluded that these conditions should be considered as evidence of non-accidental trauma indicative of chronic abuse,” according to the lawsuit filed on behalf of the child and the Beldings by attorneys Andrew Schultz, Michael Hart and Kelly Stout.

The foster parents were charged with child abuse and released on bond. The case is under review by the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office Crimes Against Children division for possible presentation to a grand jury.

CYFD attorney Tim Flynn-O’Brien and Hogares attorney Michael Brennan negotiated the settlement with the Beldings, a guardian was appointed to represent the child’s interests and U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Torgerson approved the settlement at a hearing in May. The lawsuit was dismissed last week..

Difficult history

M.P.and his sister didn’t have the greatest start in life.

The lawsuit said M.P.’s biological parents were drug addicts, and his mother had a substantial criminal record. M.P. and his sister should have been classified as special needs children, because of likely exposure to narcotics in utero. That evaluation never happened, however, the suit said.

CYFD found evidence of abuse and neglect in the home in November 2010 and removed the children.

CYFD spokesman Henry Vadalia did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment.

The children were then placed with an uncle and his girlfriend – neither of them licensed foster parents. The uncle’s criminal record included narcotics charges, and the girlfriend’s, drug use and aggravated battery.

That situation lasted three months, ending when the girlfriend, a day care worker, abused M.P. physically and verbally – hitting him on the head and threatening him with a belt.

M.P. had an exam at UNMH after that incident, but there was no evidence of skeletal injury or impaired vision.

CYFD next placed the children with a foster parent for four months, where again there was no indication of vision problems, before moving him to the home where he lost his sight.

Hogares was under contract to do foster and adoptive home studies in New Mexico counties, including Bernalillo, at $900 to $1,100 per study, netting between $308,000 and $876,000 a year from 2008 to 2012.

Hogares CEO Nancy Jo Archer could not be reached for comment Friday.

The couple with which M.P. and his sister were placed were unmarried, did not have children or parenting experience and were in a “tenuous” financial situation.

CYFD licensed the couple “despite the absence of an adequate investigation into their home,” according to the lawsuit.

In the spring of 2011, just before the children’s placement in the home where M.P. was injured, there were “increasing reports of M.P. throwing frequent tantrums” involving violent acts and a concern he might have ADHD.

The CYFD file is silent on factors used to decide on the transfer of the children to the home.

Within 24 hours of the child’s hospital admission and diagnosis of visual impairment, a CYFD investigator found reasonable cause to suspect someone in the house caused the harm and that the foster parents did not demonstrate a protective role, express empathy for the children, were not emotionally able to intervene and did not set aside their needs in favor of the children.

Six months earlier, the Hogares home study had found they “exhibited sensitivity, coping skills, impulse control, anger management and the ability to change and adapt to new challenges.””