The New Mexico Court Improvement Project (NMCIP) and the Children’s Court Improvement Commission (CCIC)
Our Mission
“To improve the safety, permanency, and well-being of children and families in NM Children’s Court by developing innovative initiatives through court, agency, and stakeholder collaboration.”
The New Mexico Court Improvement Program (NMCIP) was created as part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1993. The Act provides federal funds to state judiciaries, child welfare agencies, and tribes to improve and provide services to families at risk or in crisis. Since 1995, the New Mexico State Judiciary has received a grant from the Federal Children’s Bureau which calls for a Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) approach on measurable outcomes and models within the Child Welfare system. The engine of the NMCIP is the Children’s Court Improvement Commission (CCIC) which is made up of inter-agency and interdisciplinary stakeholders across the state. The members of the CCIC collaborate on various initiatives for the betterment of all New Mexico families. You can find more information about the NMCIP and CCIC by browsing this site. Click Here for the current CCIC Roster as appointed by the NM State Supreme Court. If you would like more information about CIP or would like to join one of the CCIC workgroups, please contact Alison B. Pauk, Sr. Attorney/Director, Court Improvement Project, aocabp@nmcourts.gov.
The NMCIP/CCIC strategic plan calls for improving outcomes for children and families through:
- updating court procedures
- educational outcomes through data sharing
- improved representation
- increasing the knowledge, skill and ability of the child welfare and juvenile justice communities
Some accomplishments of the NMCIP/CCIC are:
- Implementation of expedited time frames in abuse & neglect proceedings in the Children’s Code
- Implementation of Permanency Hearings and mandatory pre-adjudicatory and pre-permanency hearing meetings
- Development and implementation of Mediation services in Abuse and Neglect Cases
- Development and support of the Kinship Guardianship Act
- Establishment of the Corinne Wolfe Children’s Law Center
- Extensive training and cross-training on multiple topics through the Children’s Law Center
- Assignment of Youth Attorneys for youth 14 years and older
- Development of model contracts and Supreme Court promulgated performance standards for court-appointed attorneys
- Establishment of the Tribal-State Judicial Consortium
- Collaboration on Preserving Connections, Open Adoptions, and other cross-agency initiatives
- Management and facilitation of Annual Children’s Law Institute conferences
- Development of measures of timeliness of court hearings
