NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – New Mexico is ranked 50th in the nation, last place, for child welfare. It’s a statistic that state leaders have lamented for years while families have suffered the consequences. For more than a decade, KRQE has shared heartbreaking stories of physical abuse and neglect often ending in a child’s death. Now, KRQE Investigates is looking inside the system working to hold child abusers accountable. “I've been looking at this in my rear view for 22 years and watching, I don't know that I would call it a progression anymore. It's the stagnant decline, so to speak, of child welfare in New Mexico,” said Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Amy Dudewicz. Each year, her department handles 500 to 700 cases of child abuse and neglect. She explained, “Continuing to try and make a difference and make an impact, the drive has to be there. The passion has to be there. But it takes a toll.” Not only because the facts in these cases are horrific, but Lt. Dudewicz said it also takes time to vet and put them together. So, she’s prioritized recruiting people who want to do the work, like Sergeant Autumn Neas. “A lot of what we're seeing now is drug use in the presence of the children,” Sgt. Neas told KRQE. “We do a lot of hair follicle testing, and we're finding that these kids have everything in their systems.” When detectives say something isn’t right, Sgt. Neas said the next step is placing the child in the custody of the Children, Youth, & Families Department (CYFD) or with a safe family member. “We have essentially 72 hours if they're in CYFD custody to conduct our initial investigation,” she explained. “So that would include a forensic interview, a CART exam.” CART stands for Child Abuse Response Team. “The culmination of the whole consultation process is to determine if a child has injuries, and what is the cause of those injuries. Is it child abuse? Is it some sort of accidental trauma? Or is something else even going on, such as a medical condition that might make it easier for them to get an injury or something that can even mimic an injury?” explained Dr. Leslie Strickler, with the University of New Mexico Hospital. Dr. Strickler is one of just two child abuse pediatricians in the state tasked with performing the CART exams. “Not everybody can do it. So, if you can do it, your responsibility is to do it and to do it well,” she shared. Having worked in this field at UNMH since 2006, Dr. Strickler is another veteran when it comes to holding a child abuser accountable. “Our families face a lot of adversity. We have high levels of poverty here. We have high levels of social and geographic isolation here,” she explained. “People just face a lot of challenges here. And when adults are facing challenges, kids are at risk.” Depending on the complexity of the case, Dr. Strickler said her team can typically determine whether a child was abused within a day or two. Despite that quick diagnosis, KRQE Investigates noticed months often pass before police seek charges against a suspected abuser. In one example, the CART report stated, “This presentation indicates physical abuse on multiple occasions” and should the child be returned “she is at great risk of additional injuries” that could lead to death. But court records show it took BCSO 69 days to request charges against Alexis Bernal and her boyfriend, Augustine Solis-Baca, for allegedly causing multiple arm, leg, foot, and rib fractures to Bernal’s one-year-old daughter. Alexis Bernal Agustine Solis-Baca Sgt. Neas explained, “Having as much information and making sure that we have a prosecutable case is important to us. Also, we're not just about making that arrest, and that parent goes to jail for a couple of days and then they're good to go.  We want to -- we want to see them do prison time, honestly.” She added that once someone is arrested, they have just ten days before the case has to start moving through the courts. So, if the child is safe – typically meaning out of their home – that buys detectives some time. “My detectives average about 15 to 20 cases per person. So, we're working other cases in the meantime. But in that specific case, we're slowing down. We're thinking, okay, what all do we need?” she explained. Lt. Dudewicz added, “And we're hoping for continued communication with CYFD. So that sometimes has been challenging.” They pointed to the case against Maron Gilmore. Sgt. Neas said detectives felt rushed to arrest the dad accused of shaking his two-month-old son after they learned, not from CYFD, that the state agency placed the victim’s siblings back in the home. “And we feel like sometimes we're sliding in just as the garage door is closing, trying to get them to change their mind. Wait. Hold on before you make that decision. Instead, why didn't you potentially call us before you made that decision?” Lt. Dudewicz shared. These problems are not new, and Sgt. Neas made it clear communication with CYFD is improving. But Lt. Dudewicz said it'd be ideal if someone from the agency worked alongside them inside the Sheriff's Office. “I go back to the idea of the symphony, right? And trying to get everybody to play on the same sheet of music at the same time,” she explained. CYFD, law enforcement, the CART team, and the All Faiths Children’s Advocacy Center meet monthly. BCSO said this so-called multidisciplinary team discusses these issues, specific cases, and systemic problems. “I'm already seeing some of my victims that were children becoming my offenders of child abuse. So, like, where do we fix that, that cycle?” Sgt. Neas shared. “I do think, politically speaking, you do have to have heads of agencies talking about why are we 50th for 20 years,” Lt. Dudewicz added. “What is the next step? Like we don't expect to be number one in five years, but we really should be making incremental or positive changes. And that is part of the dialogue that I'm not necessarily hearing.” For Dr. Strickler, maintaining resources for kids and families is key to getting New Mexico out of 50th, and that means agency officials must pick up where those before them left off. She said when leadership changes, the lack of continuity often undermines any progress. Some relief is coming for Dr. Strickler and her CART team. She said UNMH is expecting a third full-time child abuse pediatrician to join them in January. While it seems surprising that there are only three doctors in this field serving the entire state, Dr. Strickler said there are some Mountain West states that do not have any.