A 17-year-old boy was shot and killed after the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department concealed evidence and allowed him to return to the custody of a mother who was unfit to care for him, alleges a whistleblower lawsuit filed earlier this month by an investigator for the department.
The suit, filed by Elizabeth Parrish of the Hobbs office, alleges manager Trish Garza was trying to rid her office of a “difficult, resource-intensive†case in her efforts to place children back with their mother. The mother, identified by her first name in the suit, was homeless and told agency employees she could not care for her five children herself.
“This case arises from yet another appalling betrayal of the public trust by CYFD, a failed agency that even New Mexico’s governor describes as dysfunctional,†states the suit, filed in the First Judicial District Court in ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe County.
Parrish’s attorney, Ben Gubernick, drew comparisons between the case and others involving the Hobbs office, including lawsuits tied to a saga that began in 2019 in which CYFD was accused of returning children to parents who had previously been charged with child abuse.
Andrei Christian Ducila and Luiza, the parents in that case, eventually skipped town, only to be captured in Houston by U.S. marshals after allegations in North Carolina that they had left their toddler daughter at a hospital with head injuries that left her permanently blind, according to local and national news reports.
Gubernick said Garza, identified in those cases as “Patricia Garza,†was the same person who was partly responsible for that situation.
“It just keeps happening. It’s just [the] definition of insanity, just doing the same thing again and again,†he said. “… Nothing changes, it’s the same people doing the same misguided stuff.â€
Despite a hostile work environment alleged in the lawsuit, Gubernick said Parrish is still employed at the Hobbs office.
Department spokesperson Andrew Skobinsky said the agency was “unable to comment on ongoing litigation or personnel matters.â€
“We remain committed to handling such issues in accordance with our policies and applicable laws,†he wrote in an email.
Parrish is seeking a jury trial in the suit and for CYFD to pay damages and other relief.
As of mid-2023, CYFD had custody of five siblings from Hobbs, including the 17-year-old, the complaint says. No one in the children’s family was able to care for the teenager, whom the complaint alleges had gotten involved with street gangs.
In July, the agency placed the children back with their mother on a trial home visit, according to the suit. Months later, however, the Hobbs office received multiple abuse and neglect allegations, including ones saying the teenager was involved in altercations in which guns were drawn or fired.
Parrish was tasked with investigating the claims, the suit said. She found the allegations were true and told Garza the children should be moved to a foster home. According to the suit, Parrish told Garza if the teenager stayed with his mother, it was only a matter of time before someone died.
Garza, however, told her not to upload her findings or professional opinions to CYFD’s database and to unsubstantiate the allegations, according to the complaint. Parrish disobeyed her, the complaint says. But Garza “kept the existence of the abuse and neglect allegations hidden from the Children’s Court,†the lawsuit states, and custody was eventually granted to the teenager’s mother in January 2024.
The next month, the lawsuit says, the teenager was shot in the head and died two days later. Hobbs police spokesperson Sgt. Reanna Alarcon did not respond to a question from The New Mexican about whether anyone had been charged in the teen’s death, but Gubernick said no one had.
Over the last year, Parrish has been the target of “continuous harassment, criticism, and bullying from Garza and her cronies,†who wants to force Parrish from her job, and has suffered reprimands and her reputation being smeared, the lawsuit says.
Esteban Candelaria is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. He covers child welfare and the state Children, Youth and Families Department. Learn more about Report for America at.
