New Mexico’s Department of Children, Youth and Families reaches settlement in legal dispute over sexual abuse of developmentally delayed teenager

ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KRQE) – A civil lawsuit against the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department involving the rape of a developmentally and intellectually retarded teenager by her foster parents has been settled. The suit alleged that they assigned the girl to a known sex offender.

Clarence Garcia pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexual abuse as part of a plea deal in January 2023. His victims included a vulnerable young girl. “JH, a mentally and emotionally retarded young woman, was raped continuously by Clarence Garcia for 16 months while she was in his supposed care,” said the victim’s attorney, Kate Ferlic.

When the verdict was announced, Garcia avoided a prison sentence. “I will suspend the sentence in its entirety, on the condition that you remain on probation for 5 to 20 years,” Judge Britt Baca said when the verdict was announced.

Garcia violated his probation and is now serving three years in state prison. Meanwhile, victims have filed lawsuits against the state and the nonprofit organization that entrusted Garcia’s children to. “The foster care system can silence a child’s voice. The system relies on adults and assumes that dysfunctional foster children have to make things up,” Ferlic said.

Five civil lawsuits have been filed against the nonprofit Familyworks. CYFD was also sued in two of those cases. Both lawsuits alleged that CYFD failed to protect victims. CYFD settled with the 14-year-old girl for $700,000, but the agency still faces another lawsuit over Garcia’s actions. “MR was sexually abused by Clarence Garcia when she was 10 years old,” Ferlic said.

Following a state investigation into the allegations, CYFD revoked Familyworks’ license and closed the nonprofit organization.

A lawsuit in which CYFD was not involved was settled last year. The guardian of an eight-year-old victim sued the Garcias, Acadia Healthcare and Familyworks. A jury awarded the family $485 million.