About OFRA
Mission
To hear families, respect their culture and their choices, and provide the interdisciplinary advocacy needed to create the best possible outcomes for children and their families. With humility, respect, and compassion, OFRA promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging for all whose lives we touch.
Vision
We envision an equitable society of strong families where culture is honored and dignity is respected.
Guiding Principles
We are committed to strengths-based advocacy and representation of our clients, understanding that children and families do best when we recognize their unique strengths, they define their own needs, and their self-defined interests drive the representation and services they receive. To provide the zealous and tenacious representation children and families deserve, we embrace and uphold the following guiding principles:
We respect families. Parents have a right to parent their child, and children have a right to be raised by their parent; children, whenever possible, belong with their families.
We respect children and their right to be safe. We also recognize and promote the importance of a child’s emotional, psychological, educational, and overall well-being.
We raise up the voices of children and families. Children and families must have meaningful input into the services and resources in their case plans.
We know that children and parents are more than just their child and family welfare case. Children and parents are whole people with talents, interests, feelings, histories, and communities.
We see the obstacles for children and families of color. We are committed to equity in our work with children and families of color.
We affirm and respect the diversity of families and cultures by encouraging, fostering, and maintaining cultural connections.
We respect and protect the rights of children and parents regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, national, ethnic, or social origin, socioeconomic status, language, political or other opinion, disability, or other status.
We continuously and systematically improve the quality of our services. We employ rigorous evaluation and quality monitoring.
We follow family-centered best practices that promote child safety, well-being, dignity, equity, and permanence.
We provide a platform for the voices of children and parents in our policy and system reform efforts.
We create and support highly qualified interdisciplinary legal teams. We build skills, commitment, hope, and well-being through professional development and hold all staff and contractors to the highest standards.
We engage the community at large to help shape our policy, advocacy, and system improvement efforts.
We serve as a participative and transformational leader promoting the importance of parent and child representation, the unique and essential role our advocates play, and the need to respect and value their work.
Who We Serve
OFRA serves children and parents, custodians, and guardians whose children are, or are at risk of, being placed in the legal custody of the Children, Youth, and Families Department. OFRA also serves eligible adults under the Fostering Connections Act. OFRA does not provide legal advice or representation to individuals involved in private custody disputes, divorce cases, domestic violence matters, or criminal cases.
Impact
The Office of Family Representation and Advocacy will dramatically shorten the time children spend in foster care, preserve family connections, and generate significant cost savings for the State of New Mexico.