Office of Child Development
The Office of Child Development was created by statute in 1989, funded July of 1990, and became operational in November 1990. A seven member Governor-appointed Child Development Board has oversight of the Office of Child Development. Recognizing that a good beginning has no end, the mission of the Child Development Board is that all New Mexico children, from birth through age eight, and their families have access to a quality, age, and individually appropriate child development system.
The major responsibilities of the Office of Child Development are to:
- Carry out the policies of the Child Development Board;
- Administer the licensure procedures and program criteria developed by the Child Development Board;
- Identify all sources of child development licensure preparation and training, disseminates information, and coordinates resources to meet child development licensure and training needs;
- Assure and work to foster cooperation between all state agencies dealing with early childhood care and education;
- Develop and adopt program criteria for state funded preschool programs serving children from birth to age five, provided that the criteria does not apply to programs serving children with developmental delays or at risk for developmental delay, birth through two years of age;
- Administer the state PreK program in collaboration with the Public Education Department;
- Administer the Head Start Collaboration Project;
- Establish a five-year plan for Early Care, Education and Family Support Professional Development. The Office of Child Development works collaboratively with the Public Education Department, Department of Health, Department of Labor, Higher Education Department, institutions of higher education, and community programs to implement the plan.
- Support the legislative mandate to articulate and implement training and licensure requirements for individuals working with children from birth to age eight in all recognized settings.
- Establish and implement a Career Lattice that is designed for all those working in home-based, center-based child care programs, Head Start, home visiting programs, public school programs for children in preschool through third grade as well as early intervention programs for children with or at risk for developmental delays and their families. The Career Lattice is comprised of the following six levels: 45-Hour Entry Level Course, Child Development (CDA) credential; one-year vocational certificate; Associate of Arts degree, Bachelor's degree, and Masters degree in Early Care. Each level of training articulates with more advanced levels, the Office of Child Development issues certificates for individuals completing the requirements for the 45-Hour Entry Level Course, one-year vocational certificate, Associate of Arts and Science degree, and 45-Hour Entry Level Course Facilitator training.