CYFD News:

SANTA FE – The New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD) is working with the Public Education Department (PED) and the Health Care Authority (HCA) to ensure that Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (S-EBT) payments are issued to those few resource/foster parents who were inadvertently excluded from the initial disbursement.

Payments of $120 per eligible child will be processed by the end of August.

The SUN Bucks program, which launched in early August 2024, is federally funded and administered in New Mexico by the PED in conjunction with the HCA. Fostered school-aged children, ages 5 through 18, are automatically enrolled for SUN Bucks, and resource foster parents do not have to take any action to receive the funds.

“We discovered that a small number of qualified recipients in the resource/foster care program were excluded from the initial disbursement,” CYFD Secretary Teresa Casados said. “We have intervened on their behalf to ensure their accounts are credited promptly. We sincerely appreciate the swift action of our partners at PED and HCA to address this issue as soon as it was brought to their attention.”

For information about the SUN Bucks program, click here or call the New Mexico Health Care Authority’s Summer EBT Hotline 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 505.695.8454 Monday through Friday.