‘Nowhere Else To Go’: A Retired Marine Raised Flags at a Child Welfare Agency — Then It Fired Him
Vets
By Hannah Ray Lambert | June 24, 2021
A Marine Corps veteran and his wife have filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD), accusing the agency of firing them for identifying unethical activities.
Cliff Gilmore, a retired Marine Corps public affairs officer, took a job as CYFD’s chief public information officer in November 2020, moving from Washington state to Santa Fe, New Mexico, the following month. Gilmore’s wife, Debra, an attorney with a background in child welfare, was hired at the end of December to lead the agency’s newly formed Office of Children’s Rights.
Cliff and Debra told Coffee or Die Magazine they had seen an opportunity to make a difference in New Mexico, a state that ranks last in child wellbeing, according to the national 2020 Kids Count Data Book, which makes its assessments based on economic, educational, health-related, and other factors. The department has had no shortage of bad press in recent years, and Cliff said he had been brought on to change that.
https://coffeeordie.com/gilmore-whistleblower-lawsuit-cyfd/
