New Mexico Office of Family Representation and Advocacy

What New Mexico Office of Family Representation and Advocacy does

The New Mexico Office of Family Representation and Advocacy (OFRA) is a state government agency established by New Mexico statute in 2022 (Section 32A-27-1 through 32A-27-13, NMSA 1978) to provide interdisciplinary legal representation to families involved in the state's child abuse and neglect system. Its core offering is the Interdisciplinary Legal Team (IDS) service model, in which each team comprises a lawyer, a social worker, and a peer navigator working together to advocate for clients in court and to help families access resources, services, and concrete supports aimed at safe reunification, guardianship, or adoption.

Operationally, OFRA delivers services through direct case-based advocacy rather than a commercial sales motion; families are served as funding allows. The agency is governed by a public commission that meets every other month, with formal subcommittees handling personnel matters. Currently it operates with roughly eight employees out of a single headquarters at 500 Marquette Avenue NW in Albuquerque, with concentrated delivery in Bernalillo County, though the agency has publicly signaled intent to expand statewide.

OFRA is funded entirely through state appropriations — no commercial revenue, no contracts with private clients, no disclosed budget figure — and reports outcomes via an annual report. The SFY25 report documented a 63.5% reduction in median time to permanency and 147 fewer days in foster care, on average, for children whose parents received an OFRA team. The agency is undergoing a leadership transition, actively hiring a new Executive Director, and is engaged in formal Continuous Quality Improvement work with the UNM Evaluation Lab to build the evidentiary base needed to support additional state funding.

Name

New Mexico Office of Family Representation and Advocacy

Legal name

Office of Family Representation and Advocacy

Website

https://ofra.nm.gov

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The New Mexico Office of Family Representation and Advocacy is a state agency, established by statute in 2022, that provides interdisciplinary legal teams (attorney, social worker, peer navigator) to New Mexico families involved in the child abuse and neglect system, with documented reductions in time to permanency and foster care days served.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Child Welfare Legal Advocacy Services

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (624110), Other Individual and Family Services (624190), Individual and Family Services (6241)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAGAEAE

Child Welfare, Foster Care & Adoption Services

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Social Services & Community Support (Food, Housing, Family)

SECONDARYBPAGAEAC

Family & Parenting Support Services

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Social Services & Community Support (Food, Housing, Family)

SECONDARYBPAGABAG

Child Protection & Child Rights

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/International Development & Poverty Alleviation

Keywords

• Legal advocacy services
• Child welfare law
• Interdisciplinary legal teams
• Family representation
• Foster care advocacy

Headquarters

HQ city

Albuquerque

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: As a state government agency established in statute in 2022, OFRA operates through state government funding appropriations to provide legal representation and advocacy services for families involved in the child abuse and neglect system.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

The New Mexico Office of Family Representation and Advocacy provides high-quality legal representation and advocacy for New Mexico families in the child abuse and neglect system. As funding allows, OFRA delivers Interdisciplinary Legal Teams (IDS) — a lawyer, a social worker, and a peer navigator working together — to help children and families access the resources, services, and concrete supports they need to stay together safely whenever possible, or to achieve timely permanency through reunification, guardianship, or adoption.

Product overview

The New Mexico Office of Family Representation and Advocacy (OFRA) operates as a single unified service offering rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The core offering is the Interdisciplinary Legal Team (IDS) service, which combines legal representation (attorney), social work support, and peer navigation into an integrated advocacy model for families involved in the child abuse and neglect system. As a state-established organization (2022, NMSA 1978 Section 32A-27-1 through 32A-27-13), OFRA provides these teams as funding allows to help children and families successfully access services, resources, and supports needed to stay together safely through reunification, guardianship, or adoption pathways.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Interdisciplinary Legal Team Services A team-based legal representation and advocacy model providing a lawyer, a social worker, and a peer navigator to families in New Mexico's child abuse and neglect system, helping them access resources, services, and concrete supports to stay together safely or to achieve timely permanency through reunification, guardianship, or adoption.

Quantifiable outcome

• 63.5% reduction in median time to permanency for children in Bernalillo County whose parent received an OFRA interdisciplinary legal team
• +1 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• UNM Evaluation LabcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUNM Evaluation Lab conducted a qualitative evaluation of OFRA's Interdisciplinary Legal Teams as part of the FY25 Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) efforts. The evaluation assessed team effectiveness in supporting families and reducing time to permanency.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Others

• American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law: ABA center providing training, technical assistance, and policy advocacy to improve legal representation of children and families in child welfare proceedings. Comparable to OFRA as a resource and standard-setter for child welfare legal practice, though not a direct service provider.

Direct peers

• National Center for Youth Law (NCYL): California-based nonprofit using legal advocacy to improve outcomes for children in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Comparable to OFRA's mission of legal representation and systemic advocacy for children and families in the child welfare system.
• The Bronx Defenders: New York-based public defender organization pioneering interdisciplinary defender teams (lawyers, social workers, investigators) for indigent clients. Highly comparable to OFRA's IDS model in combining legal representation with social work and peer support, and frequently cited as a pioneer of this integrated approach.
• National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC): National membership and advocacy organization for children's legal representation, including attorney training, model standards, and quality improvement. Comparable to OFRA on the child welfare legal representation practice area and quality improvement orientation.
• Children's Law Center: Washington DC-based legal services organization providing interdisciplinary representation to children in abuse, neglect, and custody matters. Directly comparable to OFRA's child welfare legal representation model, with comparable multidisciplinary teams (attorneys, social workers, advocates).
• Juvenile Law Center: Philadelphia-based legal advocacy organization for children in dependency, delinquency, and other civil legal matters. Comparable to OFRA as a specialist child welfare legal representation organization with both direct service and systemic advocacy functions.
• CASA (National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association): National organization supporting volunteer advocates appointed by courts to speak for the best interests of children in abuse and neglect cases. Relevant peer for OFRA's peer navigator component, as both leverage trained non-attorney advocates to support children in dependency proceedings.

Emerging players

• Center for Children's Law and Policy: National policy and practice organization focused on improving dependency court systems and reducing reliance on detention and foster care. Comparable to OFRA's focus on reducing time in foster care and improving court outcomes for system-involved children.
• Kids in Need of Defense (KIND): National nonprofit providing legal representation and social services to unaccompanied immigrant children. Partial overlap with OFRA's child welfare legal representation model, though focused on the immigration-involved child population rather than general abuse/neglect cases.

Regional players

• First Star Institute: National nonprofit focused on improving life outcomes for foster children through education and advocacy, including university-based programming. Partial overlap with OFRA's mission of supporting children in the child welfare system, though focused on educational outcomes rather than legal representation.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/new-mexico-office-of-family-representation-and-advocacy

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about New Mexico Office of Family Representation and Advocacy