Parental Rights in New Mexico

New Mexico Parental Rights News

Reasonable Childhood Independence, with Lenore Skenazy

By N/A N/A • September 29, 2026
Lenore Skenazy, President of Let Grow and founder of the Free-Range Kids movement, joins Michael Ramey to discuss a recent Virginia case involving a mother who was convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor after allowing her five-year-old son to walk alone in their gated community. She received a six-month jail sentence that was suspended, while the child welfare investigation also resulted in her placement on Virginia’s child abuse and neglect registry.  The conversation examines the case in light of Virginia’s 2023 reasonable childhood independence law, which provides that allowing children to engage in age-appropriate independent activities without adult supervision does not, by itself, constitute abuse or neglect. Lenore and Michael discuss what happened in this case, the questions it raises about the application of the law, and the broader effort to protect families who give children opportunities for independence. They also consider similar laws in other states and the future of reasonable childhood independence protections. The EPPiC Broadcast is hosted by Michael Ramey, President of the Parental Rights Foundation. Stay informed on parental rights news by signing up for email alerts at https://parentalrightsfoundation.org/get-involved/ .

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New Mexico State Law

At Risk


New Mexico does not have a state statute that explicitly defines and protects parental rights as fundamental rights.

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New Mexico Courts

At High Risk!


Precedent from the New Mexico Court of Appeals favors best interest of the child without affording parents the protection of strict scrutiny standard.


  • In re Guardianship of Victoria R., 201 P.3d 169, 173, 177 (N.M. Ct. App. 2008), the NM Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court's decision to award guardianship of a child to "psychological parents," to whom the mother had voluntarily given placement of the child, because evidence of potential psychological harm to the child overcame the presumption in favor of the biological parent, id. at 177; the court did not employ strict scrutiny, noting that "only Justice Thomas, in a concurring opinion, relied upon a fundamental rights-strict scrutiny analysis" and that "some authorities, noting that only Justice Thomas expressly relied upon textbook fundamental rights-strict scrutiny analysis, have read Troxel as moving away from the rigid strict scrutiny mode of analysis of state legislation that impinges on parents' control over the upbringing of their children," (id. at 173 n. 4).
  • Williams v. Williams, 50 P.3d 194, 200 (N.M. Ct. App. 2002) affirmed an order of visitation, over the objection of the parents, based solely on statutory factors including the best-interest of the child with no apparent presumption in favor of the parents' decision; "We agree with Parents that, as a general proposition, Troxel does require courts to give special consideration to the wishes of parents, and appropriately so. However, we do not read Troxel as giving parents the ultimate veto on visitation in every instance. Troxel may have altered, but it did not eradicate, the kind of balancing process that normally occurs in visitation decisions.”