Maralyn Beck is a founder of New Mexico Child First Network, and she’s been there since day one in 2019. The network is dedicated to improving the lives of kids in foster care and offering support for their caregivers (including foster parents) through trauma-informed training, support and mentorship, and policy reform. On Dec. 6 they will be hosting a foster family and adoptive family night at Explora Science Center, and they’re inviting the “real” Santa to spread a little holiday joy for our kiddos in foster care and their families.
During Beck’s dedicated tenure at the New Mexico Child First Network, the organization has hosted free fishing events that gathered over 500 kids in foster care and their families for some fun in the sun at Tingley Beach. In 2019 and 2023, the network helped pass a law allowing all kids impacted by the foster system to fish for free. Now foster parents can score free fishing and camping passes as well as passes to educational destinations around town such as museums. Earlier this year, they hosted a “princess day” for over 100 girls in foster care. The princesses were dressed in royal garb, got their hair and nails done and were treated like royalty for an afternoon.
“One of the things I really like to focus on and talk about is ‘glimmers,'” says Beck. “You hear a lot about triggers in trauma work. New Mexico Child First Network is focused on optimism and joy. A ‘glimmer’ is the opposite of a trigger. It’s a moment of your day that helps bring joy, happiness, gratitude and peace. We’re trying to create more glimmers in an otherwise kind of sad world. And we really want to focus on creating those experiences for kids.”
Beck says getting kids outside in nature helps reduce stress, and the New Mexico Child First Network is focused on creating positive experiences and making the world a better place for New Mexico families.
“I was a foster parent, and I saw how broken the system was. And you can either be part of the problem or part of the solution,” she says. “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. And I think these kids and their families – the people working to give them better outcomes – deserve joy. And I think our system is really broken, so we just get up every morning and try to make the world a better place. We need the community to know that solutions exist for our most vulnerable youth and their families, and we have the ability to improve outcomes. We should work together every day, knowing that no problem is insurmountable.”
New Mexico Child First Network
PO Box 91702
Albuquerque, NM 87199