Viva Las Vegas Foster Care

Between 2001 and 2004, two children died every month while in the custody of Clark County Child Protective Services.

County officials remained mostly silent on the deaths, citing state laws that restrict information about the children from being released or referring to ongoing police investigations into the deaths.

Meanwhile, the number of children dying from abuse and neglect in Clark County nearly tripled during the first six months of this year.

Among the deaths:
-3 year old Crystal Figueroa, whose fragile, broken body was found in a dumpster.
- 2-year-old Adacelli Snyder died in 2005 because of malnutrition due to neglect. She had cerebral palsy. Her body was found in a trailer park. CPS had closed its case on Snyder's family about a year before she died.
-A 7-month-old boy who sustained a head injury while living with a foster parent.

The Child Death Review panel has been investigating 79 cases of foster children who died in Clark County between 2001-2001. Their task was to examine the worst-case-scenarios and try to determine whether or not those deaths could have been prevented.

Panel member Susan Gerhardt said, "We all agree there are serious problems. The system is broken at this point."

Problems cited include:
1.) Poor case management: At a hearing in April 2006, Clark County Children's Services employees stood up and admitted to ignoring forms and processes that would have protected the children.

2.) Lack of incident followup: In one case, it took a social worker more than 500 days to check on the welfare and safety of siblings in a home where a child had died.

2.) Bad record-keeping: The panel found incomplete records of visits to familes and poor communication between agencies put in charge of children.

3.) Overcrowded shelters:
-In June 2006, Child Haven had 205 children, 105 of them age 4 or under, despite the fact that the facility is designed to hold only 84 children and 20 infants.
-In August 2006, as of this week, Child Haven has 146 children and 40 infants.

4.) Length of stay (in shelters) is also an issue: The Department of Family Service's policy is that children shouldn't stay at Child Haven longer than two weeks, but the average stay there is 45 days.

Upon investigation, it was revealed that children were remaining in Child Haven for three to six months, and in some instances a year or longer. One child had been in Child Haven for over two years.

5.) Critical lack of foster homes: More than 2,000 in Clark County, Nevada, are in out-of-home placement because they are not safe at home. Meanwhile, there are only about 900 licensed foster homes in Clark County.

According to Thomas Morton, the new director of DFS, potential foster parents need to understand that 80 to 90-percent of the children living in Child Haven will eventually be reunited with their parents. Apparently, Clark County does not actively promote the foster-to-adopt approach.

6.) Lack of communication: Police did not always report the deaths, and in at least 12 cases, the district attorney did not investigate.

According to Assistant District Attorney Robert Tutin, "If your mandate is to ensure the safety of children and there are not other children in the home, it is not going to be a priority." Tutlin claimed that caseloads were so high that district attorneys had to focus on other cases.

Darryl Martin, Assistant County Manager for Clark County, disagrees, "That is a bad practice. That is an old practice and it has been going on for years." He is working on mandating that officials investigate and report child deaths from now on.

In at least one of the 12 cases that weren't investigated, a parent went on to kill another child.

7.) Overall lack of accountability: The panel recommended a complete overhaul of the Clark County family and child welfare system.

Clark County Children's Services recently hired a new directory, Tom Morton. During his first 15 days on the job, a child was left in a hot van alone by a child haven worker.

The deaths continue:
Meanwhile, 15-month-old Joshua Sharp died at Child Haven last week. He was found unconscious and could not be revived before being pronounced dead at a hospital. This was the second fatality at Child Haven this year.

Impending lawsuit?
Carole Shauffer, executive director for the Youth Law Center, a nonprofit law office in San Francisco that works with abused and at-risk children, is considering filing a lawsuit against the state and county if the issues are not resolved.

The Youth Law Center, along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, has given Clark County a series of deadlines to reform the child welfare system in Southern Nevada.

These groups threaten a lawsuit if the deadlines and reforms are not made.

Their goals are:
- To disallow placement of children younger than 6 at Child Haven
- To stop police from removing children in emergency situations without social worker involvement
- To step up efforts to keep children and families together

I wonder:
- Why not open the door for foster parents to foster-to-adopt?
- Will postponing child removal cause more or less child deaths?
- Should families like Crystal Figueroa's be kept together?

However, I wholeheartedly agree with Carol Schauffer that, "The basic policies of the child welfare system are not supportive of the developmental needs of the children."

Sources:
Blaze, Ashanti. Another baby dies in Las Vegas foster care. KLASTV Eyewitness News, August 4, 2006.
Foster family recruitment in Clark County. KLASTV Eyewitness News, July 25, 2006.
Guzman, Martha. Number of child deaths up this year. KLASTV Eyewitness News, April 5, 2006.
Kihara, David. Infant dies at Child Haven: Death latest in series of woes for system. Las Vegas Review Journal, August 16, 2006.
Kihara, David. Overcrowding: Child welfare groups warn of lawsuits Youth Law Center demands reforms. Las Vegas Review Journal, August 19, 2006.
Kihara, David. State warned about foster system: Conditions have worsened, federal officals say. Las Vegas Review Journal, August 17, 2006.
McCarthy, Alyson. Panel looks for answers into county child deaths. KLASTV Eyewitness News, July 6, 2006.
McCarty, Coleen. Commissioners react to child deaths in Clark county. KLASTV Eyewitness News, June 6, 2006.
Morrison, Jane Ann. A grandmother's gumption helped crack the case of a cowardly act . Las Vegas Review Journal, Feb. 25, 2006.
Official concerned about Clark County foster care. KVVU, Fox 5 News, August 17, 2006.
Plaskon, Ky. Incomplete child death records: Whose blame? KLASTV Eyewitness News, April 21, 2006.