NCYL Fights For Changes in Nevada Child Welfare System

CLARK COUNTY, NV

NCYL has been working to improve the protection of child abuse victims and foster children in Clark County, Nevada with a focus on three key issues:

1. The high incidence of child deaths due to abuse or neglect in Clark County (which includes Las Vegas) and the failure of the county's current child death review process to determine what happened to these children and if their deaths were preventable. Just since January 1, police have reported five deaths of very young children from suspected abuse or neglect.
2. The failure of Clark County to provide child abuse victims with representation in juvenile court as required by both federal and state law.
3. Overcrowding and other problems at Child Haven, a children's shelter home in Las Vegas. More than 30 infants are placed at Child Haven on any given day. The facility is allowed to operate without a license and is virtually unregulated. No other such facility in the state is permitted to persistently violate childcare facility standards and operate without proper monitoring and licensing.

NCYL's work, and the publicity it has generated, has resulted in state legislative hearings on the child death issue, federal intervention to correct various problems, and a meeting of Nevada's state Supreme Court justices on the lack of adequate representation for abused and neglected children.

Public Disclosure of Child Death Information

Child abuse records are generally confidential except in the case of critical injury or death. If a state accepts federal funding, they are bound by the provisions of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), which requires public disclosure of information relating to child deaths. Nevada has accepted federal money for years without complying with this provision of CAPTA.

Federal law requires that information and findings related to a child's death be disclosed. NCYL believes that this information should include the family's prior involvement with child protective services, past investigations, services offered and provided, results of safety and risk assessments, and caseworker notes and observations on visits. Without this kind of disclosure, an honest and complete assessment of what could have been done to prevent the child's death cannot be done.

Most states, including Nevada, have Child Death Review Teams charged with reviewing cases of child fatalities and issuing findings. However, many of these review teams do not have adequate resources and do not use the authority vested in them to compel child welfare agencies to provide the necessary case information. Files are not reviewed, interviews of key players are not conducted, and relevant records are not collected. Clark County DFS has for years refused to provide adequate information to the Child Death Review Team.

Inadequate Legal Representation

Also in violation of CAPTA, Clark County has consistently failed to provide child abuse victims with an advocate whose only allegiance is to the child.

CAPTA requires that in every case involving an abused or neglected child that results in a judicial proceeding, a guardian ad litem - who may be an attorney or a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) who has received training necessary for the role - shall be appointed to represent the child. This is necessary in order to obtain a first-hand, clear understanding of the situation and needs of the child; and to make recommendations to the court concerning the best interests of the child.

In addition, Nevada statutes mandate that after a protection petition is filed, the court shall appoint a guardian ad litem for the child.

Despite these requirements, there are a significant number of children in Clark County who go unrepresented. NCYL believes that there are as many 1,000 children - one-third of the children who are the subject of child protection proceedings - who are not represented either by an attorney or a CASA.

CAPTA requires not only that state law provide for the appointment of a guardian ad litem, but it requires that the law be enforced. For years, Nevada has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funds and has certified that it is in compliance with CAPTA. However, the state and county are in violation of one of CAPTA's most important and earliest mandates.

NCYL has notified Sharon M. Fujii, Regional Administrator, Region IX, of the federal Administration for Children and Families of this violation and is awaiting a reply.