By TOM MORTON

Special to the Review-Journal

In response to the commentaries by Annette Appell and Richard Wexler ("Child Haven: No substitute for home," July 9) and Leroy H. Pelton ("Crisis in the child welfare system: Family matters," June 25):

We appreciate the interest and ideas that respected local community leaders and child welfare advocates have recently shared on how to improve Child Haven and the overall child welfare system in Clark County. Child Haven exceeded its design capacity in March 2004 and the situation has continued to worsen since.

Today, nearly one-sixth of Clark County children in out-of-home care are in shelter at Child Haven, shelter homes or in temporarily contracted residential child care space rather than in foster families or with relatives. Instead of the intended 72 hours, the median length of stay is 45 days.

Clearly, an extended stay in an overcrowded shelter is not in the best interests of children and youth. At the same time, it is important to separate philosophical concerns about the conditions at Child Haven from the performance of Child Haven staff who have responded and adapted creatively, and with a high degree of professionalism. They neither control entry nor exit from the facility.

As the new director of Clark County's Department of Family Services, I am acutely aware of the challenges in our foster care, child protective and emergency shelter service areas. Family Services needs the support of the community to develop and implement effective solutions to these challenges. We need support from members of the medical community who might be willing to become medical foster homes for children with serious medical needs. We need families willing to care for sibling groups. And, as our critics note, we critically need families willing to care for infants.

But we also need families coming forward to work with us as team members in our efforts to help birth families make changes so that, where feasible, children return to safe homes and grow up in the families which brought them into this world.

The community leaders and experts raise concerns that are undeniable. For example, we are in agreement that children, especially infants, belong in loving family homes, not in institutions or in hospitals.

However, when foster family settings are not available, as is now the case, we cannot refuse children entry into Child Haven when they are not safe in their home due to abuse or neglect. The need for community services and programs that help keep children safe and families together is an area that must be addressed immediately and collectively by the public, private and non-profit sectors.

While Child Haven is the visible symptom of this crisis, it is not the cause. According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, Nevada removed 40 percent of child victims of abuse and neglect in 2004, double the national average. Oklahoma, with one of the worst methamphetamine problems in the country, removed children at half the rate of Nevada.

All areas of the system, including foster care, child protective and emergency shelter services, need improvement and/or restructuring. This will require a cultural shift among Family Services staff and child welfare advocates, as well as the community's commitment to embrace and share the burden of care for our children.

I am very familiar with the reform efforts to the child welfare systems of Illinois and Alabama mentioned by Ms. Appell and Mr. Wexler. These reforms set examples as to what can be achieved. There may be components of these efforts that are replicable here in Clark County. It is also important to note that each community is unique. Thus, the change in our system will have its own distinct characteristics and needs.

With the support of the County Commission and county management, I am developing a five-point strategy for addressing the immediate areas of concern and challenge.

As well, I am working on long-term strategies for achieving national standards in performance and outcomes related to child safety and wellness in Clark County. Here is our five-point strategy for "Safe Futures":

1. A comprehensive, multi-disciplinary response to maltreatment reports and threats to child safety: We will redesign and improve critical processes and resources in order to better ensure the safety of children exposed to maltreatment.

2. A responsive service array for children and families with services matched to child and family needs and culture (including safe and developmentally appropriate placements for children who cannot safely remain with their families): Compared with other communities its same size, Clark County has a significantly underdeveloped private and non-profit sector supporting child and family services. We will engage the private sector in new collaborative efforts to strengthen its capacity to serve our child and family population.

3. Timely permanency for children: The limited availability of drug treatment, mental health and numerous other family support services currently leads to extended service episodes and stands as a barrier to working with intact families experiencing severe problems. Current caseload realities mean that children and caregivers are not seen regularly and not adequately supported. We will work to reduce caseloads and develop new services and strategies for reducing the overall length of time to permanency.

4. Support for child and adolescent health, mental health and educational well-being: We will seek to expand access to behavioral health, physical health and educational supports for children in our custody.

5. Full accreditation by the Council on Accreditation by 2011: This strategy will call for changes in the infrastructure and improvement in internal processes of the Department of Family Services along with the addition of new resources. The department must use the resources it has effectively and efficiently.

I look forward to the continued involvement and support of the local community and child welfare experts in making the above and future strategies a success for the benefit of the children and families in Clark County.

Tom Morton is director of the Clark County Department of Family Services.