It's hard to respond to Clark County's call for more foster parents when no one's picking up.

Las Vegan Kolanda Scott, one of the would-be foster parents having problems getting through on the Department of Family Services phone line, is eager to see if she qualifies to provide shelter to a child in protective custody. She's called numerous times during the past four months and has been able to speak to someone on only one occasion.

"The person took all my information and said they would send me an information packet," said Scott, a publicist for Virgin Advertising. "But I've never received it."

This week, Clark County officials began lobbying for more people to open their homes to abused and neglected children in need of temporary care, a campaign spurred by severe crowding at Child Haven, the county's emergency shelter. Assistant County Manager Darryl Martin asked the community Wednesday to become involved in foster parenting. County Manager Thom Reilly renewed the request Thursday.

Where to place victimized minors has become such a problem that Clark County stopped accepting referrals from area hospitals June 2. Those children, mostly infants, will remain in hospital care until space opens at Child Haven or a private placement is arranged. The county has set up an overflow dorm for boys in Child Haven's gymnasium.

"I read the paper every day and I see those articles," said Scott, 27. "I want to help. I have a daughter, and she's 8 years old. This seems to be the right thing for me to do."

This is not the first time that response to foster parent inquiries has been an issue for the Clark County Department of Family Services.

In February, a communitywide plea for foster parents netted 750 calls over two days, an overwhelming response that prompted the county to install two additional phone lines and assign extra staff to handle the requests.

The department's director at the time, Susan Klein-Rothschild, pleaded with people getting busy signals to call back.

Martin is asking the same thing now.

"We have six staff members on our call lines," he said Friday, adding that additional staff will be working during the weekend. "We're emptying the (voice mail) boxes regularly."

Martin said that as of Wednesday, 550 inquiries about the foster parent program had been logged. The foster parent phone line -- 455-0181 -- is strictly an information line that allows people to get packets about the program. Any questions can be answered at the orientations that Family Services holds regularly for prospective foster parents.

Assemblywoman Susan Gerhardt, a member of the state's blue-ribbon committee reviewing child death investigations in Clark County, tested the foster parent call line Friday and was able to get through immediately.

She is concerned about the complaints she's received about no one answering the phones. It mirrors the problems reported to her by people being placed on indefinite hold before the county revamped its child abuse hot line this year.

With the foster parent call line, Gerhardt said, it is important that Family Services responds in a timely fashion.

"People can't get through, then they get busy, and then you've lost a good candidate who could take in a child," she said. "It shouldn't be that difficult to get a handle on the problem."

Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union in Nevada, agreed. His organization is pressing for a resolution to the crisis in placing children in protective custody.

"It's our belief that there are potential qualified foster families out there," Lichtenstein said, adding that he doesn't think the county is working efficiently to identify them, train them and match them with children in need.

"Clearly there's a problem and one that must be addressed," he said.

Reilly said Thursday that the county had licensed more than 200 new foster homes since May 2005 when a recruitment campaign was started.

However, when compared with the number of inquiries made, that seems like a low return, Lichtenstein said. In May 2005 alone, 631 inquiries were made. In February, Family Services received 1,300 inquiries regarding the foster parent program.

Tom Morton, incoming director for the Department of Child and Family Services, said those figures aren't surprising.

It's typical to lose about 50 percent of interested foster family candidates at each step in the process, he said. Of those who inquire, about half will attend an orientation. Of those who complete foster parent orientation, only about half will go on to the training. And of those who start training, only about half will complete it.

"You have a lot of people who respond to this with an emotional reaction to call, and not a lot of thought about how it's going to affect their family," Morton said.

Some people may drop out because foster parents must have contact with the birth parents.

Others don't realize that the process includes regular home visits by case workers and an extensive background check, Morton said.

"It's the training process that helps people see what the fostering process is going to be like," he said.

Martin said that in many cases, people don't realize how closely regulated the fostering system is.

Even if an individual is licensed, the state prohibits the placement of more than two 15-month-old children in a foster care home. One foster care home can't have more than four children younger than 5.

In addition, children who are medically fragile or have special needs can't be placed with just anyone.

"People get so emotionally caught up by this that they think it's like going to the animal shelter to pick up a puppy," Martin said. "But there's a process they have to go through."