Children's Attorney Project representative Stephanie Charter, right, former Child Haven resident Jessicca Hoffman and attorney Wayne Hardy take part in a news conference Wednesday announcing stepped up legal action on behalf of infants and toddlers at Child Haven and local hospitals. Photo by Isaac Brekken/Review-Journal.

Outside pressure on Clark County officials to do right by infants and toddlers in protective custody mounted on Wednesday when the Children's Attorney Project announced its intention to individually represent at least 58 minors housed at Child Haven and local hospital nurseries.

Those are children who are not receiving their rights under state and federal laws that entitle them to care in a family-like environment, said the project's lead attorney, Stephanie Charter.

"The children in Child Haven are lined up in bassinets," Charter said. "They're lined up in swings along the wall. They are not getting the consistent, one-on-one attention from a single caregiver that research has shown infants and toddlers need to grow and develop normally."

The Children's Attorney Project, a part of the not-for-profit Clark County Legal Services, plans to take action in two steps.

The first involves scheduling Family Court hearings for children in care and obtaining an order with a deadline that requires appropriate placement by a certain date.

If county officials don't meet the deadline, Charter said, attorneys will seek contempt of court charges if that's appropriate.

"These infants and toddlers are in Child Haven because they are already victims of abuse and neglect," Charter said. "For them to have any risk of further victimization, this time in a county shelter, is simply not acceptable."

The action follows the launch of a class-action lawsuit against Clark County's Department of Family Services by a child welfare advocacy group last week. The lawsuit, filed by the California-based National Center for Youth Law, seeks a systemic reform of how Clark County provides for the care of abused and neglected children.

In addition to the growing legal backlash, Clark County faces federal scrutiny for what the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in an Aug. 11 letter to the state, described as worsening conditions at Child Haven.

Assistant County Manager Darryl Martin said a strategy for improving services to foster children is expected to be completed later this month, and will contain actions and deadlines for accomplishing reform.

Much of what advocates and attorneys are calling for is aligned with what the county plans to do, Martin said.

"Right now, our greatest need is for additional foster families," he said, citing that as the greatest obstacle to placing children outside Child Haven. "We need at least 400 to 500 new foster families. Our goal is not to have to have children at Child Haven."

Broadly, what the community can expect to see in the plan once it's released is the placement of additional resources for foster family recruitment and retention; a plan to end the hold on hospital referrals, which have turned local nurseries into de facto campuses for infants taken into county custody; ways to alleviate overcapacity issues at Child Haven, which this summer began using its gym as an overflow dormitory for young boys for whom the cottages had no beds; and a change in the way evaluations and assessments are performed to determine if children are at risk.

"We're looking at the entire department," Martin said. "And we have made significant changes already. Most of the senior management has changed in the last few months."

Tom Morton, new director of family services, fired the manager in charge of the foster care program last month. Renee Swain has retained an attorney and claims she was wrongly dismissed while on medical leave.

A former assistant director, Julie Salmon, resigned Friday, but wouldn't comment on her decision to leave the county after nine years.

"We didn't get here overnight, and we aren't going to be able to fix all the problems overnight," Martin said. "We need the community's support, and I'm asking folks in the community to step up to the plate with solutions."

Charter also pleaded for support, although hers was aimed at attorneys willing to step forward and volunteer to take a case. A free continuing legal education course will be offered to lawyers Sept. 29. The Children's Attorney's Project has a staff of seven supported by private volunteers. Together, the project staff already represents more than 800 children in local foster care, Charter said.

Private practice attorney Wayne Hardy, who has volunteered with the project for four years, said it's vital that a child have an advocate in a system where they may be seen by the court as seldom as twice a year. Having an attorney to represent them helps ensure that juveniles will receive the services they need.

"Essentially what we can do as private attorneys is watch over these children as they make their way through the placement proceedings in the foster care system," Hardy said.

Gary Peck, executive director of the Nevada ACLU, praised the action taken by Clark County Legal Services. The ACLU also is actively lobbying for reform in local child welfare services.

"We certainly appreciate that it's imperative for every child to be properly represented," Peck said. "That's one of the things we've been negotiating for with the county."

Jessicca Hoffman, a 19-year-old who spent four months at Child Haven after being taken from her drug-abusing mother, used to spend her time helping out at the infant cottage, caring for babies desperate to be held, who called her "mommy" when she picked them up.

Hoffman thinks the problem is bigger than a shortcoming in county services.

Hoffman, who has utilized the services of the Children's Attorney Project, said she still thinks about the babies at Child Haven and wonders where the community is.

"This could be their child," Hoffman said, when asked what she would say to spur people to action.

"It could be a relative or a kid that they know. And if this were their kid, it would be devastating. And even if this isn't their kid, they need you. They need somebody."