A child sleeps at Child Haven, a Las Vegas center for abused, neglected or abandoned children, in June. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

CARSON CITY -- The problem of children dying because of neglect or abuse might be greater in rural Nevada and Washoe County than in Clark County, a state lawmaker said Wednesday.

A new state analysis shows 34 additional children in Washoe County and 14 in rural Nevada might have died of maltreatment between 2001 and 2004, according to Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas.

Deaths of only 12 children in the two areas previously had been reported as having been caused by abuse or neglect.

"This is horrifying," said Buckley during a meeting of a special subcommittee studying the safety and welfare of children. "We have a systemic problem. We are not identifying statewide children dying of abuse or neglect."

Considering the population of the two areas, the number of children dying from mistreatment in Washoe County and rural areas might be greater on a per capita basis than in Clark County, she added.

A state report released in December found that the deaths of 79 additional Clark County children in 2001-04 may have been caused by mistreatment. Previously only 35 deaths of children in Clark County had been substantiated as abuse or neglect.

Clark County is home to 71 percent of the state's population.

The report on the Clark County deaths set off an investigation and a shake-up in the management of the Clark County Department of Family Services.

During the legislative committee hearing, new Clark County Family Services Director Tom Morton outlined the "Safety Futures" plan he wants to implement. Those changes are expected to cost at least $25 million.

Mike Willden, director of the state Department of Heath and Human Services, said a national review team will meet for a week starting Oct. 22 and determine whether the 48 deaths in Washoe County and rural Nevada actually were because of abuse or neglect.

"We are going to use the same process we used in Clark County," he added. "We have to see if it is a total system problem."

Willden said reviews of the 79 deaths in Clark County found that 37 of the children did die from mistreatment. In 18 cases, a cause of death could not be determined from the paperwork furnished to analysts.

Mike Capello, director of the Washoe County Department of Social Services, said he would not offer his department as the "model" on which to base other social service agencies.

Just finding people to staff social service agencies in rural Nevada is difficult, added Willden.

At one point in the spring two-thirds of the authorized staff positions for rural clinics were unfilled, he said.

Both Capello and Morton said the media attention given to child deaths in Las Vegas might be frightening off potential care givers.

"It is decreasing the willingness of people taking very young kids," Morton said.

Capello added some children who have died in foster care had serious medical problems.

"Their life expectancy was short," he said. But there is an implication that the family or the social services agency somehow was involved in the deaths, he added.

When he worked in Illinois, Morton said, officials could give the media more details about the causes of children's deaths. That reduced speculation that parents might have contributed to the deaths, he said.

"It would be helpful if we could disclose it here," he said.

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, said a bill to authorize the release of more information about children's deaths is being prepared for the 2007 Legislature.