CARSON CITY -- A budget that focuses both on how to keep children with their families when possible and better serve those who must be placed in foster care is what Gov. Jim Gibbons has proposed for the Division of Child & Family Services in the coming two years, lawmakers were told Wednesday.

The $135.6 million budget for the child welfare integration fund for Clark County includes money to hire dozens of new workers to help manage cases, to help recruit new foster parents and to help keep foster parents in the program, said Fernando Serrano, administrator of the agency.

The budget includes an increase in the daily rate paid to foster parents, from $21.50 to $24 in fiscal year 2007-08 and to $28 in 2008-09, and money for a 24-hour intervention team to respond to incidents at foster homes to resolve a crisis.

Serrano said the Southern Nevada child welfare program, administered by Clark County but funded jointly by the state, needs 450 new foster homes to keep pace with the number of children needing care.

"Children are safer when they are seen more often, they are safer when those who see them are better trained, they are safer when those who see them have adequate caseloads," he said.

The budget was presented to a joint meeting of the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees days ahead of the start of the legislative session on Feb. 5.

'I'm very pleased with the child welfare budget," said Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno.

The fact that the big increase in funding is in the governor's budget to start with should give it a strong chance of passage, she said.

No lawmakers voiced any serious objections with the budget, which represents a 74 percent increase in funding for the Clark County program from the current two-year budget.

Ways and Means Chairman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, said he hopes the budget increase will help alleviate the many problems reported in the foster care system in Southern Nevada, including child deaths.

"The bottom line is the kids and to make sure they are protected," he said.

The Children's Advocacy Alliance gave the state an overall grade of D-minus for its 2006 track record in child welfare issues. The grade has remained the same for the past three cycles of the alliance's report card, which is released before the start of the state's biennial legislative session.

Mike Willden, director of the Department of Health and Human Resources, said he expects that the generous budget will help turn the corner on the child welfare problems in Clark County.

"I think it will go a long ways," he said. "When you add up the list of things, there are about 120 new staff being supported. In general fund dollars, that equates to about $20 million."

The state and Clark County are looking at several different ways of better caring for children in need, Willden said.

The state's family resource centers are getting $2 million to hire 26 new staff to help with intervention when children do not need to be removed from a home, he said.

"They will be available for the alternative response," Willden said. "It might be a dirty home. It might be some educational neglect. You don't need to bring those kids into care. You need to work with the family to resolve those issues."

"I'm hopeful, probably after about a year, once you get all these people going, you will see a dramatically improved child welfare system in Clark County," he said.

Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said trying to avoid taking children out of the home when possible has to be a priority.

A group in Clark County has been analyzing why the rate of removal is higher in Southern Nevada than in Washoe County, and some of the reasons are avoidable, she said.

At one point last year, 30 newborns were on police holds in area hospitals because they were delivered with traces of methamphetamine in their systems, Buckley said. But in cases in which police respond to a domestic violence call, the child goes into foster care because the officer does not have time to try to track down a relative, she said.

The 24-hour response team in the budget should help in this type of situation, Buckley said.

The number of children being taken from homes in such cases "needs to be driven down dramatically," she said.

The Division of Child & Family Services budget also includes funding for four positions to help provide a quick response in child deaths.

The division is required to compile investigations of every child death involving abuse or neglect.