Clark County Family Services moves to streamline case oversight

Clark County’s child welfare system has begun implementing reforms expected to produce better outcomes for those in its care.

A wide range of systemic problems were identified by a special blue ribbon panel of experts as leading to poor outcomes for Southern Nevada children and families. The committee held public meetings to hear from concerned community members and stakeholders before putting together a report to help drive reform.

County officials are starting to enact the recommendations that are quick fixes and don’t require extra funding.

A reorganization of managers is underway and changes are likely to take effect this week, said Clark County Assistant Manager Jeff Wells. Ten of 14 managerial positions are being realigned to merge Child Protective Services with the permanency units, with one manager overseeing cases from protective custody to permanency services. The new model is an attempt to speed progress of a case from start to finish.

The role of Child Protective Services starts when allegations of child abuse or neglect that could lead to the removal of a child from a home are investigated. Permanency workers enter the picture later, when placement for the child needs to be decided.

No managerial positions will be cut as part of the reorganization.

“It was a great idea, and we don’t really have to wait for the next budget on July 1 to start,” Wells said Wednesday.

The reorganization of managers was recommended by the blue ribbon committee appointed by Nevada Supreme Court Justice Nancy Saitta last fall to examine shortcomings in Clark County’s child welfare system and court.

That’s not the only recommendation the Clark County Department of Family Services has enacted. The agency already has adopted changes involving medical releases for children in the system and the addition of three deputy district attorney positions to reduce the current caseload of 235 cases per attorney to 195 in the juvenile justice division, according to a county budget document.

“If these three attorneys are initially assigned to the backlog of termination of parental rights cases, the backlog could be reduced by 50 percent and almost 400 additional children would be eligible for permanency through adoption,” the document reads.

Under the manager realignment, managers will oversee a mix of CPS and permanency supervisors. For example, three CPS supervisors and two permanency supervisors could report to the same manager. In the existing manager structure, CPS and permanency supervisors report to different managers.

The reorganization will “allow for a smoother transition,” Wells said. Managers will know a case from the beginning and be able to see it through to the end.

“It’s more likely that it will improve outcomes for children; at least that’s the goal,” he said last week.

Denise Tanata Ashby, executive director for the Children’s Advocacy Alliance, said her organization is happy to see that the county agency is moving forward with some of the recommendations. But the alliance also recognizes that other improvements will take time to implement.

The reorganization of managers will be a helpful move, she said. Managers, however, need to receive adequate training during the change.

“The transition is going to have to be carefully monitored,” she said Wednesday.

Ashby was pleased that Family Services is also taking action on issues related to medical releases for children in care. The medical consent issue garnered attention last year after the death of a 7-month-old foster girl. The Clark County foster mother took the ailing baby to the hospital, but doctors needed to run a test to treat her, which required consent from the biological mother, who couldn’t be located by Family Services.

“I’m very hopeful, if kids need medical procedures, they need to get them done quickly, especially on emergency cases,” she said.

More changes are to come in the child welfare system.

“Some are good ideas, and we are just going to go do them,” Wells said.

The department plans to move forward with the implementation of more recommendations from the blue ribbon committee in the coming months, Wells said.

Saitta, who plans to establish working groups to help with planning, said via her assistant the blue ribbon committee plans to meet in June to discuss the implementation phase.

Work groups and committees are expected to be convened to help with that phase.

A few state lawmakers have expressed interest in taking the blue ribbon committee’s report up for discussion before the next session. The committee released its report in March.

Contact Yesenia Amaro at yamaro@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440. Find her on Twitter: @YeseniaAmaro.