Real scandal is yet to come for Family Services when ax falls

As a veteran scandal trafficker, I appreciate a good bureaucratic controversy more than most.

So when I heard that a Clark County audit appeared to show big problems with donations by nonprofit organizations to Child Haven, I couldn't resist biting. If there was a scandal inside the Department of Family Services, I wanted to know about it.

Talk about a disappointment.

Reduced to a fortune cookie, the audit revealed that the DFS hasn't kept clear records of the private donations used for everything from clothing to movie tickets. It's not exactly Tammany Hall revisited.

The audit, however, managed to sully two nonprofits that do the county and its troubled children a great service: The Children's Service Guild of Southern Nevada and the Child Haven Advocacy Network-Giving Enterprise (CHANGE). Fundraising in a recession is challenging enough, CHANGE officials say. There's no need to confuse people about the organization's efforts and ethics.

"I have accounted for every single penny," CHANGE Treasurer Judi Booe says. "I take it as a personal attack. I spend hours each week on this to make sure everything is right. No one ever called me and asked me anything. I didn't see a draft of a report before they put it out on the Web. Now we have to work very hard in order to get the audit corrected."

Clark County Department of Family Services Director Tom Morton says the necessary changes in the system will come from within government.

"The audit was entirely focused on DFS internal controls and practices," Morton says. "From a practical standpoint, all of the statements in the audit pertain to us, not them."

Morton agreed that some of the audit's language could have led to the confusion. And Clark County Audit Director Jerry Carroll took time to contact Booe to soften what CHANGE took as an insult.

"I wish to take this opportunity to not only thank you for your assistance on our audit but also to thank you for all the work you do for Family Services," Carroll wrote, presumably on bended knee. He clarified the intent of the audit and appropriately apologized "for any confusion."

In short, there's no scandal.

That's good news for CHANGE, the Guild and even the DFS, but bad news for me. Not that the department figures to remain without controversy for long.

In fact, without a great deal of good luck in the coming weeks, DFS could be the scene of tragedy and scandal. After all, the Legislature is about to convene in Carson City.

With the state facing a crushing budget deficit, DFS is in danger of being gutted during a recession -- the worst possible time for troubled children and families.

To date, the DFS budget has been spared. Child Haven has been protected while programs and services in different departments were slashed. But Morton expressed his concerns that this time might be different. And any substantial cuts will have a direct impact on the tenuous quality of life of hundreds of children and families already on the brink.

It's no secret DFS serves more clients with fewer dollars than many counties. Example: Allegheny County, Pa., with its 1.3 million population, sets a high standard nationally by spending $179 per citizen for its child welfare budget. Clark County, by contrast, spends about $50, Morton says.

Although the growth of the community has slowed, the local economy has foundered. And the rampant abuse of methamphetamine continues to devastate families and add stress to the DFS. As low-income families grow increasingly desperate, still more pressure is applied to the DFS net.

Now comes the really bad news: Without relief, DFS will take a devastating hit at the upcoming Legislature.

"So far, DFS has been spared personnel cuts of any kind by either the state or the county," Morton says. "Clearly, the biggest threat is the 34 percent gap between budget and revenue stream. If the budget has to be cut, and we are included in that, it would be disastrous."

In the next round of budget butchery, there may be no choice but to let employees go and, in the process, increase social worker caseloads to absurdly high levels. Heavy caseloads ensure tragedy.

And that scandal, when it happens, will leave blood on all our hands for failing to protect our most vulnerable children.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith