Saturday, March 1, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
The relationship between DCFS and VOA from the beginning has been anything but the smooth partnership between the state and the contractor which is necessary to an efficiently run operation conducted in the best interests of the abused and neglected children in Nevada. Carson City doesn't apparently understand or care about the economics of running a viable children's home and the fair and equitable treatment of the nonprofit contractor chosen to provide the children of Nevada this valuable and much needed service. And, if they think they can go out for bids and get another provider, they'd better think again. VOA has been the only bidder to this point and any other potential provider, if they do their homework, will want nothing to do with the state of Nevada.
It's too bad that the DCFS has decided foster homes are the best answer to handle all the needs of abused and neglected children in Nevada. Foster homes are not a cure-all and no other state has taken this extreme approach.
Some three years of observing the activities of the DCFS as relates to the SNCH has convinced me it is a bureaucracy run amok. The people of Nevada, if they care about children, must demand accountability from Carson City. A housecleaning at the Division of Child and Family Services would be a good place to start.
Victor R. Thomas
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