Friday, May 16, 2003 | 10:08 a.m.
May 16, 2003
The Sun reports today, as part of the seven-part series "Children Left Behind," that Nevada ranks relatively high in the percentage of reported cases of abuse or neglect involving children up to age 3 -- 16th in the nation. Some experts point to the transient nature of Las Vegas as one possible reason why the state doesn't fare well. Many parents and their children who move here leave behind a family support system that can sometimes head off abuse by individuals who can become overwhelmed by the demands of parenting. Las Vegas' 24-hour economy also makes it very difficult for parents working nights to find suitable care givers to watch their children, so they can end up leaving their children with relative strangers, a situation that can lead to neglect or endangerment.
But many of the children who are abused or neglected, the very children in our society whom we should be most concerned about, aren't getting helped because of a lack of state funding for Clark County government's child protective services. In the past two years the number of abuse and neglect cases that were investigated shot up 30 percent, yet there hasn't been enough money to increase staffing to handle the additional caseload. The job isn't going to get any easier if a Senate-Assembly budget subcommittee gets its way -- the panel is recommending that the Legislature cut $2.2 million in funding for child protective services in Clark County. The full Legislature should ignore such a wrong-headed recommendation and restore the funding.
In addition, there hasn't been much done to help those children in the child protective system who need mental health treatment. Last year the Clark County Children's Mental Health Consortium issued a report that found 43.8 percent of the children under the county's protection had severe emotional disturbances but received no mental health treatment. Susan Klein-Rothschild, director of the Clark County Department of Family Services, told the Sun's Steve Kanigher that if these services aren't provided, then the state ends up paying out more money in the long run because these children can end up with substance abuse problems or turn to crime. In an encouraging sign, about 128 children with serious emotional disturbances will start receiving mental health treatment this month due to funding approved in 2001 by the Legislature. Gov. Kenny Guinn has recommende d even more funding over the next two years, increasing the budget so that an additional 95 children will receive treatment! .
Another reason why Nevada's child protective services have fared so poorly is that our two most populous counties, Clark and Washoe, have been alone in the nation in having a bifurcated system. That is, the two counties have been responsible for providing temporary shelter for children when they're taken out of their homes, only to subsequently have the children transferred to the jurisdiction of state government, which runs the foster care system. Children, under this dual-track system, were getting lost in the bureaucratic shuffle. A new law was passed in 2001 that was supposed to enable Clark and Washoe counties to assume all of these responsibilities, but a budget shortfall has postponed its implementation in Clark County. The unified system has begun in Washoe County, however, and it is working well. The governor is seeking funding to unify the syst em in Clark County, and we believe the Legislature should approve its implementation.
Child protective services doesn't grab the attention of state legislators the way it should, but it's an area that deserves more and consistent support. In fact, it's hard to imagine that there is anything much more important than making sure that children are removed quickly from situations where they're being neglected or abused.
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