Foster parent Latreece Vaughn speaks during an interview at the Child Haven campus Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023.
Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Latreece Vaughn was looking for some good news.
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020, the Las Vegas resident was traveling into California for her cousin’s funeral and started to feel down.
But the same day she buried her cousin, Vaughn received a call from Clark County’s Family Services with some long-awaited news: A 6-week-old baby girl would be placed in her care after months of foster parent training.
Vaughn remembers being in complete shock with a wide range of emotions — happy, nervous and anxious all at the same time.
“It was a lot, but it was a really good experience,” Vaughn said. “And we’re really in need of foster parents, like we need them a lot. There are over 100 kids on (the Child Haven) campus that need homes.”
Vaughn, 38, is one of many residents Clark County helped get licensed through special training programs to help curb the region’s need for foster families.
Across the nation, jurisdictions have struggled with finding enough foster parents to care for children in the system. Roughly 400,000 children are in foster care at any given time in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Clark County has not been spared from this, especially following the pandemic, said Jill Marano, director of Clark County Department of Family Services. The county has about 3,000 children on any given day who are in foster care, according to the Department of Family Services.
In August 2023 alone, 1,944 children had been taken in by the Department of Family Services. The average number of children 18 or younger at Child Haven — the county’s emergency shelter — was about 91. Their average length of stay was almost 23 days, according to department data.
Of the 1,944 children in Child Haven’s care, only 455 had been released to a parent, relative or fictive kin as of August. About 342 finalized adoptions had been made in the same amount of time.
Children often enter foster programs as a result of mandated reporters who are required to identify and report possible cases of abuse or neglect. Mandated reporters can be teachers, social workers, health care workers or child care providers, according to the National Association of Mandated Reporters.
After the pandemic, Clark County saw an influx of children being admitted into Child Haven, Marano said. Vaughn explained that it was harder for teachers, principals and other school personnel to identify possible abuse or neglect at home.
When schools reopened for in-person instruction, school employees could now find and report these cases.
Marano also saw a decrease in licensed parents about a year ago, which is “really when we started to hit that crisis point” in having more foster children than families available to care for them.
“There’s really always been a need for foster parents because we constantly have children entering and exiting the system,” Marano said. “I think after COVID, a lot of people sort of got on with doing other things and weren’t able to make the time (for fostering children) that they needed to.”
That’s why Clark County decided to go all-in on a new, expedited foster training program that would help prospective foster families become licensed in only two weeks.
The course starts with an information session, then the prospective foster parents must complete a background check and fingerprinting, Marano said. They must also complete 27 foster parent training hours, a tuberculosis test and CPR/FirstAid/AED training.
Proof of transportation, car insurance, housing, homeowners or renter’s insurance, financial stability and a life without drug and alcohol abuse or law enforcement difficulties are also required.
Prospective fosters must also provide five references.
The process — specifically, fingerprinting and adding safety elements like smoke detectors to housing — is free, Marano said.
“We’re really trying to make sure that we’re making it as easy and accessible as possible for people that are interested in fostering,” Marano said.
The first two-week licensing program began Jan. 27 and resulted in seven of the eight households being licensed after they completed training, according to data provided by the county. A two-week training session was held from July to August, and another two in October.
Of the 15 households that completed those training periods, 12 were licensed.
“I feel like every parent, not just foster parents, should take this class,” Vaughn said of the course content. “It helps you just understand how kids are, how to understand children through their lens and not the lens that (adults) see: trauma.”
Once licensed, parents must wait for the call telling them they’ve received a placement. These families get reimbursed when they are actively caring for a child, but the rates depend on the state.
For Nevada, standard foster care rates amount to $28.21 per day for children 0 to 12 years old, and $31.94 per day for youths 13 years or older, according to data provided by the county.
Rates for the care of three or more siblings are $30.21 per day for kids up to 12 years old and $33.94 per day for those 13 and up.
Clark County’s Department of Family Services has already been running longer foster training programs years before debuting its fast-tracked one. It offers a seven-week course multiple times throughout the year with the same content, Marano said.
That long-term course is what Vaughn took when she started her journey as a foster parent in 2019. By April 2020, Vaughn was licensed and ready for her eventual first placement in June.
Vaughn said that when she found out about the process to become a foster parent in Clark County, she was concerned about stereotypes regarding who can do the job.
But a variety of people can apply, including nonmarried couples and single folks, LGBTQ+ couples or individuals at least 21 years old, renters and people with disabilities.
Since June 2020, Vaughn has fostered at least 16 kids, she said. Right now, she’s caring for one foster child alongside her 3-year-old adopted daughter, 10- and 16-year-old biological kids and 19-year-old nephew.
She said she learned a lot from her training courses, including safety precautions and how to help kids from various situations in life. Even her eldest daughter and son have supported her and the foster children who stay with them, she added.
More expedited training courses will be taught Nov. 5, 11, 12 and 18, according to the county. Those who are interested can sign up to attend an information session on Clark County’s website.
Those who may not be interested in becoming a foster parent, Vaughn encourages to donate very gently used clothing items, toiletries or toys to Peggy’s Attic — the donation center for the Department of Family Services where children who get placed can pick a one-time gift bag of items they need.
“Anyone can be a foster parent, as long as you’re loving and caring, and you’re willing to take care of a child; I just don’t want people to have a stigma like I did,” Vaughn said. “Even if you don’t want to be a foster parent, there’s different ways that you can help these kids in foster care — you can volunteer, you can donate, so I just want (people) to understand that it takes a community to help.”
