Commission approves 55 more social workers

Mike Kalil

Las Vegas Review-Journal

October 4, 2006

Clark County commissioners on Tuesday approved hiring 55 new social workers for the Department of Family Services, a move aimed at keeping children safer, settling a child advocacy group's lawsuit, and stanching federal criticism of the county's troubled child welfare system.

Family Services Director Tom Morton said the staff boost will allow the agency to expand Child Protective Services' response to assist police who come across abused or neglected children to weekends and overnight.

Children removed from homes by police on weekends or between 5 p.m. and 9 a.m. on weekdays are automatically placed in Child Haven, the county's temporary shelter, without a professional social worker evaluating whether there is a relative's home or another alternative place for the child to go.

Besides 24-hour-a-day coverage, the 10 percent increase in Family Services' staff will also allow closer supervision of children with open CPS cases by cutting down social workers' caseloads, Morton told commissioners.

Tuesday's 6-0 vote was the first step in implementing Safe Futures, Morton's $30 million agency overhaul designed to address chronic problems in a child welfare system decried by legislators and child welfare advocates as woefully inadequate.

Family Services faces a lawsuit from a child advocacy group seeking system-wide changes in how children in protective custody are treated . Additionally, Clark County's failure to comply with federal requirements has jeopardized funding to the state.

Child welfare advocates lauded the commission's expansion of the agency's staff, but said much more work must be done.

"We are exceedingly heartened by the steps they've taken, which are consistent with what we've been asking for in negotiations with them for some time," said Gary Peck, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.

Advertising and recruiting for the new social workers will begin immediately, Morton said after the commission vote. It may require looking out of state for so many social workers at one time, county officials said.

"It's something of a challenge to hire these people nationwide," county spokesman Erik Pappa said.

County Manager Virginia Valentine told the commission that the state has committed to funding the $3.2 million annual cost of the 55 positions for 2½ years beginning in January. The money was allocated to Nevada from a federal fund called TANF, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

After that, the cost will have to be absorbed into the county budget, she said.

Morton said he will return in two weeks seeking 25 more permanent positions. Most of those jobs will go toward expanding foster family licensing and recruitment.

To cut down crowding at Child Haven, Morton has said he wants to triple the approximately 200 foster care families and other placements for supervised children the county currently has.

"Right now, we only have one recruiter," county spokeswoman Gina Olivares said.

A few of those 25 positions will be added to the Special Public Defender's office for attorneys who would represent indigent parents who have lost custody of their child.

The estimated $795,000 cost of paying the 25 workers for the first six months would come from county funds, but officials said they believe they can secure state and federal money to fund the positions after that.