Columnist Sandra Thompson: Good child welfare system isn’t free

Sandra Thompson

Sunday, July 2, 2000 | 10:46 a.m.

Sandra Thompson is vice president/associate editor of the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at 259-4025 or e-mail at thompson@lasvegassun.com.

You can't build an effective child welfare system without adequate staffing and funding.

The question is whether those key components will be building blocks or stumbling blocks in the effort to overhaul Nevada's ailing, bifurcated system.

After several public hearings, a legislative subcommittee headed by Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, last month voted to recommend to the 2001 Legislature that the bulk of child welfare services be transferred from the state to Clark and Washoe counties. The state would handle those services in the rural areas, and also would have new regulatory and oversight responsibilities. Now, the state and counties handle different aspects of the same case, causing delays and gaps in services. As a result, children may linger in foster care for years.

Although the county model was the only one presented to the subcommittee, it makes the most sense. Services generally are better if administered locally.

But that's not sitting well with the State of Nevada Employees Association, which has major concerns about its workers transferring to the counties.

"We see no evidence that the program would improve (if moved to the counties)," SNEA Executive Director Bob Gagnier says. "Quite the contrary, we believe the program would suffer and be more costly under the counties."

He says Clark County has not demonstrated that it can do better than the state.

"They're not used to long-term care. Everything they do is short term," he adds.

Kirby Burgess, director of Clark County Youth and Family Services, disagrees. His agency would handle local child welfare services. He says the county has the infrastructure in place; it just needs to be enhanced.

Gagnier suggested expanding the pilot program in Washoe County where state and county employees work as a team on child welfare issues, and starting a similar program in Clark County.

However, that would only be an interim step to making the child welfare system workable.

SNEA is working on language to be included in a bill draft on the new child welfare system that details how state workers will be transferred to the county. There are salary, benefits and licensing issues.

Buckley has called the employee issue a critical one. "We have to be fair with existing workers," she says.

SNEA's final position on the child welfare proposal will depend on how members want the association to approach it. "If they want us to oppose it, we will," Gagnier says.

He predicts an uphill fight in the Legislature because of the increased cost. There already are signs that money will be tight.

The cost of transferring services to Clark County is still being computed. The early estimation of $25 million is growing, as computer costs are being tallied.

Federal funding requires a single, statewide computer system. Now there are two: the state's Unity system and Clark County's Family TRACS (tracking, review, automated case system). Both have different functions. Unity handles foster care issues; TRACS is more oriented to Child Protective Services and juvenile justice.

To integrate the county's computer system with the state's could cost as much as $927,000, which includes a one-time cost of as much as $596,000. In addition, for long-term access, first-year costs could run as high as $1.9 million, including a one-time cost of $500,000.

What remains to be worked out is who will foot the bills. A combination of federal, state and county funds is needed.

"The big issue in the Legislature will be the fiscal note on it," Burgess says. "We'll need champions to make this happen."

It would be a colossal shame if this opportunity to create a new, effective, efficient system that better serves children is hurt by short-sighted financial concerns.

Keep this issue in proper perspective: We pay now, or our children will pay dearly for it later.