Editorial: A looming crisis for children

Friday, May 9, 2003 | 5:12 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION: May 11, 2003

Today the Las Vegas Sun begins a series of articles documenting conditions in Nevada that are leading to "The Perfect Storm" for children. The term, coined by a meteorologist, referred to the October 1991 storm that battered the East Coast from New England to North Carolina. All the conditions necessary for a storm of epic proportions combined simultaneously and its intensity caught that region unaware. The term is now used in describing other crises, whose individual conditions leading up to them stimulated insufficient attention -- until the day they combined and the full extent of the crisis revealed itself.

Unless Nevada begins focusing sufficient attention on the circumstances affecting our children, we will have a crisis as damaging to our social well-being as a hurricane would be to our buildings. The findings of Sun reporter Steve Kanigher, who analyzed numerous local and national reports regarding Nevada's children, should bear heavily on all who love this state.

Growth is at the center of the impending crisis. Nevada is the fastest-growing state in the country. But since the population explosion that began in the late 1980s, it has been obvious that the resulting demand for increased services has far exceeded the capabilities provided by our low tax base. High growth, low taxes -- a condition perfect for funneling other crises into its midst, including: Inadequate education funding, children without health insurance, relatively lax staffing guidelines for child-care facilities, burgeoning caseloads for child-protective agencies, meager benefits for children in needy families, babies not receiving vaccinations, limited access to Head Start, lack of supervision because of the state's 24-hour lifestyle, low private donations to charity, high teen birth rates, language barriers and an economy that promotes transiency.

For the articles that will appear daily over the next week, the Sun has drawn upon the results of more than 50 studies to show a trend that has ominous implications for Nevada's children. There are large roles for businesses, nonprofit organizations and individuals in solving the documented problems. And as the series will show, there is a critical role for state and local governments. The next several generations of Nevadans will be severely deprived if our elected officials do not provide the leadership needed to bring the state's services to children up to national standards.