County reverses position on records

Molly Ball

Monday, Sept. 19, 2005 | 10:04 a.m.

Just hours after successfully arguing against releasing Child Protective Services records about a 2-year-old girl who allegedly died from neglect, lawyers representing Clark County asked the courts to decide whether the public would be better served by release of such information.

Attorneys with the civil division of the district attorney's office on Friday filed an unusual "petition for declaration of rights and legal duties," a document that seeks a court's ruling on an issue without bringing a case.

"The issue of whether Clark County has met its public duty with regard to dissemination of data and information regarding child deaths resulting from child abuse and neglect is ripe for determination," the petition states.

The document was filed in District Court within hours of a judge's ruling rejecting the Sun's request for Child Protective Services' records of the agency's involvement with the family of Adacelli Snyder, a 2-year-old who starved to death in a squalid mobile home.

Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth Vizbert argued against releasing the records, and District Judge Stewart Bell agreed with her that Nevada state law requires that the records be kept confidential.

However, the new petition -- filed by the same lawyers who argued against the Sun's lawsuit and in favor of sealing the file -- asked the court to reconcile the Nevada law on confidential records with a federal law requiring disclosure.

The federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act compels states to disclose information about child deaths resulting from abuse and neglect.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger said this morning that the petition was brought in a "non-adversarial" setting to clarify whether the federal laws would require the county to turn over the records.

He said the district attorney's office fought on behalf of Child Protective Services against the Sun to prevent disclosure of the records because "CPS is our client."

County Manager Thom Reilly, himself a former Child Protective Services caseworker, said the federal law seems to require what the state law prohibits: opening the files of children who die.

He believes the federal law takes the right approach, and he is advocating for Clark County to release the records.

"I'm for more openness," Reilly said. "Who are we protecting if a child died?"

The more information is available, the more the public can support efforts to help children, he said.

"If we want the community to be involved, we have to be much more open about what's occurring," he said.

Reilly said his "constant pressuring" of the district attorneys to release more information spurred the petition seeking court guidance on the matter.

The county's petition also notes that two nonprofit groups, the local Children's Advocacy Alliance and the California-based National Center for Youth Law, have also demanded the release of the records and threatened to sue.

Reilly said he suspected legislative action would be needed to resolve the apparent conflict.

Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, is getting a bill drafted that would make records open to the public in all cases involving the death of a child.

"Let's have a policy discussion in the Legislature about this," Reilly said. "We'll be advocating for more transparency."

The argument for public examination of the records stems largely from the gruesome starvation death of Adacelli Snyder, who in June was found dead in her family's squalid trailer home, covered with insect bites and surrounded by filth. Adacelli's parents have been indicted for murder by child abuse.

A year before, the county's Child Protective Services had closed a yearlong neglect case on the family. But the contents of that case file have not been disclosed.

JoNell Thomas, the Sun's lawyer, argued on Friday that opening the record is in the public interest because it would settle important questions about why Adacelli's case was closed.

Molly Ball can be reached at (702) 259-8814 or molly@lasvegassun.com