Editorial: Child Haven’s growing pains

Thursday, Feb. 16, 2006 | 12:30 p.m.

A Family Court judge says an already tough situation is becoming tougher for some of the children residing at the Child Haven shelter because of an increasing number of "more streetwise kids" who are bullying other children.

According to a story in Wednesday's Las Vegas Sun, Family Court Judge Gerald Hardcastle said Clark County's Child Haven shelter, which was designed to temporarily house abused, neglected and abandoned children, is increasingly becoming a place where county authorities send children who don't quite qualify for the juvenile detention center, but who can't be sent home because it is unsafe, or because they have been abandoned.

"That is not the intended purpose of the facility," Hardcastle told the Sun, adding that there is "a gap" in the system that neither Child Haven nor the juvenile delinquent system is designed to fill. In the past year, the judge said, some of the "tougher, more streetwise kids" have been "working together and terrorizing the other kids."

Family Services Director Susan Klein-Rothschild, whose office oversees Child Haven, told the Sun that the shelter is a safe place, and that the proper authorities - including police, if needed - are notified whenever any child is in danger.

The county shouldn't be placing Child Haven's youngsters or staff in the position of needing such assistance. But officials said there are no alternative facilities to place children for whom juvenile detention isn't appropriate. As a result, they end up at Child Haven, which is frequently overcrowded.

Sometimes children are referred to St. Jude's Ranch for Children in Boulder City or to Girls and Boys Town of Southern Nevada. But those programs aren't always the best fit, officials said, as they are long-term facilities, rather than short-term, and may not offer the counseling and other services needed.

It is obvious that, as Klein-Rothschild told the Sun, "we need more alternatives," whether it means Clark County paying for extra staff and counseling services at other existing programs or finding a way to expand Child Haven and establish ways to appropriately separate children who exhibit aggressive behaviors.

No matter how they behave, these children are wards of Clark County because they have, at some point, suffered some level of abuse or neglect. They need our help and care, not our excuses.