Jon Ralston puts traffic, health care and education into proper perspective for the Legislature - after child welfare

Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007 | 7:17 a.m.

It's the early session parlor game in Carson City: What's the biggest issue of the session?

Some have been declaring the transportation infrastructure deficit as the obvious answer. Others say lower education. Still others might say finding a way to deal with access to health care.

None of these is close. During a session that commenced with The Great Debate of whether neophyte Assemblyman Ty Cobb is a hero or a buffoon, it's not surprising that the cataclysm occurring in Nevada is being ignored. First lady Dawn Gibbons and Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto actually touched on only a slice of it when they talked last week about methamphetamine abuse and its ravaging effects.

If the recent revelations about the child welfare system in Nevada don't finally persuade the Gang of 63 - and the local folks, too - to take sweeping action, I am not sure what will. It not only will take a phenomenal investment - yes, folks, that means spending money - but also a commitment to training and coordination that has heretofore been evanescent.

When Clark County Family Services boss Tom Morton told me this past week that he wakes up every day in his understaffed, undertrained world and worries about a horrific disclosure of a child abused or killed, the frightening nature of the problem seems all too clear. Clark County moved last year, with the hiring of Morton and a planned $30 million infusion, to inject hope into a hopeless system where children are neglected, abused and too often killed, sometimes because of negligent authorities. Even Gov. Jim Gibbons, not coincidentally on the same day last week that he was visited by county officials, announced $2.6 million in funding for child welfare training .

Proportionality is relevant here as these other topics take center stage because of their larger constituencies. Everyone cares about traffic, education, health care. But how many people - or legislators - really give child welfare a second thought?

Well, here's a thought or two:

The next time you are cursing lawmakers as you wait in traffic, losing time and maybe money, try thinking about what was on Arabella Moreno's 7-year-old mind as her mother was stabbing her to death. You'll eventually get where you are supposed to be; she never will.

The next time you are yelling about how the Gang of 63 is too cheap to fund your son's textbooks, consider how much money the government saved by closing the case of an infant named Adacelli Snyder. After subsequently enduring a short life of living hell, the toddler afflicted with cerebral palsy was found dead with lice in her hair, insect bites covering her body and surrounded by filth and vermin. Your kid will learn what he needs to; Adacelli Snyder never will.

The next time you are bellowing about how your grandfather can't afford health insurance, consider what insurance children had when they were placed by an ignorant case worker with a father who had a history of sexually abusing minors; or when a government official used the evidence that food bits were on the floor to find that kids were not malnourished; or when county officials misplace or redact records, including damaging documents about the foster parents of missing Everlyse Cabrera. You will find a way for your grandfather to get his meds; how do we find a way to explain these cases?

These are just a few examples of the unending horror stories that have been revealed during the last couple of years, stories that surely keep Morton up at night and surely wondering when the phone rings if it's another terrible case about to unfold.

Some of this abuse, some of these deaths may not be preventable. People snap, circumstances can be mitigating. But too many cases are later found to have slipped between the cracks in a system that is rife with them.

The only reason we are seeing any action now - and it is still just marginal because Morton doesn't yet have nearly the resources he needs from the county or state - is because of these sickening incidents.

Last week we heard about residents suffering because of traffic jams, of teachers suffering in stifling environments, of lawmakers suffering because one of their own violated protocol.

But the kind of suffering the governor and Gang of 63 should really be concerned with affects the most vulnerable of their constituents, and they should approve whatever funding Morton and others say they need before more gut-wrenching examples surface to make the case.

Biggest issue of the session? It's not even close.