Study shows improvements needed at state youth centers

By Cy Ryan

Friday, April 16, 2010 | 11:38 a.m.

CARSON CITY – A 13-month survey of Nevada youth facilities reports four of five centers in Clark County have procedures that adequately protect the health, safety and welfare of children.

But the study by staffers of the Nevada Legislature said the WestCare-Harris Springs Ranch outside of Las Vegas needs to make major improvements in the handling of its medicine and in the background checks of its employees.

The 2007 Legislature ordered the survey and 13 of the 50 government and private facilities in Nevada were examined and unannounced visits were made.

While most passed muster, improvements need to be made, according to the report.

The most common complaints were incomplete or unclear documentation of the drugs given to youth; employees might have had direct contact with the youth prior to all criminal background check results being received and children weren’t always advised they had a right to file a complaint or grievance.

In most facilities, the auditors watched as the staff of the center administered the drugs. But there are cases where youngsters “cheeked” the drug, hiding it in their mouths. The youngster could then sell it or trade it for something of value.

The study recommends a “mouth sweep” be conducted to verify the drug has been swallowed.

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, chairwoman of the Legislative Audit Committee that accepted the report this week, said this study “finds problems before they become a disaster.”

Leslie said the background checks of the employees in these centers need to be followed. If they are not, it “puts the kids at risk,” she said.

Medical administration needs “to be vastly improved,” said Leslie, who sponsored the bill calling for the study. She predicted there would be bills in the 2011 Legislature to require many of the recommendations made in the study.

The facilities inspected in Southern Nevada were the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center, the Desert Willow Treatment Center, Oasis On-Campus Treatment Homes, West-Care and Briarwood South.

The WestCare ranch is a private center that treats boys ages 13 through 17 for drug abuse.

The survey found one or more errors in 17 of the 26 files on medication documentation. It said the drugs administered to the youngsters weren't always consistent with the drugs prescribed, and the staff should be trained to prepare medications to give to the children.

It can take two to five weeks to get the results on background checks from the FBI and the state. But WestCare allowed some workers to have direct contact with youngsters “when it had little assurance the staff did not have prior, excluding criminal convictions.” The center later received clearances for those employees.

WestCare, in its response, said it was making or had made the improvements recommended by the legislative study. In the spring of 2009, the center said a glitch occurred. Many of the fingerprints were submitted to the Nevada Criminal History Repository, where they were destroyed without the knowledge of WestCare.

To strengthen the handling of drugs, WestCare says it increased the training of staff and did audits to eliminate errors. And the other youth centers also said they have or were making improvements to eliminate the deficiencies.

The Clark County Juvenile Detention Center can hold up to 192 boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 18 who are accused of offenses. Desert Willow Treatment Center is a state psychiatric 58-bed hospital to care for children with serious emotional disturbances.

Oasis On-Campus Treatment Homes are state-run group treatment homes for up to 27 severely emotionally disturbed youth. Briarwood South is a private, for-profit sex offender treatment center with a capacity of 15 people between the ages of 13 and 20.

The report said the 2011 Legislature might consider enacting a law to require all employees of residential facilities for children to undergo state and federal fingerprinting background checks prior to allowing them to have access to the youngsters.

The proposed legislation would specify which convictions would exclude a person from obtaining employment at a youth centers.