Employee survey among reasons for Family Services departure

By Joe Schoenmann

Saturday, Aug. 13, 2011 | 2 a.m.

The departure of the head of Clark County Family Services was prompted, in part, by the results of a survey of department employees, the Las Vegas Sun has learned.

Family Services Director Tom Morton — hired five years ago to save an agency bedeviled by foster care abuses and a neglected-child center that had turned into a warehouse for children — is stepping down effective Friday.

The survey that helped lead to Morton’s departure was sent to Family Services staff June 20 and intended “to strengthen the department,” wrote Doug Lyon in a cover letter to the survey. Lyon is the county’s organization effectiveness administrator.

County administrators would not immediately release the results of the 11-question survey, which gave room for some written responses. The survey is being used to determine the department’s direction and goals. But one source said the responses were “not good.”

County Manager Don Burnette offered this broad characterization of employees’ responses: “The survey validated my belief that the organization was in need of a change and, obviously, the change occurred in leadership.”

The Sun called Morton’s office in the Family Services Department. A spokeswoman said he was not in.

When Morton’s resignation came to light last week, staff told the Sun he was not at work and unavailable for comment. But Morton did speak to the Las Vegas Review-Journal and expressed misgivings about staying in a job where he seemed to be losing ground. He said caseloads had been reduced to 22 children per case worker, from 40, but budget cuts led to an increase of 31 children per worker.

County officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Morton appeared to be “throwing the county under the bus.” Several county commissioners interviewed by the Sun said they knew nothing of the survey. But some state lawmakers, whose support is crucial to social services funding, expressed frustration with Morton after dealing with him at the 2011 Legislature.

Sen. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, a longtime advocate for children, said getting information from Morton was “like pulling teeth.”

“There wasn’t a lot of collaboration from him,” she said. At the same time, however, lawmakers found that people working for Morton were “priceless, fabulous.”

“Once you got beneath the administrators, it was amazing,” she added.

Cegavske and Sen. Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, championed a new law that will make information about pharmaceuticals being taken by a foster child available to foster families.

“All anybody wanted was the safety of these kids and we didn’t understand why getting information was so difficult,” Cegavske said.

Difficulties with Morton contradict the praise county commissioners had for him following news of his resignation. The county’s public information office released statistics that showed nothing but positive changes in the Family Services Department under his leadership.

Before taking over five years ago, Morton was a child welfare consultant with 30 years of experience. He is credited with helping turn Alabama’s child welfare system into a national model. Since becoming the director in Clark County:

• Admissions to Child Haven, which was once bursting at the seams with children, have decreased 93 percent, to 201 in 2010 from 2,918 in 2006.

• Family Services has opened a child/family therapeutic visitation center, which has assisted more than 150,000 people since its inception in March 2008.

• Through June 30, more than 1,700 children have received medical services through the Positively Kids program, which was implemented in October. The most recent accomplishment is the opening of an on-campus medical clinic.

• Since 2006, the number of children adopted each year has increased 49 percent, to 442 children in 2010 from 297 children in 2006. For calendar year 2011, the department is on pace to finalize more than 630 adoptions.

• Since 2006, the overall number of licensed foster homes has increased 75 percent, from 685 homes to 1,200 homes today.

Others outside the county were more critical of Morton. Donna Coleman, founder of the Children’s Advocacy Alliance, said Morton lacked the interpersonal skills needed in someone managing an agency that deals with children and delicate family issues.

Morton took over a Family Services Department under siege in 2006.

In December 2005, an independent panel was reviewing the deaths of 79 children from 2001 to 2004 that might have been related to abuse or neglect. In 2006, the National Center for Youth Law filed a federal lawsuit alleging the county’s child welfare system endangered children. After the center’s lawsuit was rejected in federal court last year, it appealed.

Bill Grimm, senior counsel for the National Center for Youth Law, told the Sun Morton’s forte was bringing policy up to date and into line with child welfare standards. On the other hand, Grimm said he never sensed Morton’s “heart was ever into the job.”