LAS VEGAS -- Police and prosecutors who investigate child abuse accuse the Clark County Department of Family Services of failing children.
Two lists compiled by law enforcement detail specific examples of the agency's alleged shortcomings. The county pledged to review them and to make its results public. Yet nearly two months later, no word on how or when that will happen.
The good news is some 50 employees with the DFS started training with Las Vegas police. A second training session on investigations is scheduled for next week.
But the county refuses to reveal any specific details about its review of more than 100 abuse and neglect cases identified as failures by law enforcement. Children who police and prosecutors insist were not protected by the system.
The list compiled by Metro includes some 50 cases compiled by its bureau of Crimes Against Children and Families. Examples that detail a pattern of reluctance on the part of CPS investigators to respond to reports of abuse and to remove at risk children.
The District Attorney's list from its juvenile division includes 80 some cases. Most of them are examples of the DA's intervention on behalf of children when family services allegedly failed to protect them.
Clark County insists the more than 100 children detailed in both lists are not at risk. However, child advocate Donna Coleman questions who made that determination and who will review the lists going forward.
"It should be somebody that has no connection the county at all and what are their qualifications to do such a review. I've asked this question and I still haven't gotten an answer. Secondly, what will be done with the results of this review," she said.
The county has refused to answer both of those questions and it will not commit to any timeline related to its review. It will only say that it will make its results public and that it takes child welfare matters very seriously.
We of course will continue to push until we get some answers.
