LAS VEGAS -- The state child welfare budget is not among the hardest hit this legislative session but spending cuts to the agencies that service children and families could have long term consequences.
By the time a child is ready for adoption, he or she will have touched virtually every part of the child welfare system from the abuse or neglect investigation that removed him or her, to the foster placement or placements that temporarily housed him or her, to the court proceedings that terminated the mom and dad's parental rights.
If any part of that system slows, an abused child spends more time within it instead of with a loving family.
Brian and Nicole Hammond are just two signatures away from a family of four. "Nothing else to sign, right?" asks Brian Hammond. The Hammond's who have been foster parents since 2007 will be adoptive parents again.
"We go into it with the foster children pretty much knowing they have no place else to go and we're their only option and we open our arms and welcome them to the family," said Hammond.
"Morning everybody, please be seated in the gallery." Judge Cynthia Steel with the Eighth Judicial District Court greets everyone in her courtroom.
The Hammond's are already parents to 3-year-old Jordan, 4-year-old Charlie, 4-year-old Taylor and 16-month-old Meghan.
"I'm going to sign and approve this adoption at this time," said Judge Steel. The judge makes Taylor and Meghan official members of the Hammond household.
"It's just like an exhaling moment. It's like ok, we've been waiting, waiting, waiting. Doing everything we need to do, doing all the paperwork, just getting everything done and then it's like just wait for the day, just wait for the day," said Nicole Hammond.
According to the Clark County Department of Family services, adoptions are on the rise. They expect to place kids with more than 500 families this year. "We've made a tremendous amount of progress," said Tom Morton the director of family services.
But the state budget says director Tom Morton is expected to create a $3 million funding gap for an agency already staffed at 2007 levels.
"If we have further cuts to personnel, it's going to come out of front line staff and it's going to mean the kids stay in foster care longer, adoptions are processed more slowly and the caseloads are going to grow," Morton said.
High caseloads, inadequate staffing and poor training were among the factors found to contribute to a string of high-profile child deaths in 2005. A state review of four years of data concluded DFS investigators failed to identify abuse and neglect in more than 40 suspicious child death cases. The findings prompted significant reform in Clark County.
"I do think unfortunately that the community has to accept some level of the risk that's being created by slowly cutting back staffing and creating a situation where I would say case loads are getting high again, and that's a recipe for disaster I would say."
Meghan for example suffered neglect in her previous foster home while Taylor had as many placements as birthdays before the Hammond's. "I think we got them out of a bad situation, same for these two as well," said Brian Hammond. Painful memories Brian and Nicole hope to replace for four of the more than 3,000 kids in foster care.
The governor made child welfare a priority so when compared to other budgets it could be a lot worse. But a $3 million hole is still a significant hit says Morton.
