Clark County is reviewing all 55 child welfare cases missing from a report presented to a blue ribbon panel. The Channel 8 I-Team was first to bring you the story of the missing eight pages. The county said the re-review of the cases will be made public.
Read the Carrascal Foster Home Case Review
Read the missing 8 pages from the Child Protective Services' Report.
Because of the original report, the Department of Family Services is undergoing a multi- faceted overhaul. Sixty-four new employees will be hired through April to handle the overflowing caseload. This overhaul of the department may have come too late for several children, including a toddler who vanished one night out of her foster parent's home.
Everlyse Cabrera was only two years old when her foster parents claim she unlocked the front door and left the house in the middle of the night.
The county commissioned its own review of the foster home and the system supposed to manage it. And though it refuses to release the report, I-Team Reporter Colleen McCarty has obtained it.
McCarty: "Now that I've read this I can understand why officials at Clark County don't want anyone to see it."
Shortly after Everlyse disappeared, the county asked an independent consultant to review its case files involving the foster home. According to the report, he did. He also interviewed Child Protective Services staff and medical personnel.
The bottom line is little Everlyse shouldn't have been in that foster home in the first place.
"I might not be the best mom, but I'm not the worst mom either." Marlena Olivas makes no excuses for her mistakes. Her drug use lead to the removal of her children, 11-month-old Benny and 2-year-old Everlyse.
While Marlena struggled to get clean, her kids bounced from Child Haven to a temporary shelter home to foster care.
Initially we felt good because we were told all these things, to don't worry, that the kids are checked on once a month. They do the home inspections once a month, that they're highly recommended," Marlena explained.
The so-called "highly recommended" foster parents were Manuel and Vhee Carrascal. Licensed in June of 2005, their short stint in the child welfare system raised red flags early on.
The Channel 8 I-Team has obtained a review of the Carrascal foster home commissioned by the county after little Everlyse Cabrera disappeared.
Independent consultant Ed Cotton wrote the report.
Colleen McCarty: "This family had seven foster children and not a single caseworker ever went to that house until the day she disappeared?"
Ed Cotton: "Since that hasn't been released, I don't feel comfortable talking about it at all."
Neither does the county.
It begins with a timeline. The first blip is less than month after the Carrascal family receives their first child. They want the 3-year-old out immediately. And when the county doesn't move fast enough, the family dumps the boy at Child Haven.
Less than a month later in December of 2005, a second foster child in the Carrascal's care ends up in the emergency room -- allegedly burned by hot soup. The family waits eight hours before seeking medical attention.
Second and third degree burns required a night in the hospital and a Child Protective Services investigation is ordered.
It never happens.
The only follow-up was weeks later when a licensing investigator questions the foster mother and determines, on her word alone, the burn was an accident.
Over the next month three other children move in and out of the home. And just like the first boy in their care the Carrascals again dump two foster kids at Child Haven.
Concerned by a lack of commitment, the county puts a temporary hold on all placements in the Carrascal home in January of 2006. By April, it is lifted and Benjamin and Everlyse Cabrera move in to the house on Diamond Point Court.
A month later, the county renews the Carrascal family's foster license despite their failure to complete the required training. The licensing worker also notes -- in hindsight - -she knew nothing about the boy who'd been burned.
Everlyse Cabrera disappears two months later.
It is the first time ever a caseworker sets foot in the Carrascal home.
Marlena Olivas, Everlyse's mother, said, "Had they done their home inspections, highly recommended or not, if they'd done their home inspections like they were supposed to, maybe Everlyse would still be here."
Maybe.
And though Marlena Olivas admits she has made mistakes, she never lost her children. "I'm never going to give up thinking that we're going to find her. To me, that's the hardest thing to imagine, never getting her back. I can't imagine that," she said.
Benny Cabrera, Everlyse's little brother, was removed from the Cararscal home when she disappeared. The county revoked the Carrascal's foster license.
Also troubling is the Carrascal's refuse to cooperate with police and have not spoken with police since the day after Everlyse went missing.
If you have any information about her disappearance, please call 1-800-THE-LOST.
Email your comments to Investigative Reporter Colleen McCarty.
