Nevada Judiciary

Child dependency issues - providing representatives for every child in dependency cases and placing abused and neglected children into permanent homes as quickly as possible - will be getting more attention from Nevada's judiciary.

The way these children's cases are handled by the courts already has become a matter of national importance, said Nevada Supreme Court Chief Justice Bob Rose, who assumed the top role at the Supreme Court on Jan. 1.

Chief Justice Rose returned to Nevada on Friday from the Conference of Chief Justices in Florida, where one of this year's major initiatives was a call to improve court treatment of dependent children.

Chief Justice Rose chaired a meeting in Las Vegas Friday afternoon of the Court Improvement Project (CIP), a Nevada Supreme Court select committee formed in 2000 to help facilitate court representation for dependent children and ensure these cases are handled consistently across the state.

At the CIP meeting, a motion was passed asking the Supreme Court to expand the committee's functions, make it a long-term standing committee under the Nevada Judicial Council, and change its name to the Committee for the Protection of Children. The Chief Justice would chair the committee.

CIP members also set as top goals: Providing a representative for every child in dependency cases, the training of attorneys and judges who handle these cases, and the drafting of a "Bench Book" to provide standardized procedures statewide.

Ninth Judicial District (Douglas County) Judge Michael Gibbons, a CIP member, said the changes "would be more work for the Supreme Court, but what is more important than the health and safety of children."

The treatment of dependency cases became a national issue last fall when calls for reform came from the National Judicial Leadership Summit on the Protection of Children held in Minneapolis. The Summit, sponsored by the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators, was attended by representatives of every state but Louisiana (because of Hurricane Katrina).

Chief Justice Rose said the Supreme Court has been working for the past five years to get Nevada's courts more involved in the rapid resolution of child dependency cases and having every child represented in court.

He said that although a lack of funding and resources has made progress slow, the Nevada Supreme Court will be renewing its efforts this year.

"Children's issues are extremely important to us and the Nevada Supreme Court is committed and willing to provide state judicial leadership," said Chief Justice Rose.

The Chief Justice noted, however, "Judicial leadership alone may not be sufficient because of the need to find funding for necessary reforms and improvements." Such funding generally must come from the Legislature or local governments.

"We need more attorneys and CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) volunteers to assist the children and their parents," Rose said.

The Chief Justice said that in Clark County the workload is so large the judge presiding over the cases of children in foster homes has difficulty spending adequate time resolving legal issues.

The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges recommends that judges hold no more than four hearings per hour when reviewing cases of foster care placement.

In Clark County, Family Court Judge Gerald Hardcastle said his caseload is so large he must rule on legal matters in up to 10 cases per hour. He is the only judge assigned to handle the foster care cases that, by law, must be reviewed at least twice a year. Currently, more than 2,300 children are in foster care in Clark County.

"We look at permanency, safety issues and the general well being of the children," Judge Hardcastle said. "Hearings may involve caseworkers, foster parents, attorneys, maybe the parents, and others."

"And that's not the only thing we do," the judge said.

Judge Hardcastle said that in 2000, no public attorneys were assigned in Clark County to represent dependent children, but seven lawyers now spend their time helping these children through the Children's Attorney Project of Clark County Legal Services. Many other children are helped by non-attorney CASA volunteers. Still, some children have no one to speak on their behalf –, particularly in rural Nevada counties where few lawyers practice and no CASA programs exist.

The judiciary's recommitment to improvements in dependency cases also was evident when Chief Justice Rose and Justice Nancy Becker met on Jan. 5 in Reno to discuss the Minneapolis Summit and related issues of growing national concern with several judges, court officials, and the heads of state and county youth services departments

Within the next few weeks, the National Center for State Courts is expected to issue a "National Call to Action" urging states to improve their efficiency in dealing with children and families, and reduce the time children spend in foster care.

Nationally, more than 500,000 children are in foster care and what is meant as a short-term resolution often becomes a long-term childhood experience bouncing from foster home to foster home, according to a statement from the Conference of Chief Justices.

At the Minneapolis Summit, William Byars, Jr., director of the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice, noted that "three months is not a long time, but for a child in foster care waiting for permanency, three months is a lifetime."

Conference leaders did not blame the courts for the problem, but identified "judicial leadership" as a key to finding solutions.

A recent report by the Pew Charitable Trust Commission on Children in Foster Care concluded that "Chief justices and state court leadership must take the lead, acting as the foremost champions for children in their court systems."