I-Team: Data Reveal Cracks in Child Welfare System

I-Team: Data Reveal Cracks in Child Welfare System

POSTED: JUL 23, 2010 1:45 AM EDT
UPDATED: JUL 23, 2010 2:15 AM EDT
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I-Team: Data Reveal Cracks in Child Welfare System

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LAS VEGAS - Metro Police Captain Vincent Cannito went before state lawmakers late last month. His mission: to confront the status quo.

"I just want to stress how failed the system is," Captain Cannito told lawmakers.

Cannito came armed with a list of some 50 cases that was compiled by his team at the Bureau of Crimes Against Youth and Family. Cannito urged lawmakers to examine the failings of the Clark County Department of Family Services.

"I took this opportunity out of some of that frustration, but more importantly, out of sincere desire to fix this system and help the victims. Because, you're talking about children," Captain Cannito said. Cannito says the cases reveal a pattern of reluctance on the part of Child Protective Services to respond to reports of abuse and to remove at-risk children.

For example, in 2009, CPS refused to respond to a report of sexual abuse made by an employee at a dental clinic. Instead, according to Metro, the hotline operator directed the employee to question the victim. When the employee objected, the operator logged the call as ‘information-only' and told the employee to send the mother and child to a doctor. The doctor later contacted Metro.

"You can't expect a nurse who's not trained in forensic interview, who's not comfortable asking these personal private questions of a child… It is improper to ask somebody not in that profession in that role to assume that position. It is improper," Cannito said. "Not only is it improper for the person you're asking this of, but you've just jeopardized a case, and we have several examples of that as well." Cannito says additional cases detail poor investigative technique such as a failure to conduct private forensic interviews.

One Metro example notes CPS investigators questioned an alleged victim in the home of her suspected abuser. When the child did not disclose, CPS closed the case.

A subsequent Metro investigation revealed surveillance video of the sexual abuse which resulted in the suspect's arrest. "Had that not taken place, this child, who had been abused several times, would've been back in that home," Cannito said. "The offending parent would've returned home, and that child would've lived that cycle. That's the problem."

Case after case of neglect and abuse, both physical and sexual, are detailed in black and white. Cannito says they are missed opportunities to protect the valley's most vulnerable, and they can no longer be ignored.

"We owe it to the children of this community to take better care of them. We're the adults. It's our organization. People have entrusted us with these positions. That's what needs to happen," he said.

Cannito tells the I-Team that Metro has offered, free of charge, to provide training to Family Services investigators. He's hopeful the agency will accept the offer. Cannito and Family Services Director Tom Morton are scheduled to meet Friday. It's their second sit-down in two weeks. Cannito says he's hopeful the two will work together to find solutions.

Clark County management confirms it has started its own review of a separate list compiled by the District Attorney's office.

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