Child welfare group wants court to reinstate lawsuit targeting Clark County system

A child welfare reform group asked a federal appeals court Monday to reinstate a lawsuit intended to overhaul Clark County’s child welfare system.

During oral arguments before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, a lawyer for the National Center for Youth Law argued that a federal judge in Las Vegas wrongly dismissed the lawsuit in October 2010.

“There are significant, horrific issues of abuse and neglect our particular plaintiffs suffered” while under the care of the Clark County Department of Family Services, lawyer Brian Matsui told the court.

The Northern California-based National Center for Youth Law first sued county and state officials in 2006 but withdrew the lawsuit three years later after running into several legal issues raised by U.S. District Judge Robert C. Jones.

The group refiled its lawsuit in April 2010 alleging the officials did not provide adequate medical, dental and mental health care for foster children. The lawsuit sought class-action status for three groups among the county’s 3,600 foster children and monetary damages for the 13 foster children named as plaintiffs.

Jones threw out the lawsuit later that year, ruling that the defendants had “qualified immunity” from most of the allegations in the lawsuit. Under federal law, government officials have such immunity if their actions did not violate “clearly established” constitutional rights.

Jones wrote that the state is required only to provide “basic human needs” to children under its care and that anything else beyond that was not a “clearly established” right.

The lawsuit also alleged the county and state acted with “deliberate indifference” to obvious dangers when they placed children in dangerous foster homes.

But under federal law, Jones ruled, officials cannot be held liable unless their actions created or increased the danger for the children, not merely exposed them to dangers that already existed.

Another issue raised was the county’s failure to provide independent representatives for foster children, known as guardians ad litem, in every case.

But Jones ruled that the state law requiring a guardian ad litem in every case is in line with the federal law, though in practice they are not appointed in every case.

Nevada Chief Deputy Attorney General Linda Anderson told the appeals court Monday that the state was working on the guardian ad litem issue.

“We’re trying to improve the system and get more guardian ad litems, which is everyone’s goal,” she said.

The National Center for Youth Law also asked for a new judge to preside over the case if the appeals court sends it back to District Court.

Contact reporter Brian Haynes at bhaynes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0281.