The two urban counties investigate, remove, temporarily house and aim to reunify children with their parents within a relatively short period of time. DCFS provides all child welfare services in rural Nevada outside of Clark and Washoe counties so the bifurcated system is not an issue in the rural counties. Consistency of services available to urban and rural counties needs improvement. Current Services Upon transfer of legal and physical custody of the children to the state, often all that has been stabilized is lost. Children are placed in new foster homes and usually new schools, they receive new caseworkers, their medical and mental health professionals change and they may not even be able to stay together as a sibling family group.
Parents also experience change.
They enter into new case plans to reunify with their children and also work with new caseworkers and treatment providers. Despite the best efforts of all involved, there is terrific human trauma, backsliding and inefficiency caused by the bifurcated system. If children are not successfully reunited with their parents within 14 months, the agency must file a petition for termination of parental rights. The courts have the authority to waive this requirement under certain circumstances. The bifurcated child welfare system poses a significant deterrent to timely reunification.