STATE OF NEVADA - Division of Child and Family Services

Agency Level Policies: In addition to the above statewide policies, WCDSS updated their local policy manual related to
well-being, including Section 18 and 24. Section 18, Placement Services was revised to incorporate statutory changes to
relative relationships and was distributed to staff. Section 24, Visitation was revised due to an initiative through the Family
Court Senior Model Court. Training classes regarding new practices was developed by the policy team including foster
parents, the public defender and agency staff. Training was delivered to a joint audience of foster parents and child
welfare staff. In addition, a Psychotropic Medication policy was drafted and submitted for approval with an anticipated
completion date of June 2010. Finally, an administrative policy regarding dangerous situations in the office was revised
by the Staff Advisory Committee (SAC) and approved by WCDSS management. Training is being researched for
implementation.
The DCFS-Rural Region is in the process of developing a Rural Region specific child welfare policy and procedure
manual. A draft, including applicable permanency policies, has been developed and is currently under review by the
Social Services Managers in the Rural Region.
For CCDFS, most policies were developed prior to July 1, 2009. However, implementation of several policies occurred in
the last fiscal year. The first policy is entitled Out-of-Home (Permanency) Services. This was implemented on August 20,
2009 and the department is in phase one of implementation. In October of 2009, the Department implemented an
Instructional Memo for Out-of-Home staff regarding requesting child support for parents and the Report and Dispositional
Hearing. In March of 2010 the memo was revised and new training was provided to staff. An Independent Living policy
and procedure was developed in October of 2009 and the Department is in the process of developing training to
implement the policy in September 2010. Finally, a Clinical Services policy was developed and implemented with an
effective date of October 21, 2009.
Training
Beginning in October 2009, several stakeholders participated in a “training of trainers” workshop on the Ansell Casey Life
Skills Assessment. Participants included members from CCDFS, workers from the Family Recourse Centers (FRC) in
Pahrump, and FPO independent Living staff. Approximately 10 child welfare staff are now trainers of Ansell Casey Plus.
CFSP Goals and Objectives for Child and Family Well-Being
In the 2010-2014 CFSP, each performance indicator was given an overall goal and one or more objectives. Each of these
objectives are to be assessed through the development of data reports from the UNITY system or through qualitative
means such as surveys or qualitative case reviews. This process is under development and will not be finalized until the
new Program Improvement Plan is approved. UNITY reports are under development and are not planned to be
completed until the spring of 2011. Therefore, for the purposes of the SFY 2010 APSR report, the data from the CFSR
conducted in August 2009 is being used to show performance on each performance indicator as a whole. Where reports
do currently exist, those reports are also included to address individual objectives. Unless otherwise noted, all objective
reports are under development at this time. Figure 13 shows a brief graph of how Nevada rated statewide in the 2009
CFSR on individual performance indicators for child and family well-being.
Nevada APSR – SFY 2010
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