STATE OF NEVADA - Division of Child and Family Services

• SAPTA (Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act)
• Sierra Association of Foster Families
• Washoe County Department of Social Services
• Youth Advisory Board
In addition to external stakeholder collaboration, the tribes, courts, youth and advisory committees, the findings of the
quality improvement reviews and UNITY data are incorporated into the report to measure effectiveness, projected annual
outcomes and targeted goals identified for the next year. The State also communicates with the child welfare agency
Directors/Designees to receive child welfare agency updates for inclusion in the APSR. The Decision Making Group
(DMG) is another form of communication between the state and the local child welfare agencies where CFSP
discussion/activities occur. Many activities the CFSP requires are placed on the agenda throughout the year and are
addressed in the monthly DMG meeting including the presentation and sharing of data reports, policy revisions, tools,
checklists, instruments and any new federal requirements requiring actions the State may be required to take in order to
comply with federal law. The State utilizes the Regional Office Representative to ensure that the information provided in
the APSR adequately addresses the requirements and activities identified and a final draft is submitted to the Regional
Office Representative for review and comment prior to June 30, 2010 to receive additional feedback or recommended
changes. All CFSP and APSR submissions have been approved to this date.
While the State reported in the 2009 Statewide Assessment that this item was a strength for Nevada, the 2009 Nevada
CFSR report indicated that this item was an area needing improvement. While more work needs to be done, the State
collaborates with a variety of entities to achieve this goal. While there are many collaborations to report on; included in
this report are examples from the Court Improvement Program, the Children’s Trust Fund, Differential Response, Juvenile
Justice, and the Nevada Tribal Community to demonstrate progress in this area.
Court Improvement Program: The first example of this collaboration is with the Nevada Court Improvement Program.
The Court Improvement Program (CIP) is a multidisciplinary project that seeks improvement of interrelated systems that
serve children and families who enter the child welfare system. The program operates through team-oriented court and
agency initiatives. The goal of CIP is to make the systems more effective.” Court Improvement Program funds programs
and initiatives, which correspond and support efforts related to the three CIP Strategic Plans including: Administration
and planning (Basic); Education and Training (Training); and Data Collection, Analysis, and Sharing (Data). Several
recommended strategies are designed to achieve the following CIP goals:
• To continue the positive momentum the Court Improvement for the Protection and Permanency of Dependent
Children Select Committee (CIP) has generated across the state and designate other standing committees around
Child Safety, Permanency and Well Being;
• To improve the quality of representation for all parties in dependency proceedings;
• To implement a statewide strategy to provide for engagement of the courts and legal representatives in the CFSR and
IV-E review processes;
• To increase public awareness about child abuse and the rights of children and families in dependency proceedings
through an outreach campaign focusing on broad initiatives, resource development, as well as local issue specific
advocacy;
• Improve outcomes for children at risk and strengthen families;
• Present collaborative multi-disciplinary training to the judiciary, state and county child welfare agencies, and other
stakeholders involved in child welfare matters;
• Encourage, and where appropriate, support training for specific stakeholder groups involved in the child welfare
arena;
• Develop a statewide data collection, analysis, and planning mechanism for child welfare cases capable of working in
conjunction with the three predominant case management systems used in Nevada courts;
• Define and incorporate child welfare court performance measures into court procedures, and, where appropriate,
incorporate the measures into the three predominant court case management systems and the Nevada Uniform
System for Judicial Records (USJR) model;
• Develop or enhance case management systems to track child welfare cases;
Nevada APSR – SFY 2010
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