Parents of child who died in foster care sue officials, workers
A federal lawsuit filed this week on behalf of a toddler who died in the Clark County foster care system allegesthatstateandcounty officials routinely endanger the children they’re charged with protecting.
Daevon Branon-banks was taken from his parents, David Banks and Gabrielle Branon, in April 2017 after his mother was accused of driving while high with Branon-banks in the car. The Clark County Department of Family Services placed him in a foster home.
In August 2017, 20-monthold Daevon died from head injuries after his foster father, Craig Dickens, threw him across a room, police said. Dickens is serving a life sentence for the boy’s murder,andheandtheboy’s foster mother, Diamond Ford, are defendants in the lawsuit.
The suit, filed by Daevon’s parents,allegesthatthe heads of Clark County’s foster care system are aware of its deficiencies. It cited over a decade of reviews and studies that found the services lacking, and claimed officials have not done sufficient work to improve them.
Defendants named in the
FOSTER CARE
lawsuitarenevadadepartmentof Health and Human Services Director Richard Whitley, Nevada Division of Child and Family Services Administrator Ross Armstrong, Clarkcountymanageryolandaking and former Clark County Department of Family Services Director
Tim Burch, as well as several caseworkers and supervisors.
Spokespersons for Health and Human Services and the county’s Family Services department said the agencies do not comment on pending litigation. A spokeswoman for Nevada Division of Child and Family Services said officials wanted to read the complaint before responding.
The 43-page lawsuit outlines several areas where it alleges “a deliberate indifference to the health and safety of the children” the defendants are obligated to protect.
Daevon was placed in a home with “fictive kin” who, under Nevada law, are exempt from many of the requirements that licensed foster parents must meet, other than a criminal background check and verification that the home has fire and pool safety equipment.
“Fictive kin” refers to people who are not related by birth, marriage or adoption to a child but who have a strong emotional relationship with the child, like close family friends.
Federal regulations under the Social Security Act require that fictive kin meet the same standards as other caregivers.
The suit includes allegations that the state and county fail to provide foster caregivers background information on children’s health and behavioral history. It claims this leads to children in the system receiving poor medical and mental health care or being transferred between homes, causing more distress and lasting issues.
It also alleges that caseworkers are not adequately trained or supervised and are assigned overly large caseloads, contributing to a “crisis” within the system.
“Few Clark County caseworkers or their direct supervisors have a degree in social work or a license to practice social work in Nevada,” the suit states. “Many caseworkers are assigned caseloads before completing even the most basic training.”
Daevon’s parents are seeking an undisclosed amount of punitive and compensatory damages. Attorney Stacy Perez, who filed the complaint, declined to comment. She said another lawyer will take over the case.
Contact Max Michor at mmichor@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0365. Follow @Maxmichor on Twitter.
Subsidizing service
In the past, RTC has had a “farebox recovery ratio” — the fraction of operating expenses met by fares paid by passengers — of more than 50 percent, but the decline in resort corridor revenue has hurt the transit agency’s bottom line.
“In the world of transit, recovering that much money from the operations is significant,” Quigley said. “In the past the Strip not only covered its operating costs, we had a farebox recovery ratio of 162 percent.”
Now, the farebox recovery rate for the entire system stands at about 40 percent — still about twice the national average of around 20 percent — meaning the RTC loses money that was used to subsidize the residential service.
“We can’t afford to see a drop in a farebox recovery ratio down to the national average,” Quigley said. “We need to keep efficiencies and these densities up.”
She said the RTC aims to keep a $14 million gap between revenue and operating costs to provide funds to replace capital and buses. In fiscal year 2018, the gap shrunk to only $6 million, and this year the gap stands at $7.8 million, according to the RTC.
If the current rate of revenue decline continues, the RTC predicted operating costs tied to transit could surpass revenue generated as early as 2023.
If that were to occur, route reductions and eliminating routes are possibilities, Quigley said. It would take about a year to adjust a route, as the RTC follows a strict process that includes public outreach, board outreach and data analysis before any change occurs.
There are no routes that are being considered to be reduced, but if the revenue was right, there are areas that could use new bus service as multiple areas of the Las Vegas Valley are rapidly expanding.
“We’re at a point now where we know if we had the money, that there are routes going up to the northwest and toward the south that would meet that minimum requirement.”
Looking to adapt
As Strip ridership continues to fall, the RTC is looking at ways to increase revenue in the resort corridor.
In May, the RTC began a pilot program representing the transit agency’s first foray into the ride hailing realm, with its Trip-to-strip app. Customers can order a ride via a smartphone application and be picked up in an 11-person capacity van with luxury seating for rides to areas including Mccarran International Airport, Las Vegas Boulevard and downtown Las Vegas. The service is offered at a fixed rate with no surge pricing.
Since its launch, the service has seen growth each week, Quigley said.
“Week over week we’ve continued to have double-digit growth increases,” she said.
The pilot program will go through the end of the year.
Looking for more ways to serve customers traveling between Mccarran and the Strip, the RTC will start a new bus service at the beginning of next year.
“Right now the RTC does not have direct service between the airport and the resort corridor,” Quigley said. “Getting that direct service between those two high-capacity destinations is what we plan to deploy fairly soon.”
Raiders effect
Another possible revenue generator for the RTC is partnering with the Raiders for game-day transportation.
The RTC is in talks to carry out a park-and-ride program similar to what the agency does with the Golden Knights, where fans could park at designated locations across the valley and take buses to and from Raiders games.
The service would feature more locations than the Golden Knights Express operation, Quigley said.
“The RTC’S partnership with the Raiders is going to be to get as many people as we can into higher-capacity vehicles from their park and ride facilities, to get cars off the road,” she said.
Contact Mick Akers at makers@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.