Checks delayed for 2,900 foster and adoptive children

Checks for thousands of Nevada's foster and adoptive children should start arriving Monday after being delayed for more than a week because the department where the checks are printed ran out of paper.

Bruce Alder, deputy administrator for the Division of Child and Family Services, said the monthly checks were mailed Wednesday to families caring for 2,900 Nevada children in foster and adoptive homes across the country.

"What we have been told is that the Department of Information Technology computer center, where the checks are printed, inadvertently ran out of check stock while doing this recent run and had to replenish that supply," he said Friday.

Alder said the order was expedited and the checks, which average $400 per child per month, were mailed Wednesday. Families should receive them by the first part of the week.

He said his department was notified Sept. 28 that the checks would not be printed on time. The checks usually are mailed to arrive on the first of the month.

"We do apologize for the inconvenience this has created for our foster and adoptive families," Alder said. "They are our lifeblood. They have a real hard job, and when something like this happens, their lives become more complicated. Our major effort was to correct the problem and get the checks out, which we did."

Alder said the checks also include Medicaid cards to provide for the children's health needs.

"We agreed to issue temporary Medicaid cards to anybody who had a medical issue during this interim," Alder said.

Pat Yargus and her husband, Kendall, of Gardnerville, are in the process of adopting three brothers and a sister between the ages of 5 and 9.

"For some homes, this is a disaster," she said. "In our case, if we don't get the checks right away, we won't be thrown out on the street, but for a lot of these homes, these checks are the main source of income.

"One of my kids has a broken arm and he needs to go to the doctor. I can't get him in without the state faxing the Medicaid information, which is usually included in the check. He also has a cold and I need to get him to the doctor's."

Yargus said her family's insurance also covers the children, so the situation isn't as extreme as it is for other families.

Although $400 per child, plus Medicaid, may sound like a lot, Yargus said when she is in school, or working, she spends $1,700 on child care in a month.

"I am sure this has been an unfortunate inconvenience for people," Alder said. "We operate on the assumption that these people are like the most of the rest of us with our paychecks. We plan for them and make every effort to get them their checks in a timely manner.

"There was a communication problem between the departments, but the Division of Child and Family Services bears the ultimate responsibility for making sure checks are printed."

Alder said family services monitors the check numbers and someone at the agency should have realized inventory was low.

Terry Savage, director of the Department of Information Technology, said Friday he was trying to figure out what happened between the two agencies.

Alder said if families have not received their checks by Monday, they should call Division of Child and Family Services at 684-4400.