CHEYENNE - The Wyoming Department of Family Services succeeds in protecting abused and neglected children from further harm but the state needs to improve how it looks after their long-term needs, according to a report released Tuesday.

Department Director Rodger McDaniel underlined one of the report's main findings: Too many children linger in a "state of limbo" while courts and attorneys work out custody.

"Ninety days is forever when that child is worried about having to return to an abusive home or an environment that is unsafe," he said at a news conference.

The report came from the Wyoming Citizen Review Panel, which has been evaluating the department's handling of abused and neglected children.

All 50 states failed a federal "child and family services review" a few years ago. In response, the citizen review panel - made up of volunteers from around the state - has been taking a case-by-case look at child protective services in Wyoming.

The panel has now released two "Mini CFSR" reports in preparation for Wyoming's next federal review in 2007 or 2008.

The report concluded that the department ought to do more to ensure that children who have been removed from their homes still have access to their families.

The report also suggested revisiting staffing issues. "We feel that caseworkers with 40-70 cases is not acceptable, exceeds the national and recommended average and does not lend itself to providing meaningful services," the report said.

In addition, the report suggested protecting children's cultural heritage.

"This would include assisting a child to do a genogram or family tree diagram; particularly in cases where family members are unavailable," the report said.

The report said caseworkers should in appropriate cases search for biological parents who aren't immediately known, especially in cases where the parents are estranged.

McDaniel said the public and policy-makers expect his department to protect child safety, to be concerned about children's well-being, and to find permanent homes for children.

"Trying to do all of those things equally well is very difficult," he said. "As a result, we tend to default toward the most important, which is to make sure kids are safe. And we have done that, I think, very well," he said.

After that, he said the top priority is to find permanency for children in the system.

"Children want to be safe," he said. "But children, also, when you ask a child who's in foster care 'What do you want?' - They want a home. They want to know that they have a consistent caregiver - whether it's their own parents, or grandparents, or aunt or uncle, or an adoptive home - that they can count on.

"We don't want kids aging out of the system without permanent connections with adults."

To that end, the report didn't single out the department. It pointed out that a high turnover of county attorneys in parts of Wyoming has delayed some cases' resolution. In one case, it took 15 months for the "legal parties" to decide whether to let the department change the case plan from "reunification" to "termination."

"The delay of timely permanency clearly was not in the best interest of the child," the report said.

In another case, a court had an opportunity to consider whether to reunite some children with their mother in time for the holiday season. "The young children missed an opportunity to spend the holidays with their biological mother," the report said.

Drawing from information from the Casey Family Programs, the report also pointed out that American Indian and black children are about five to six times more likely than white and Latino children to be removed from their homes.

"We're just staring to look at that issue based on what they indicated," said Kelly Hamilton, executive director of the Wyoming Citizen Review Panel. "We're going to be looking at that deeper and trying to figure out why that is."

McDaniel said similar figures were occurring nationwide.