LINCOLN — Key Nebraska lawmakers expressed doubt and disappointment Tuesday about plans to replace state child welfare workers with private contractors.
The departing chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, State Sen. Tim Gay of Papillion, called the plans “pretty vague.”
A potential new committee chairwoman said the state seems to be rushing changes to a system that has been buffeted by repeated shocks in its first year.
“I think we have a very fragile phase one that we have not worked out all the kinks to that system, and we're scrambling to go to phase two,” said State Sen. Kathy Campbell of Lincoln.
But state officials said they intend to “stay the course” with their overhaul effort.
That includes proceeding to eliminate state jobs and have private agencies take over most of the work of ensuring the safety and well-being of abused and neglected children.
The shift of responsibilities is set for Jan. 3 in southeast Nebraska and the Omaha area.
“We are serious about doing it right and bringing about better outcomes for the kids and families for which we are responsible,” said Kerry Winterer, CEO of the Department of Health and Human Services.
“We do believe we are on the right path,” he told lawmakers at a public hearing.
Winterer appeared with Todd Reckling, the HHS children and family services director, to talk about child welfare changes.
They unveiled an action plan, along with a new name and logo — Families Matter — for the overhaul.
The effort began more than a year ago.
Five private agencies signed contracts in November 2009 to coordinate and provide a full range of services to children and families involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
Since then, lawmakers and others have been besieged with calls from foster parents, service providers, birth families, state workers and employees of private agencies about problems with the privatization.
Three of the contractors lost or dropped out of their contracts. Two of those blamed inadequate reimbursement from the state. The third had financial and management difficulties.
The remaining agencies — the Omaha-based Nebraska Families Collaborative and the Kansas-based KVC — serve southeast Nebraska and two-thirds of the cases in the Omaha area.
State workers have resumed service coordination duties for the rest of Nebraska.
Both Reckling and Winterer acknowledged that the effort has not gone as planned so far.
In response, they announced plans to seek more input and beef up communication with key groups.
They said the state is negotiating with the Casey Family Programs to evaluate the changes.
Reckling also said he is looking for additional one-time funds from the federal government or from the existing HHS budget to help with the overhaul.
The hope is to find resources like the $6 million of emergency federal welfare funds that HHS received in October, which allowed the agency to increase child welfare spending by a like amount.
Reckling declined to say how much more the state is seeking, where the money might come from and whether it would be added to the current year's contracts.
But he and Winterer resisted calls to delay additional changes, including requests made in a letter signed by more than 1,000 people and organizations.
In an interview, Reckling said Jan. 3 is a good time to make the changes because state and contractor employees will be trained for their new roles by then and because of the need to eliminate the confusion and duplication with the current system.
One critical requirement has not been completed, however.
HHS has not yet filed documents with the Department of Administrative Services, as required by state law, that justify replacing state employees with private contractors.
Reckling said he hopes to submit the documents soon.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9583, martha.stoddard@owh.com
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