Child-welfare benchmarks sought

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LINCOLN — In the wake of a scathing audit of the state's child welfare system, two lawmakers are trying to take the guesswork out of monitoring the controversial reform program for taking care of Nebraska's most vulnerable children.

The state senators say benchmarks must be established so it can be easily determined if the privatization of child welfare is achieving its objectives.

So far, reform has fallen far short of its main goal — to slash the number of children who become state wards — and received blistering criticism over issues like financial accountability and information sharing.

Since the "Families Matter" initiative began in November 2009, the number of state wards has fallen by less than 1 percent, from 6,215 to 6,162, despite a 27 percent increase — or nearly $30 million — in taxpayer funding.

Lack of accountability and documentation of how state money was spent were among the key findings in the audit released last week by State Auditor Mike Foley.

While it was already clear that Families Matter was struggling — three of the original five private contractors are gone and state employees still handle child welfare cases in most rural areas — the extent of the problems outlined in the audit sounded the alarm bells.

It prompted one advocacy group, the Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest, to call on the state to scrap the reform initiative.

While most lawmakers, and even some advocates for foster children, say it's too late to turn back now, attention is now focused on what one senator termed "saving this sinking ship."

State Sens. Kathy Campbell of Lincoln and Mike Gloor of Grand Island said while a legislative study is not yet complete, measurable goals — focusing on the care of children and families — must be adopted so the Legislature can clearly see if progress is being made.

"We're going to have to come up with some way legislatively to make sure this is working," said Gloor, vice chairman of the Legislature's committee that oversees the Health and Human Services system.

Campbell is chairwoman of that committee and head of the legislative study of the reform. She said it's also necessary to ensure that the three main players — the judiciary, Legislature and the executive branch — are in agreement in making the reforms work.

Two Omaha lawmakers said a possible solution is adopting benchmarks through "performance-based budgeting" of HHS's division of Children and Family Services, which is steering the reform initiative.

Such a budgeting process requires an agency to outline clear goals for programs before money is expended, and then requires regular reporting to measure the performance.

If benchmarks aren't met, there's accountability on why and the risk of losing funding.

"It puts agencies in the position of having to perform," said Sen. Heath Mello of Omaha. "It changes the culture. Agencies have to go out of their way to track and measure what they do to determine if they're successful or not."

Even the head of HHS agrees that performance benchmarks are needed for the program.

Kerry Winterer, chief executive officer of the massive agency, said it was wrong to assume that reform could be carried out with existing financial resources.

"We're not reluctant to be measured," Winterer said.

He said HHS is seeking to draw up benchmarks of its own.

It's also wrapping up work on a new strategic plan with the aid of a consultant with Casey Family Programs, a Seattle-based foundation that focuses on improving child welfare programs and reducing the need for foster care.

Winterer said HHS has entirely changed its management of the program, hiring a new full-time administrator, Vicki Maca.

"We haven't moved as quickly in the direction we wanted to be. But that doesn't mean we're going to pack up shop and abandon what we're doing," Winterer said. "We're trying to do something the State of Nebraska hasn't done before.

"It's a change of culture. It isn't easy," he said. "Hindsight is 20-20."

But there's still plenty of skepticism about whether HHS, on its own, can turn things around.

A lack of initial planning by the agency and failure to consult those involved in successful privatization efforts are blamed by many for the dismal performance of Nebraska's reform effort thus far.

Carol Stitt, executive director of the Nebraska Foster Care Review Board — which monitors the care of children who become state wards under HHS — said the auditor's report was another illustration of the "dysfunction" in the reform effort.

"Millions of additional dollars were infused into the system at the same time foster parents' pay was cut, sometimes almost in half," Stitt said.

"Lead agency front-line workers have too much work to do and thus cannot serve children and families at the levels needed, nor can they adequately support the foster parents who provide children's day-to-day care. Court processes are delayed due to worker changes and a lack of documentation.''

But except for the Appleseed Center, there's been little call to scrap privatization.

"This is about a bunch of really good people who were in over their heads," said Carolyn Rooker of Voices for Children, an Omaha-based child advocacy group. "I really think they're (just) high-centered. We need to figure out how to get off high center and get moving forward."

Both Campbell and Gloor, the senators who head the committee that oversees HHS, said there's still plenty of information to gather before the Legislature's interim study committee issues recommendations in December.

Gloor said the Legislature's oversight of the troubled Beatrice State Developmental Center — which included setting benchmarks — was an example of success in turning a struggling institution around.

Campbell said the major questions yet to be answered include what is the HHS strategic plan, is the program financially sustainable and what oversight and monitoring steps need to be taken.

The focus must be on what's best for the children who've been taken into state care, she said.

Those questions probably didn't get enough attention when the state embarked on Families Matter, Campbell said.

Now, she said, it's going to take further involvement of the Legislature to make this work.

"I am certain that by December, we will not have found the magic answer — it's a very complicated issue," she said. "But I'm hopeful we'll have a pathway of how to proceed into the future."

Contact the writer:

402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com

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