LINCOLN — Gov. Dave Heineman voiced concerns Tuesday that recommendations to mend the state's troubled effort to privatize child welfare services will cost too much and add more bureaucracy.
“I don't think I've been a governor who's suggested we need more bureaucracy and more cost. We're trying to make government leaner,” Heineman said in a conference call with reporters.
But two state senators who helped craft the recommendations said that while additional spending might be required, the current system isn't meeting the needs of abused and neglected children under state care and that it is already costing more tax dollars.
“As it stands right now, the executive branch has run amok by allowing HHS to throw money at a problem. It's not working,” said Omaha Sen. Bob Krist, a member of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee.
Lincoln Sen. Kathy Campbell, the committee chairwoman, added that one recommendation, to create a new Department of Children's Services within the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, would consolidate many state workers who now deal with troubled kids and families but operate in separate “silos.”
“If you brought those people together in one agency, you can really focus on the problems and focus on stability for the future,” Campbell said.
The exchange, in separate interviews, came after the governor made his first public comments on the recommendations by lawmakers at the conclusion of a months-long study of the troubled privatization effort.
It also provided a window into the red-hot debate coming next month, when the State Legislature convenes its 2012 session and tackles an issue that has consumed lawmakers for decades: how best to deal with troubled kids.
State senators released an extensive report last week that was highly critical of the state's two-year effort to privatize its child welfare system.
Private companies, rather than government workers, took over the task of managing the cases of abused and neglected children under state care.
The report skewered the “Families Matter” initiative, saying it was launched without a good plan and without adequate financial evaluation.
Expenses have increased 27 percent while the number of state wards has increased, service providers and foster homes have become fewer and case management has gotten worse.
Legislators made several recommendations, including returning management of child welfare cases to state workers, establishing a new Department of Children's Services and setting up a “Children's Commission” to develop a more coordinated plan. There was also a call to hire an inspector general — as the State of Illinois has done — to increase accountability within the system.
The governor said that while there might be some areas of common ground, some of the recommendations look “like we're taking a step backwards.”
Heineman declined to be more specific, saying he wanted to reread the study and talk to judges and others involved in the system before making more precise comments.
But, in general, he said he was concerned that the legislative report did not detail the expected “substantial cost” of its recommendations and the source of that money.
The governor also noted that Boys Town officials have said case management should remain with private welfare contractors.
While he's willing to keep talking about a case management shift back to the state, Heineman said that lawmakers need to listen to providers such as Boys Town before adopting such a change.
Krist said the current structure of the child welfare system isn't working and must be changed. A child welfare department needs to be “dissected” from HHS to improve management and financial oversight, he said, adding that HHS has become too large.
“It's a monster,” he said of HHS.
The department handles social services, services for the elderly, public institutions and public health.
Both Krist and Campbell said the state should be able to leverage more federal dollars to help finance the changes and defray state taxpayer expenses. They also said they want to spend money more efficiently.
“At this point, I don't think we can say how much more it will cost,” Campbell said. “It won't cost less.”
Krist said every state that has successfully privatized its system has increased spending.
Lawmakers launched their investigation in February amid growing controversy over the privatization initiative.
Starting in November 2009, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services contracted with five private agencies to provide services for children and families in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
Since then, three of the five agencies have lost or dropped their contracts, citing financial and management issues. That forced the state to resume providing services in some rural areas of the state and to rework contracts with the remaining providers.
Heineman declined to comment about one of the report's conclusions, that the privatization initiative by his administration was launched without good planning.
“My focus is on the future and not the past,” he said.
Now, Heineman said, it's time to talk with lawmakers and others about what can be done to address a complex and challenging issue.
“Hopefully, we can find some common ground,” he said. “We do need to bring some stability to what we're doing.”
Campbell and Krist agreed.
“I do look forward to sitting down with the governor and listening to his concerns,” Campbell said.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
