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Child welfare privatization scrutinized(Omaha World-Herald (NE) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 7--LINCOLN -- The Nebraska Health and Human Services Department's spotty track record on overseeing contracts has many advocates for children concerned about recommendations to privatize most child welfare services. Yet some also said the proposal has the potential to improve how Nebraska looks after abused and neglected children. Under the proposal, the state would contract with a small number of private agencies to provide out-of-home services for state wards. The contractors also would be responsible for all or some in-home care. The private agencies would be chosen by next Feb. 1. Contracts would be signed by March 15, and services would begin July 1. Todd Landry, children and family services director for HHS, said Monday that no decisions had been made, including whether to move forward with privatization. He said the proposal was offered because of the governor's challenge to overhaul the state's child welfare system. Many details of the proposal remained unclear. Questions far outnumbered answers at a series of community meetings held over the past two weeks. Among the questions: --How would the state ensure children's safety? --Are four or five private agencies ready to provide services for all of the state's foster children? --Who would make which decisions about how a case is handled? --Would private agencies take children for a flat rate per case, as the state is proposing? --Would the proposal save money for the state or reduce the number of child welfare workers? Landry said he didn't have all the answers because they had not been worked out yet. But he said the overall goal of the privatization proposal is to improve services within the current child welfare budget. He said he believes that the proposal would reduce or eliminate gaps in services and provide placement stability. It would change financial incentives to encourage agencies to get children home sooner. It would eliminate conflicts among the state's roles in funding, providing and evaluating services, while maximizing the expertise of both the private and public sector, Landry said. It also would help the state deal with staff turnover. But some child advocates are leery about the proposal. Carol Stitt, executive director of the Nebraska Foster Care Review Board, and Kathy Moore, executive director of Voices for Children, said the state has had problems with properly overseeing child welfare contracts in the past. "I think a strong component of oversight is essential for Nebraska to avoid the fraud other states have experienced," Stitt said. "The current contracting process in Nebraska has already demonstrated a clear need for oversight." She cited an August report by the Legislative Performance Audit Committee that criticized HHS' oversight of people who are paid to drive foster children and troubled youths to home visits and various appointments. The report faulted HHS for inadequate oversight of the safety and quality of contract transportation and for problems in monitoring the money side of the contracts. Last year, state lawmakers questioned the department's oversight of comparatively small contracts with private adoption agencies. HHS officials continued the contracts for eight years, paying the agencies more than $2 million, even though the agencies fell short of expectations in getting foster children adopted. Landry said the HHS Children and Family Services Division has a new quality improvement unit, and those employees are specifically charged with contract oversight. Also, he said, having a smaller number of contracts would make oversight easier than trying to manage the hundreds of current contracts. State Sen. Gwen Howard of Omaha, who was a child welfare worker before she joined the Legislature, was among those who raised questions about the adoption contracts. She said she would prefer that the department undertake privatization slowly and carefully, perhaps through a pilot project. Sen. Tony Fulton of Lincoln favors the department's move toward privatization. He introduced a bill this year that would have required the agency to contract out foster care services. When the bill failed to advance, he called for an interim study of the issue. Fulton said it makes sense to have private agencies provide services and state workers provide management. Others had a mixture of opinions. Moore of Voices for Children said the proposal has the potential for providing better services to children and families, but only if the lines of decision-making can be drawn clearly and the budget is adequate. Jennifer Carter of the Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest said that on one hand, the proposal represents a recognition of problems with the current system. On the other hand, she questioned how the change would affect the services offered. Jim Blue, president and chief executive officer of Cedars in Lincoln, praised the proposal. He said it would produce better outcomes and be more efficient. Cedars is among the agencies that could be expected to bid for potential contracts. --Contact the writer: 402-473-9583, [email protected] To see more of the Omaha World-Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.omaha.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Omaha World-Herald, Neb. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |