LINCOLN, Neb. - The head of Nebraska's child welfare services told lawmakers Thursday that a proposal to reclaim case management duties from private contractors would destabilize the system that serves abused and neglected children.
Scot Adams told a legislative panel that his agency, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, opposes the measure to end a major part of Nebraska's move toward privatization.
Adams said the effort could prompt the state's two contractors to withdraw before their agreements expire in 2014, forcing the state to take more cases when it lacks the manpower to do so.
His comments followed more than three hours of committee testimony from foster parents and child advocates who say the state's privatization effort has resulted in high turnover, communication problems and a lack of knowledge about individual cases.
Several foster parents recalled encounters with case workers who knew nothing more than their home address and a child's first name. Others said they encountered full inboxes when they called to ask about services, and left phone messages that would go unreturned for weeks.
A legislative report released late last year found that 21 percent of the foster children in Nebraska's system had four or more case managers in the first six months of 2011.
"I just feel there was a lot more personal communication prior to the change," said David Hernandez, a father of 12 who has had children in the system since 2008. "I've seen over 100 case workers. If I had a nickel for every case manager I've seen, I'd have close to $1 - maybe $1.50."
Adams says the effort could prompt the state's two contractors to withdraw before their agreements expire in 2014.
Lincoln Sen. Kathy Campbell said the state's current problems stemmed from a hasty effort to privatize child services, due to pressure from the contractors who pitched it as a way to control costs.
The privatization move began when the state signed contracts with five lead agencies to offer and coordinate child services statewide. Three providers in northern, western and central Nebraska have since dropped out, citing financial problems, which forced the state and the remaining lead agencies to take over their cases.
The state's contracts with two private providers, KVC Nebraska and Nebraska Families Collaborative, expire in 2014. The bill would prevent the state from renewing those agreements, or reinstating the contracts that have ended in northern, western and central Nebraska.
The bill by the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee would return case management to state workers by Sept. 1. It would also require a 10 percent annual reduction in caseloads for each worker until the number meets the standards of the Child Welfare League of America.
Members of the Health and Human Services Committee, which is sponsoring the bill, have said the state needs to reclaim case management duties.
A report by the Legislature's Performance Audit Committee last year found that the reform effort lacked specific goals, had no clear timetable and failed to consider the true cost of a reform that is now $30 million more expensive than original projections.
That committee's chairman, Sen. John Harms of Scottsbluff, has called on the Legislature to change Nebraska's contracting laws for welfare service providers. Harms said the lack of goals makes it impossible to measure improvements or find trouble spots in the services offered to children and families.
