Two years ago, there was a big change for Nebraska's child welfare system. It went under private control. And since that time, there have been a number of problems.
So much so that the legislature took action and created a Health and Human Services Committee to look into it.
Thursday the committee finally revealed what they have been working on for months.
The Committee released its recommendation for improving child welfare in the state. It was a 125 page report that included 18 suggestions.
At the top of the list was to take control out of the hands of private contractors and put it back into the state's.
Over the past two years, the child welfare system has been going through a transition to privatization. But it hasn't been an easy process.
"Obviously there are problems and we've got to fix the problems," said Senator Galen Hadley.
The problems ranged from financial issues, to miscommunication within the system.
"There were 5 lead agencies, we're down to two lead agencies, parts of the state are not being covered," said Senator Hadley.
Resistance to the privatization has been strong.
"It effects children in a negative way and the reason that all these changes were supposed to happen was to help kids," said Senator Mike Gloor.
So a Health and Human services committee was formed to look into the issue.
After months of research and five public hearings, the committee released its recommendation Thursday that control of the child welfare system be given back to the state.
"It just hasn't worked out," said Senator Hadley.
Legislative leaders say they expect this issue to be a major emphasis of the next legislative session.
"It wouldn't surprise me that we have four or five bills that we really spend a lot of time on in health and human services," said Senator Hadley.
A legislative vote would be required to bring any of the recommendations to action.
As far as cost studies done show the switch to private contractors actually increased state spending on child welfare by 27 percent.
