LINCOLN — While fewer Nebraska children were in foster care in 2008 and a record number of foster kids were adopted, there’s still serious issues plaguing the state’s child welfare system, according to a state report released Tuesday.
Concerns listed in the 2008 annual report by the Nebraska Foster Care Review Board, included that the percentage of children who re-enter the system after being returned to family members increased.
Advocates also said there’s a lack of drug treatment for parents, and that the state may be moving to quickly to privatize service delivery to kids in out-of-home care.
“There are some positives in this (report) and some serious work to be done,” said Carol Stitt, the executive director of the foster care review agency.
The agency and its local volunteer boards are charged with tracking and reviewing the care and progress of abused and neglected children who are in out-of-home care.
At the end of 2008, 4,620 children were in foster care, down 8 percent from 2007.
Reducing the number of children in foster care has been a statewide goal since that figure peaked at 6,204 in 2005, placing Nebraska’s rate of out-of-home care among the nation’s highest. As of last week, the number had dropped further, to 4,308.
Another positive trend in 2008 was an increase in adoptions of foster children: 572 in 2008, up from 462 in 2007.
But there are plenty of concerns remaining, advocates said.
One, according to Georgie Scurfield, chairwoman of the Foster Care Review Board, is the increased privatization of services that used to be handled by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
Scurfield said it might be a year or two before it is known whether the privatization results in improved services and outcomes for children and families.
Stitt and board member Mario Scalora also expressed concern about whether the state had adequate oversight procedures for the service providers, and whether HHS was moving too quickly to make the switch.
Kansas reported “one to three years of chaos” when it privatized its services, Stitt said.
HHS officials, meanwhile, pointed out that Nebraska isn’t completely privatizing its system like Kansas, and that the change has been in the works since September of 2008 and won’t be completed until next April.
“We’re not relinquishing our critical decision-making responsibilities for children and families,” said Todd Reckling, the director of the Division of Children and Family Services for HHS.
He said that state “case managers” will retain primary responsibilities for abuse and neglect intake and assessments, case management and court involvement.
By turning over “case coordination” such as finding foster homes and counseling services to private contractors, Reckling said, state workers will have more time for contract management and oversight.
Oversight should improve, he said, because the state will have only five lead contractors instead of the 150 smaller provider contracts it now oversees.
Foster care officials expressed frustration about one recurring issue — the high number of children placed in foster care because of their parents’ substance abuse. In 2008, 57 percent of foster children ages 2 or younger entered the system because of their parents’ drug or alcohol abuse.
The state is “spinning its wheels” in addressing drug problems, according to Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey, who attended Tuesday’s press conference.
Lacey said it needs to adequately fund drug courts, which help parents kick drug habits, and allow judges to consider the needs of children in sentencing their parents for drug crimes.
Among other concerns raised in the annual report:
• Forty-one percent of the children in foster care had been in out-of-home care before, highlighting a need for better reunification plans.
• Forty-three percent of kids had been in foster care for two years or more.
• About 32 percent of cases are not making progress toward “permanency” (either adoption or reunification with family).
• In 30 percent of cases, plans for children were either inappropriate or unrealistic, contributing to the high number of kids re-entering foster care.
One recommendation in the report was to improve access to mental health services for foster children, who often suffer from mental health problems because of abuse or have behavioral problems that led to their placement in foster care.
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