The Legislature finds and declares that:
(1)The State
of Nebraska has the legal responsibility for children in its custody and accordingly
should maintain the decisionmaking authority inherent in direct case management
of child welfare services;
(2)Training and longevity of child welfare
case managers directly impact the safety, permanency, and well-being of children
receiving child welfare services;
(3)Meaningful reform of the child welfare
system can occur only when competent, skilled case managers educated in evidence-based
child welfare best practices are making determinations for the care of, and
services to, children and families and providing first-hand, direct information
for decisionmaking and high-quality evidence to the courts relating to the
best interests of the children;
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The Legislature finds and declares that:
(1) The State
of Nebraska has the legal responsibility for children in its custody and accordingly
should maintain the decisionmaking authority inherent in direct case management
of child welfare services;
(2) Training and longevity of child welfare
case managers directly impact the safety, permanency, and well-being of children
receiving child welfare services;
(3) Meaningful reform of the child welfare
system can occur only when competent, skilled case managers educated in evidence-based
child welfare best practices are making determinations for the care of, and
services to, children and families and providing first-hand, direct information
for decisionmaking and high-quality evidence to the courts relating to the
best interests of the children;
(4) Maintaining quality, well-trained, and
experienced case managers is essential and will be a core component in child
welfare reform, including statewide strategic planning and implementation.
Additional resources and funds for training, support, and compensation may
be required;
(5) Notwithstanding the outsourcing of case management, the Department
of Health and Human Services retains legal custody of wards of the state and
remains responsible for their care. Inherent in privatized case management
is the loss of trained, skilled individuals employed by the state providing
the stable workforce essential to fulfilling the state's responsibilities
for children who are wards of the state, resulting in the risk of loss of
a trained, experienced, and stable workforce;
(6) Privatization of case
management of child welfare services can and has resulted in dependence on
one or more private entities for the provision of an essential specialized
service that is extremely difficult to replace. As a result, the risk of a
private entity abandoning the contract, either voluntarily or involuntarily,
creates a very high risk to the entire child welfare system, including essential
child welfare services;
(7) Privatization of case management and child welfare services,
including responsibilities for both service coordination and service delivery
by private entities, may create conflicts of interest because the resulting
financial incentives can undermine decisionmaking regarding the appropriate
services that would be in the best interests of the children. Additionally,
such privatization of child welfare services, including case management, can
result in loss of services across the spectrum of child welfare services by
reducing market competition and driving many providers out of the market;
(8) Privatization
of case management and of child welfare services has resulted in issues relating
to caseloads, placement, turnover, communication, and stability within the
child welfare system that adversely affect outcomes and permanency for children
and families; and
(9) Private lead agency contracts require complex monitoring capabilities
to insure compliance and oversight of performance, including private case
managers, to insure improved child welfare outcomes.