Child welfare perplexes lawmakers
By Martha Stoddard
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
LINCOLN — By the time Nebraska lawmakers gather Wednesday in Lincoln, a controversial shift in the child welfare system will be almost complete.
Private contractors will have taken over most of the responsibility for ensuring the safety and well-being of state wards.
State employees will be relegated to overseeing the contractors’ work. They will also investigate initial reports of abuse and neglect.
But, starting in January, they will no longer manage individual child welfare cases in the Omaha area, Lincoln and southeast Nebraska.
The timing creates a quandary for state lawmakers who had questioned the Department of Health and Human Services’ plans to increase privatization of child welfare services.
“We are in kind of a tough spot in terms of what we can do,” said State Sen. Colby Coash of Lincoln. “People ask me all the time, ‘Can’t you write a bill to stop that?’ The reality is, I can’t.” FULL STORY
I think it's Pitchforks and Torches time.
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