Nebraska’s foster care could be going private. Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services Spokesman Todd Landry tells us that they are considering a recommendation to contract with a few large agencies to provide homes for the more than 4,300 children who are wards of the state and don’t live with their parents or other custodial relative.
“The final outcome that we’re certainly looking to achieve is to achieve better services for kids and families, maximize the expertise of both the state and contractor staff, to meet federally mandated outcomes.”
Nebraska voices for children director Kathy Bigsby Moore tells us that privatization could lead to excellent services for Nebraska’s children.
“The Department of Health and Human Services has not always done a great job of contract oversight and so we will want them to be doing an outstanding job of oversight and really scrutinizing the performance of those agencies and measuring the outcomes of children.”