"I don't know," Engel said. "But that's the way it's going to be."
Boys and Girls Home President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Sheehan said last week that 10 subcontractors have not been paid due to contract negotiations. He wouldn't specify the reason for the negotiations.
The new tier rate wasn't implemented when Boys and Girls Home initially landed one of Nebraska's child welfare system contracts because it didn't have real data on costs, Engel said.
"I think there's kind of a learning process here," he said. "It was being studied, and it took time to implement it."
Kathie Osterman, spokeswoman for the Nebraska Health and Human Services Department, said the state hasn't changed its rate. Nor is this the first contractor the state has had that has changed its rates after a contract began.
"We negotiate with the lead contractor for a payment that we pay them for both traditional foster care and then agency-based foster care," Osterman said. "Then they determine their rates with their providers, and we do not sign off on those rates."
Traditional foster care is the term for a lower-needs child. Agency-based is the term for a higher-needs child.
"As the lead contractors have gained experience, they have -- some of them -- made changes to some of their rates or rate structure," Osterman said.
Paul and Marty Harding of Aurora were owed nearly $8,500 last week and have been dipping into their own savings to pay for the care of their three teenage foster children as they awaited payment.
The couple did receive a payment from Boys and Girls Home for care they provided in July, and they received a payment on Monday from Mid-Plains Center for Behavioral Healthcare Services for foster care work they are now doing through Mid-Plains, which is a subcontractor for Boys and Girls Home.
Paul Harding said they are to receive $900 a month per child -- about $30 a day -- for care provided to higher-needs children.
That equates to $1.25 an hour for a high-needs foster child.
The difference in the $30 a day the Hardings receive and the $69 a day that Boys and Girls Home pays goes to Mid-Plains to provide oversight and support to the Hardings, Paul Harding said.
Scott Dugan, president and chief executive officer of Mid-Plains, said he has yet to have a personal meeting, phone call, letter or e-mail from Sheehan.
"I'm hopeful, if there are negotiations on contracts, they will actually contact me," Dugan said this week.
He said Mid-Plains has not yet received all the money it believes it is owed from Boys and Girls Home.
State Sen. Mike Gloor of Grand Island said he fears that the group that may end up shorted in this equation is the foster parents.
"My hope ultimately is that, when it comes to providing care to those kids, that we are appropriately reimbursing families what it costs to provide care for those kids," Gloor said. "I don't know what that number is."
Paul Harding said it takes the money from 1.5 kids just to cover the insurance costs for him and his wife to serve as foster parents. The care costs haven't gone down, and the payment rates haven't increased accordingly.
He said reimbursements have gone up just 11 percent in the past 14 years.
Under the tier system, those rates may actually drop.
"Everybody is short of money -- the state and everybody else," Engel said. "I think that (the tier system) is fair."
"Can you still provide adequate care with less money? That is the issue," said Gloor, a former hospital CEO who likened the foster care change to the health care industry's move to managed care.
Engel said he thinks the issue is less about pay and more about the timing of the payments.
The Boys and Girls Home contract gives 45 days to make a payment.
"What's upsetting a lot of people is the 45 days," Engel said.
"I still can't figure out why it takes 45 days to click a few keys on a computer," Paul Harding said. "We don't get checks. We get direct deposit.
"I can live with 45 days. Most of the past payments have been longer than that," he said.
Engel said the bill has to be a "validated bill" as to what was provided. If there's a discrepancy or inadequate documentation, then payment is held up, he said.
"There's a lot of hue and cry, but sometimes that just gets out of control -- out of proportion," Engel said. "When they get the facts, they may not like the facts, but that's what they really are."
According to calls he has received, Gloor said, the fact is that many families providing foster care are treading water quickly just to stay afloat.
"There are families who have been waiting a long time to be paid -- and have bills to pay. We've got to get those people paid as soon as we can, even if it's partial payment until records can be reconciled," Gloor said. "It's not a good situation."
"They've been paid up to Sept. 1 -- that was for July," Engel said of Boys and Girls Home's bills.
Engel said the financial hardship has been on everyone, including the Iowa-based Boys and Girls Home.
"They've been in their endowment fund to make sure this gets off the ground," he said. "They used about $6 million of their endowment funds to launch this thing, and the state put dollars in to launch this thing, also.
"It's just kind of a work in progress to get it to run efficiently and to make sure everyone comes out whole," Engel said. "The main purpose of the whole thing is the kids."
The kids are being taken care of, he said.
"As far as the families themselves, they are not complaining," Engel said. "The families themselves are satisfied with the care they are receiving.
"As long as the children are getting taken care of," he said. "At this point in time, I'm satisfied."
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