“We had to try to do it as quickly as possible so we did it through e-mail. I would have much rather have done it in person, but we just have people all over the place so we just couldn’t see everybody at once,” Sheehan said.
Boys and Girls Home has offices in Columbus, Dakota City, South Sioux City, North Platte and Kearney.
The Boys and Girls Home struggle
Boys and Girls Home has provided services for the state for more than 30 years, Sheehan said. It is now the third of five private agencies to drop out of contracts signed in fall 2009.
When Visinet Inc. and Cedars Youth Services canceled their contracts with the state they blamed inadequate reimbursement.
Under the contracts, the agencies were to provide services, in-home and out of the home, for children and families in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
“Providing services in rural Nebraska has unique challenges,” Sheehan said in a press release. “We are proud of the services we offer children and families and plan to continue those services to all three areas. Administering all financial responsibility for all providers in the northern, central and western service areas was totally new to us. With all the struggles and complexities, we thought it best to stay focused on what we do well and have the state do what they do well.”
Todd Reckling, director of the HHS division of children and family services in Lincoln said the decision to end the contract with Boys and Girls Home was a mutual one.
“We both came to the realization that Boys and Girls’ strength is really in providing direct services,” he said. “So they’re going to go back and do what they do best.”
As the lead contractor for HHS in three out of five service areas in the state, Boys and Girls Home had to work with multiple subcontractors. In the last few weeks, Boys and Girls Home has been criticized for being behind in payments to its subcontractors, which has caused late payments to foster parents.
“Under the new lead contract, they had to do things they had not done before, including coordination with multiple subcontractors,” Reckling said.
“Boys and Girls Home will assist in the transition and will continue to provide direct services in Nebraska. We have and continue to say that this reform is needed if we are going to improve the way Nebraska serves children. Being able to keep kids in their own homes and communities is the right direction and results in better outcomes.
“We appreciate the long history of Boys and Girls Home and their continued commitment to Nebraska children and families,” Reckling added.
The state is divided into five service areas: northern, eastern, southeast, central and western. Boys and Girls Home provided services to about one-third, or 1,832 children who are state wards for the western, central and northern services areas.
At the end of August, 6,347 children statewide were wards of the state.
Smooth transition is goal
The Boys and Girls Home will continue to provide direct services to HHS, Reckling said. However, HHS will temporarily oversee the subcontractors until another lead contractor can be secured.
“Our priority right now is to have an absolutely smooth transition with as little interruption and disruption as possible,” Reckling said.
Within the next few days, HHS staff will contact all of the families and foster families and notify them of the changes. HHS will pay for services from Friday forward, while the Boys and Girls Home was responsible for payments for services before Friday.
Rebecca Gould, executive director of the Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in Public Interest, released a statement responding to the split, saying the state welfare reform is flawed and unsustainable. She said the state failed to make necessary investments in child welfare.
“The state must seriously re-evaluate whether this privatization makes sense for Nebraska. Nebraska’s child welfare system has been failing for years. We cannot continue on this path. The well-being of thousands of children is at stake, and they cannot wait months and years for the state to truly reform the system and meet their obligation to children in care.”
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