Bill would transfer oversight of youth rehabilitation centers

The Judiciary Committee heard testimony Jan. 26 on a bill that would transfer oversight of the state’s youth rehabilitation and treatment centers (YRTC) to another agency.

Currently, the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), through the Office of Juvenile Services, oversees YRTC in Kearney and Geneva.

LB972, introduced by Omaha Sen. Brad Ashford, would transfer the oversight and control of the centers to the state Department of Correctional Services (DOC).

There is a significant need for regional staff-secured facilities, Ashford said, calling the current lack of capacity for these juveniles “a tragedy.”

“We are not going to solve every juvenile justice problem with this bill,” he said. “But it is a step towards that.”

Kearney Sen. Galen Hadley testified in support of the bill.

In 2010, Hadley said, 129 juveniles were sent to YRTC in Kearney for assault-related charges. The youth sent to these facilities have more violent tendencies than what was anticipated, he said, as one assault by a juvenile occurs at YRTC for every 2.5 employees.

“DHHS is a huge and complex organization,” Hadley said. “I’m not sure that [juvenile rehabilitation] is its area of specialty, whereas with the DOC it would be.”

DOC Director Bob Houston also testified in support of the bill.

The frequency and the severity of the assaults could decrease under the DOC training program, which focuses on interpersonal communication, he said. The bill organizes YRTC to resemble the dynamics of residential living, Houston said, and would give the DOC authority over aggressive juveniles without requiring that they first be charged with a felony.

CEO of DHHS Kerry Winterer testified in support of LB972, saying it would be an improvement for juvenile justice reform.

The DOC is better equipped to deal with safety and rehabilitation of juveniles, Winterer said. DHHS should focus its attention on services that can prevent kids from being sent to such facilities—not on operating them, he said.

Sarah Forrest, Voices for Children policy coordinator, testified in opposition to the bill, saying that YRTCs have been ineffective because they serve too many low-risk youth. Transferring oversight to the DOC would not address the problem, she said.

Mary Fraser Meints of Uta Halee Girls Village in Omaha also testified in opposition to the bill.

Violent juveniles should be separated from those who are low-risk offenders, Fraser Meints said, while the low-risk juveniles should receive community-based services that are cheaper and more effective.

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.