Bill would change foster care oversight

Nebraska’s current Foster Care Review Board would be replaced by a Foster Care Review Office under a bill heard Jan. 27 by the Health and Human Services Committee.

The 11-member Foster Care Review Board was created by the Legislature in 1982 as an independent agency to provide oversight to the state’s foster care system.

LB998, introduced by Omaha Sen. Bob Krist, would abolish the board and establish a Foster Care Review Office within the Legislature.

Under the bill, the executive director of the office would be appointed by the Legislature and would report directly to the chairperson of the Health and Human Services Committee. The committee would determine the office’s structure and staff would be employees of the Legislature.

Krist said the change would allow the board to continue providing data to the Legislature regarding the state’s child welfare system, but would eliminate any appearance of conflict of interest due to relationships between board members and the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Under the bill, members of the state’s 46 local foster care review boards would continue to serve their unexpired terms and the governor would appoint one member of each local board.

“All of the present employees and volunteers will remain in the system with no change in their job or job description,” Krist said.

Ann Coyne, professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, testified in support of the bill. She said the board originally was designed as a citizen review board, but legislation passed in 2005 allowed members to have connections to DHHS and other entities within the child welfare system.

“For over 20 years this system worked well as an independent review of children in out-of-home care and of the child welfare system itself,” she said.

Coyne said the current board has inherent conflicts of interest because many members work for agencies that receive funding from DHHS either directly or indirectly.

Melanie Williams-Smotherman, executive director of Family Advocacy Movement, also testified in support of the bill, saying the board has been an obstacle to genuine reform of the state’s child welfare system.

She said the Foster Care Review Board has “a penchant for preserving the status quo” and does not reflect the diverse interests of stakeholders in the child welfare system – particularly families with children in foster care.

“It’s time to begin anew,” she said.

Marcia Anderson, a member of the Foster Care Review Board, testified in a neutral capacity. She said senators should consider the costs and possible unintended consequences of dissolving the existing board, which she described as independent and neutral.

No opposition testimony was given and the committee took no immediate action on the bill.