Change in foster care oversight amended, advanced
Nebraska’s current Foster Care Review Board would be replaced by a Foster Care Review Office under a bill advanced from general file March 7.
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. Terms of the current 11-member Foster Care Review Board would terminate immediately.
Under the bill as introduced, 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.
A Health and Human Services Committee amendment was adopted on a 29-0 vote and replaced the bill. An amendment offered by Krist and adopted 40-0 in turn replaced the committee amendment.
Under the amended bill, the newly created office would be a non-code agency within the executive branch rather than an entity within the legislative branch. All staff except the executive director would be transferred from the Foster Care Review Board to the Foster Care Review Office.
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).
The Krist amendment also would create a Foster Care Advisory Committee, comprising five members appointed by the governor and approved by the Legislature. The governor would appoint three members from a list of 12 local foster care review board members, one member from a list of four candidates with data analysis experience and one at-large member from a list of four candidates.
Lists of potential appointees would be submitted to the governor by the Legislature and members would be limited to two consecutive three-year terms.
Duties of the advisory committee would be to:
• appoint the executive director of the Foster Care Review Office;
• review management and employee issues of the office; and
• assist the executive director in focusing on and resolving key issues in the foster care system.
No member of the advisory committee could have a financial interest in the foster care system or be employed by DHHS, a county, court, child-caring agency or child-placement agency.
Krist said he introduced the bill to return independent oversight of the state’s foster care system to its original form. When the Foster Care Review Board was established, he said, the intent was for the agency to be a watchdog over the system and provide unbiased information to the Legislature, the courts and DHHS.
“These changes will bring the Foster Care Review Office back to the original intent of the 1982 legislation,” Krist said.
Omaha Sen. Brenda Council supported the amendment. She said the current board appears to have difficulty providing independent data because many members work for agencies that receive funding from DHHS either directly or indirectly.
“I cannot be convinced that the independence of this board is not affected by the relationships that the entities that the members are affiliated with … have with the Department of Health and Human Services,” she said.
Sen. Kathy Campbell of Lincoln also supported the bill, saying lawmakers need to adjust the oversight body for the child welfare system in ways that support the best interests of the children the system serves.
“This is a critical issue,” Campbell said. “We created it and we need to pay attention to how it’s formulated.”
The bill advanced on a 42-0 vote.
