Juvenile support pilot project considered

A bill to provide support services to system-involved youth in Omaha was considered by the Health and Human Services Committee March 12.

LB48, introduced by Omaha Sen. Terrell McKinney, would create the Family Resource and Juvenile Assessment Center five-year pilot program to provide culturally relevant services to families and youth involved in or at risk of entering the juvenile justice system.

As introduced, the bill would establish four centers within a metropolitan class city to provide 24/7 support services, including youth counseling, parenting support, job training, conflict resolution and substance abuse treatment. Omaha currently is the state’s only metropolitan class city.

The state Department of Health and Human Services would be required to establish a designation process for the centers to ensure adherence to high-quality standards in service delivery, staff qualifications and organizational effectiveness.

Each center would be required to implement a data collection system to assess program effectiveness, track youth and family outcomes and incorporate feedback directly from those served. The bill also states legislative intent to appropriate $1 million from the Health and Human Services Cash Fund to each center annually.

McKinney brought an amendment to the hearing that instead would limit the pilot program to two centers funded through the Medicaid Managed Care Excess Profit Fund. He said this change would allow the program to be tested and refined before expanding further.

When families struggle, children are the first to feel the impact, McKinney said, and small issues like school absences, family conflicts or mental health struggles are worsened.

“Without intervention, many young people end up in the juvenile justice system,” he said. “Not because they are criminals, but because they lack the right support at the right time.”

Corey Steel, the Nebraska State Court Administrator, testified in support of the proposal. Youth and families in the state often cannot access important support services without becoming system involved, he said, and implementing the bill would remove this barrier.

“We see a lot of families when they come to probation … still in crisis because their needs haven’t been [addressed] early on,” Steel said. “[LB48 provides] early intervention to get their needs met so that they don’t come into the juvenile justice system.”

Jason Witmer of the ACLU of Nebraska also spoke in favor of the proposal, saying similar intervention strategies have been shown to improve family functioning and reduce recidivism rates and the likelihood of delinquent behavior.

“LB48 offers something different, with data driven solutions based on proven models,” Witmer said.

No one testified in opposition to the measure and the committee took no immediate action on it.