Each summer, Nebraska Appleseed’s law clerk program attracts some of the best and brightest public interest minded law students from Nebraska and across the country. This summer was no exception. We were fortunate to have eight students: three from the University of Nebraska College of Law, three from Creighton University Law School, one from the […]
Appleseed’s Summer Law Clerk Program Read More »
Since our founding in Milo and Andrea’s basement, Appleseed has been a family friendly organization and one that strives to create a positive work-life balance. This commitment takes many forms. One example is Appleseed’s Infant-At-Work Program in which staff who have worked at Appleseed for at least one year are permitted to bring a new
Nebraska Appleseed’s Infant-At-Work Program Read More »
There seems to be a troubling double standard in the Nebraska foster care system that has come to light in a new way in recent weeks as contracts with two of the five private agencies have been terminated due to funding problems. One standard is that parents in the system are often faulted for having
Foster Care Double Standard Read More »
Since our last post on the child welfare privatization following the announcement that CEDARS Youth Services terminated its contract with HHS, there has been more bad news. The state’s contract with a second agency, Visinet, was terminated two weeks ago and Visinet subsequently filed bankruptcy. Then, last Thursday night, Visinet closed its doors after they
Child Welfare Privatization Crisis Read More »
On Friday, CEDARS Youth Services announced that it is terminating its contract with HHS to provide out-of-home services as part of the state’s privatization of foster care. In a statement to the Lincoln Journal Star, CEDARS president and CEO Jim Blue cited financial reasons and indicated that projections showed the agency would lose $5.5 million
Underfunded Child Welfare Contracts Put Kids and Agencies at Risk Read More »
It has been about a year since Nebraska’s original safe haven law went into effect and 36 children, most of them teenagers, were dropped off at local hospitals before the Legislature went into special session to restrict the law to infants up to 30 days old. This spring, lawmakers took a first step in addressing
Safe Haven Revisited Read More »
One of my first blog posts this summer focused on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ release of its most recent federal review of Nebraska’s foster care system. As a result of the state’s failure to pass the federal review, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (NDHHS) is required to develop
A Tall Order for Foster Care Reform Read More »
In June, I blogged about the long-term outcomes for children who “age out” of foster care and the opportunity presented by the new federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act to extend foster care to children up to age 21. While a number of important provisions in the Act focus on improving outcomes
Fostering Connections for Nebraska’s Children Read More »
The recent death of a 12 year old boy in Omaha, allegedly at the hands of his mother, who had called HHS seeking information about placing him in foster care, has raised questions about the state’s investigation of child abuse reports. Not only had the boy’s mother called HHS, but family members reported that they
Child Death Case Underscores Need for Transparency and Accurate Investigations Read More »
The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) is a federal and state law enacted in 1978 to curb the practice of state child welfare agencies removing Native American children from their homes and placing them in non-Indian foster and adoptive homes. This practice had become so widespread that, at the time of ICWA’s enactment, 25 to
The Enforcement of the Indian Child Welfare Act in Nebraska Read More »