Bill would urge home visits to new moms
Soon after Sen. Lowen Kruse's daughter brought her newborn baby home in Vermont, a stranger knocked on the door. Instead of opening the conversation with a sales pitch of some sort, the stranger asked a question that could also be posed to Nebraska mothers under a bill that got first-round approval from the Legislature Wednesday: "Would you like to talk about your baby?"
Supporters of the bill offered by freshman Sen. Gwen Howard of Omaha said there is strong evidence that early visits to new moms can prevent future problems, such as child neglect, and keep kids from landing in the state's child-protection system. More Session 2005 stories
Nebraska's child-protection system has been the subject of intense scrutiny and criticism the last couple of years following reports that more than half of the 32 children who have died because of abuse since 1997 were in the state system.
"The bill would prevent kids from ever being a part of the child-welfare system," said Howard, who was a state social worker for 35 years.
Described by Sen. Ed Schrock of Elm Creek as "kind of a feel-good" bill, LB264 would encourage, rather than mandate, the state's Health and Human Services check up on new mothers and their children to provide better protection for children and help keep them from landing in the child-protection web.
Two other related bills introduced by Howard were wedded with LB264. Combined, the package that got first-round approval would:
n Give HHS the ability to offer preventative services such as home visits.
n Make HHS consider national standards when evaluating its own caseloads. Social workers are overburdened with too many cases, Howard said, even by state standards. Following recommendations from a gubernatorial task force, more caseworkers have recently been hired and Howard has another bill not addressed Wednesday that calls for adding more.
n Increase HHS reporting of caseloads for both state and state-contracted caseworkers.
The annual reporting requirements, said Sen. Chris Beutler of Lincoln, give the bill some tangible punch and will improve an agency that has been difficult to analyze because, like other state agencies, it lacks proper management tools.
"It's not just feel-good," Beutler said of Howard's bill.
The success of other aspects of the bill, should it get final approval, will largely hinge on the willingness of HHS to heed the recommendations to implement preventative programs such as home visits. Sen. Nancy Thompson of La Vista said a now-defunct program in the Omaha area that offered home visits was extremely successful, reducing everything from arrests to months spent on welfare. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that home-visit programs drastically reduce child abuse.
"It's up to all of us to take this to the next level and make sure the department can actually do it," Thompson said.
Howard foresees hospitals, nurses and members of the public calling the state to refer families that might benefit from a home visit. Instead of calling child-protective services to register a complaint about abuse or neglect, people could call and request a family be checked on because it displays some risk factors or has basic needs that aren't being met, such as transportation.
Outside groups that could work with HHS to provide services have already expressed interest by requesting seed money for programs, Howard said. She expects discussions between those groups and HHS about funding arrangements.
"I don't believe the state should be in the position of bearing the entire burden," Howard said.
Reach Nate Jenkins at 473-7223 or njenkins@journalstar.com
Supporters of the bill offered by freshman Sen. Gwen Howard of Omaha said there is strong evidence that early visits to new moms can prevent future problems, such as child neglect, and keep kids from landing in the state's child-protection system. More Session 2005 stories
Nebraska's child-protection system has been the subject of intense scrutiny and criticism the last couple of years following reports that more than half of the 32 children who have died because of abuse since 1997 were in the state system.
"The bill would prevent kids from ever being a part of the child-welfare system," said Howard, who was a state social worker for 35 years.
Described by Sen. Ed Schrock of Elm Creek as "kind of a feel-good" bill, LB264 would encourage, rather than mandate, the state's Health and Human Services check up on new mothers and their children to provide better protection for children and help keep them from landing in the child-protection web.
Two other related bills introduced by Howard were wedded with LB264. Combined, the package that got first-round approval would:
n Give HHS the ability to offer preventative services such as home visits.
n Make HHS consider national standards when evaluating its own caseloads. Social workers are overburdened with too many cases, Howard said, even by state standards. Following recommendations from a gubernatorial task force, more caseworkers have recently been hired and Howard has another bill not addressed Wednesday that calls for adding more.
n Increase HHS reporting of caseloads for both state and state-contracted caseworkers.
The annual reporting requirements, said Sen. Chris Beutler of Lincoln, give the bill some tangible punch and will improve an agency that has been difficult to analyze because, like other state agencies, it lacks proper management tools.
"It's not just feel-good," Beutler said of Howard's bill.
The success of other aspects of the bill, should it get final approval, will largely hinge on the willingness of HHS to heed the recommendations to implement preventative programs such as home visits. Sen. Nancy Thompson of La Vista said a now-defunct program in the Omaha area that offered home visits was extremely successful, reducing everything from arrests to months spent on welfare. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that home-visit programs drastically reduce child abuse.
"It's up to all of us to take this to the next level and make sure the department can actually do it," Thompson said.
Howard foresees hospitals, nurses and members of the public calling the state to refer families that might benefit from a home visit. Instead of calling child-protective services to register a complaint about abuse or neglect, people could call and request a family be checked on because it displays some risk factors or has basic needs that aren't being met, such as transportation.
Outside groups that could work with HHS to provide services have already expressed interest by requesting seed money for programs, Howard said. She expects discussions between those groups and HHS about funding arrangements.
"I don't believe the state should be in the position of bearing the entire burden," Howard said.
Reach Nate Jenkins at 473-7223 or njenkins@journalstar.com
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