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Senators form task force to find solutions for families in crisis

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By JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star

Thursday, Nov 20, 2008 - 06:29:38 pm CST

Members of the Legislature took a step Thursday — a day before the door is set to close on safe haven drop-offs of older children — toward exploring solutions to those families’ problems.

Lincoln Sen. Amanda McGill will chair a task force of six senators aimed at helping families in crisis find adequate mental and behavioral health services.

The task force will meet with mental health service providers, government agencies and others three times before the regular session begins in January to come up with legislation to meet short-term and long-term needs of children in crisis.

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State Sen. Amanda McGill of Lincoln

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Twenty-six families have used the safe haven law to get services for 35 children since it went into effect July 18. Many of them had mental or behavioral health issues and were in crisis because services they had weren’t working or higher levels of services were denied.

McGill said the response to the safe haven legislation, originally intended for babies, has been a blessing in disguise.

The amended bill, which will apply only to infants up to 30 days old, will have its final reading Friday and could be signed by Gov. Dave Heineman shortly after that.

The task force — made up of McGill and Sens. Annette Dubas of Fullerton, Tim Gay of Papillion, Gwen Howard of Omaha, Dave Pankonin of Louisville and Arnie Stuthman of Platte Center — has scheduled its first meeting for Dec. 2 at Boys Town.

Howard challenged the Department of Health and Human Services to be part of the solution rather than a barrier to reaching one. The problems have been going on for decades, she said.

With some foster families who have adopted children, for example, when serious problems have come up originating from maltreatment before adoption, HHS has not been there to help, Howard said. Rather, families were referred to a private agency or put on a waiting list or directed to other services.

Commitment to solving the problems has to come from the highest level, Howard said, “because it’s not going to be cheap.“

McGill said the problem goes deeper than just finding alternatives for families in crisis. More fundamental changes are needed, she said, and the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee has been exploring the issues this fall and members have good ideas for legislation.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Brad Ashford predicted the task force will succeed.

“There’s no question that the way we will conduct our business will be in a very collaborative way. Everyone who walks in that room at Boys Town will be equals, all with good ideas, or they won’t be there,” he said.

A series of agreed-upon proposals to deal with the crisis situation will be in place by the end of December, he said.

“We don’t know what the solutions will be. We don’t have all the answers … but the stakeholders coming together, that’s the power of this.”

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.


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JB wrote on November 20, 2008 1:35 pm:
" Special session was completely off the subject most of the time and was still trying to make their own version of a law which every other state already had. Rather see more brains and less mouths. There are already close to fifty wheels out there. "

 sue wrote on November 20, 2008 4:17 pm:
" The Task Force needs to contact law enforcement agencies and care facilities to get the whole picture. Perhaps the members of our Legislature would have made a better Safe Haven Law the first time around if they had included those who would be expected to enforce the law or be responsible for the care of the kids. "

 ex-DHHS employee wrote on November 20, 2008 4:53 pm:
" entertaining that the "task force" doesnt include anyone from DHHS.....and they wonder why there is such a divide between DHHS and legislature. they made a law which backfired, now they blame DHHS for its failure. my guess is they never asked any caseworkers what they thought of this "great" safe haven age limit before the passed the law. i think DHHS would have offered some obviously needed advice. "

 BicycleMike wrote on November 20, 2008 5:39 pm:
" Sue, the first time around HHS told the legislature that they were making a mistake and they would end up with a mess on their hands (i.e. 18 year-olds being dropped off.) Instead the legislature decided they knew best and ignored the people who actually know and passed the law that we have today. Maybe this time around the task force will pocket their "I know best" mentality and listen to those who actually do know. "

 GIve them a chance wrote on November 20, 2008 6:54 pm:
" For all you nay-sayers of the Legislature, give them a chance to do their work! I have faith in them because I believe they have an excellent Chair of this task force and they have dilligent Legislators on it as well. Sen. Howard is not only an expert in the field of social work, she is incredibly gifted when it comes to crafting sound policy. Sen. Gay will no doubt be effective with cost analysis for the intended newly proposed policy as well. Also Sen. Dubas has the motherly voice of reason out of the group. Sen. Pankonin's skills are many, one of which includes good, effective leadership. Lastly, Sen. Stuthman was the man who brought in the Safe Haven concept for Nebraska and thus deserves to be apart of this task force.

Seriously, not everything they do in the Legislature is all doom and gloom for us as citizens of Nebraska. And if you don't like what they are doing, run for office yourself! Then see how hard they work first hand and under paid they truly are. "

 anon wrote on November 20, 2008 8:01 pm:
" Neither is this problem new nor the slolution intractable; but there has to be executive as well as legislative will to provide more than window dressing. The basic problem is that while residential psychiatric care is available in Nebraska, it is prohibitively expensive for all but the very wealthy.

Families in crisis care; but they have tried unsuccessfully to address their children's behvioural issues/mental health problems within their financial means. Todd Landry says the HHSS should not interfere in these families' affairs. Trust me, they will welcome interference if that means they receive help. And by help I mean getting thru a day and night without worrying if their child is going to commit suicide or kill/harm one of their siblings.

There are alternative "quick fixes" that would go far to address parents' and children's needs who face this hellish dilemna:

1. Mandate insurance coverage for residential treatment services for mentally ill children so parents have a placement option. The only alternative now is for a parent to make their child a state ward (which is a well kept secret on how to achieve).

2. In the alternative, advertise far and wide how a desparate parent goes about making a child a state ward through no fault of their parenting (it is called adjudicating a child as abused or neglected through no fault of the parent). This means the state can make all the decisions adn frankly, HHSS caseworkers have no clue by and large what these families have gone thru, not to mention how overworked they are. But at least a judge can order HHSS to provide the level of service necessary for the child. The family is charged child support in this instance.

3. Or finally, change the law to allow the family to retain legal custody of the child with either adminsitrative or judicial oversight with the state providing the necessary care, and the parents again would need to pay child support.

None of those solutions will be political palatable. But as someone who has assisted over a dozen families make their children state wards because of exactly the types of issues that "safe haven" families faced, I know of what I speak. "

 a socia worker wrote on November 20, 2008 9:09 pm:
" it is frustrating to see, once again, policy makers making decisions about a subject they know nothing about. first, they did not listen to the testimony about what whould happen with teenagers and safe haven. now, they are setting off on their own to deal with something none of them have ever worked directly with. it is unfortunate that they leave out the people who do this work everyday. it is much like asking a group of lawyers to gut a house and re-do the plumbing. perhaps they should spend a week with a caseworker or at the mental health treatment centers. "

 doesnt matter wrote on November 20, 2008 11:00 pm:
" It doesn't matter anymore,... babies won't remember being left by their parents,.. but these children that will remember,... will never forget that day,... they will need so much therapy!!! should have thought about all this before this law went into effect.... These children that were dropped off are suffering more now than before,.. to know that someone they loved could just leave them. "

 Miranda wrote on November 21, 2008 12:12 am:
" The task force needs to look at the Division of Behavioral Health within DHHS. They have had responsibility for children's behavioral health for years and very little, if any, improvement has been seen. As far as the public can tell, all they do is continually deny that there is a problem. Where are our tax dollars going, and when will they be held accountable for outcomes? Maybe it's time for all children's behavioral health dollars to go directly to the behavioral health regions without interference from DHHS. "

 JB wrote on November 21, 2008 7:15 am:
" A special session is suppose to do only what it was called to do (age limit). Most of what these people are want to be done is beyond what was called for and legally must be looked into later at the regular session. Still how many of these children under our "Safe Haven" law were out of state? The problems must be greater else where and it is thought that maybe their children would be better in Nebraska! "

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