Nebraska State Government Departments and Foster Care Management Group will be Investigated by Committee

By Emily Chen-Newton

A special committee will investigate the organization managing foster care and adoption for nearly 2,000 children in the state after a resolution presented by Senator Machaela Cavanaugh was approved by the legislature today. Gross financial mismanagement within the child welfare organization, Saint Francis Ministries (SFM), has been uncovered over the past year, including $80,000 spent on Chicago Cubs tickets. The baseball team is owned by the brother of Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts.

The proposal for the investigation asserts SFM accrued a 27 million dollar loss for the first year of their contract with the state of Nebraska. But perhaps overshadowing their financial problems, is their mismanaged care of the children Nebraska has trusted them with starting in late 2019. Saint Francis Ministries is out of compliance with several state statutes affecting child safety, including the tracking of children when they're moved within the foster care system. According to Senator Machaela Cavanaugh, who’s leading the legislative charge for the investigation roughly “50% of the time a child is moved, we don't know where they are for 72 hours.”

“50% of the time a child is moved, we don't know where they are for 72 hours.” -Sen M. Cavanaugh

Even after Saint Francis Ministries was made aware that many of their social workers were being given too many cases, actually putting them out of compliance with a Nebraska statute, this practice continues. By statute, no social worker should have more than 17 cases, yet many Saint Francis employees are saddled with the care of up to 25. Foster care families who’ve spoken to NOISE (but requested to remain anonymous) say they’ve noticed caseworker visits have become less frequent and the care is less organized with important health and safety information sometimes being lost in the shuffle. Five children with unique medical and mental health needs were recently ordered to be removed from the care of Saint Francis Ministries by a Douglas County juvenile court judge stating that, “Saint Francis Ministries has disregarded the physical health, mental health, safety and welfare of the minor children,” the children will now be placed in the care of Nebraska’s DHHS. And in Kansas, where SFM is based, an investigation last year revealed one employee alone had falsified 165 visitation reports.

Child Welfare advocates and nonprofits such as Nebraska Appleseed have also pointed out ways that the state’s contract with Saint Francis misses the legal mark in terms of board member qualifications and how child welfare management has been divided into private and state-run service areas. Saint Francis is currently charged with the care of children and young adults in Douglas and Sarpy counties, also known as “the eastern service area.” Speaking about SFM operating in the state, Senator Cavanaugh puts it simply,

“It’s in violation every single day, it’s costing us federal dollars every single day, and we’re not doing best by the kids of the eastern service area every single day.”

The investigation which now has bipartisan support also has subpoena power; meaning the committee has the legal authority to demand testimony from Saint Francis Ministries’ officials, as well as those within the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and Administrative Services who originally awarded the contract in 2019.  

Some say the red flags have been there even before the contract was awarded, when Saint Francis bid their services to the state at roughly 40% of what ($144 million less than) their competitor Promiseship offered. Several service providers, caseworkers, and foster care parents formerly or currently in the eastern service area, spoke to NOISE and The Kansas Reflector, a nonprofit news organization in Kansas. For fear of retributions, they have requested anonymity, but expressed immediate and growing concern when they heard Nebraska awarded the contract to Saint Francis, saying the company seemed to lack an understanding of state laws and was unprepared for the job. 

The investigative committee will begin their work immediately, though it may take several weeks or months to gather testimonies.