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Testimony on LR 306 – Interim Study of ACCESS Nebraska

Thank you to the Health and Human Services Committee and Senator Conrad for taking the time to assess the impact of the new ACCESS Nebraska System on clients and community based organizations. In general, Voices for Children in Nebraska believes that the use of new technology is important to improving…...

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The Other Side of the Tracks: Nebraska Kids in Out-of-Home Care

Take a moment and step into the shoes of a child placed in out-of-home care. Imagine being taken away from your parents, friends, and home and placed into an unfamiliar situation, most likely surrounded by strangers. Every year since 1988, Nebraska has had over 8,000 children in out-of-home care at…...

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Fostering Connections: A Work in Progress

With the Nebraska Legislature due to come back into session in only a few short weeks, I thought I’d take this opportunity to reflect on one of its big child welfare successes last year – and the work that’s left to be done. In Nebraska, about 70% of state wards…...

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Child Death Report Highlights Need for Prenatal Care

A news release issued by the Child Death Review team, who operates under the Department of Health and Human Services, reported that between the years of 2007 and 2008 there were 551 child deaths in Nebraska (http://www.dhhs.ne.gov/newsroom/newsreleases/2011/Nov/childdeathreviewteam.htm). Of this number, over 165 of those were a result of some form…...

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Why Prevention?

If you could pay to prevent child abuse and neglect, would you? How about preventing kids from dropping out of school? What about juvenile crime and delinquency? For many of you the easy answer to this question is YES. But for many years here in Nebraska, our government (from the…...

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Uta Halee Closing

  We are saddened to learn that Uta Halee Girls Village plans to close most of its services effective December 16.  Uta Halee has been a long-time provider of behavioral health services to children in the Omaha area and their closing will impact the lives of the hundreds of children…...

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Race Matters

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a  training in Washington, DC put on by Voices for America’s Children on using the Race Matters Toolkit.  The training highlighted the role that past policies have played in shaping current inequities and suggested ways that organizations can work to integrate a racial equity lens…...

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Keeping Kids Safe

  Here’s the thing about child safety – it’s mostly about adults. When I first began working on child welfare policy, that sentence struck me as a bit odd. I was working for a child advocacy organization – why should I care about adults? It all boils down to a…...

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Child’s View

We may have gone high-tech with the new site and all of the video, but we still love the feel of a printed newsletter. The latest issue of Child’s View will be hot off the presses and in the mail soon. In the meantime, we couldn’t resist putting together slightly…...

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Medicaid Public Hearing on Behavioral Health

Last Thursday, Medicaid held a public hearing about the new rules and regulations for children’s behavioral health in Nebraska. Right now, these rules and regs are still only in draft form, but they will soon be finalized. This hearing was for anyone to share their thoughts on the draft rules…...

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