Voices for Children statement in response to report regarding abuse allegations at YRTC – Kearney

Nebraska makes a promise to young people held in our state’s custody that they will be safe. That they will receive support, treatment, and an opportunity to heal and change their lives.  

The report released this week by the Office of Inspector General of Nebraska Child Welfare paints a clear picture that we have broken this promise for far too many young people in the state’s care at our Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Centers.  

The report details a disturbing pattern of alleged sexual abuse, boundary violations, and systemic failures at YRTC-Kearney. Over the course of one year, 37 boys made 44 allegations involving 19 different staff members. While not every allegation was substantiated, the Inspector General concluded that the number, consistency, and pattern of the allegations point to a culture that failed to protect youth and systemic inadequacies that allowed abuse to continue.  

That isn’t rehabilitation; it is trauma. And many of the young people committed to YRTC have already experienced far too much trauma in their lives: poverty, housing instability, child welfare involvement, parental loss or incarceration, and neighborhood violence.   

Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed relocating youth and facilities across the state. Voices for Children was part of a coalition of opponents to this plan, not because we think the status quo is fine. On the contrary, our concern is that changing buildings does not change culture.  

Transferring youth from building to building won’t resolve longstanding problems of accountability, staffing, safety, and oversight when it comes to large-scale youth prisons. If we don’t address the root of why young people are ending up at YRTC – and what their real emotional, mental, and human needs are within a treatment setting – then we will never see the lasting results we all hope for.  

On June 30, Senator Hardin’s LR 425 was heard by the Health and Human Services Committee. The hearing was for invited testimony only, mostly from DHHS staff, and centered on the Whitehall intensive treatment facility. Throughout the hearing, senators repeatedly questioned whether the plans were centered on the needs of young people.

Perhaps the most powerful comments came from Senator Riepe, who said, “My concern goes back to the start of this process. It seems to me this entire process has been around facility-driven planning as opposed to the needs of the young people that are in here … or even the staff that it would take to support that.”

That question should continue to guide every conversation moving forward, and the report this week reinforces exactly why this matters. Every major decision should begin with one simple question: How will this improve outcomes for the young people in our care?  

We appreciate the members of the Health and Human Services Committee for asking difficult questions and remaining focused on the needs of Nebraska’s youth.  

The conversation is not over. Another interim hearing may be scheduled later this summer or fall on LR 380, introduced by Senator Fredrickson. This interim study will examine the needs of youth as they move between YRTCs, adult correctional facilities, and residential treatment facilities as proposed under LB 867. 

This hearing presents an important opportunity to continue to shift the conversation from facilities to youth. All too often, we think that focusing on youth needs will detract from community safety, when the opposite is true: by creating environments that heal, we enable youth to reach their full potential, benefiting everyone.

As Nebraska policymakers consider the implications of this report and proposed significant changes to our youth justice system, we will continue to advocate that:  

• Youth voices, experiences, and needs must shape every decision, not after plans are finalized, but from the very beginning. 

• State-run facilities should be subject to meaningful scrutiny, consistent external oversight, and evaluation for outcomes and return on investment. 

• Youth in our justice system should have access to high-quality legal counsel from case open to case closed, to protect their rights and be a voice for their needs.   

Nebraska’s youth deserve safe environments and meaningful treatment. They deserve adults who listen, systems that are accountable, and policies built around healing and reconciliation with home and community.  

Most importantly, they deserve a future where the promise of rehabilitation is more than just words.