A legislative committee Wednesday released a 2-inch-thick report on the state's Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Centers, made necessary by emergency conditions at the Geneva center last summer.Ìý
The report included a list of 14 recommendations from the Health and Human Services Committee that were accompanied by 11 bills (LB1140-1150) that were introduced Wednesday by the committee and individual senators.
The committee is recommending a special legislative committee be created for oversight of the YRTCs, similar to past committees that provided oversight to the state prisons, the Beatrice State Developmental Center and Nebraska nursing homes.Ìý
Other recommendations include requiring the Department of Health and Human Services to have a long-term plan for the centers, allowing for use of a county detention facility for a limited time only in the event of an emergency and requiring a cost study and needs assessment for reopening an inpatient adolescent psychiatric unit at the Lincoln Regional Center.Ìý
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The committee also would like the Department of Administrative Services to discontinue maintenance of 24-hour residential facilities, allowing instead the facilities to have their own maintenance departments.Ìý
The Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Centers report is the culmination of six months of work by the Health and Human Services Committee, said committee Chairwoman Sara Howard. The committee's goal is to provide information and history now and for future legislatures and senators who may find themselves dealing with similar issues.
Howard said the committee wanted to make it clear the centers were for rehabilitation of youth, not incarceration. And the centers are the last stop after every other type of help has failed.
It was prompted by an emergency situation at the Geneva center when department CEO Dannette Smith informed Howard on Aug. 12 that the center had become unsafe because of damage to the cottages, a lack for programming for the residents there and insufficient staffing.Ìý
Thirty girls resided on the campus at that time, and four were transferred to the Lancaster County Youth Services Center for several days, and then to the Kearney YRTC. A week later, all the residents had been transferred to the Kearney center.ÌýÂ
At that time, Smith stepped up efforts to develop a longer-term plan for the centers, a discussion that had started in July with a broad cross-section of interested people.Ìý
Beginning in August and over the next several months, Health and Human Services Committee members toured the facilities in Geneva and Kearney multiple times and talked to the girls affected, their parents, current and former staff and community members, Howard said. They also held three public hearings.Ìý
Throughout the crisis, Howard said she was in regular contact with Smith, Inspector General for Child Welfare Julie Rogers, the Nebraska Ombudsman's Office, the Legislature's Judiciary Committee and Sens. John Lowe of Kearney and Dan Quick of Grand Island, whose districts include the YRTCs.
"We must make sure that the conditions that existed at YRTC-Geneva are never allowed to happen again," Howard said, "and that we have a solid plan for the care and rehabilitation of the youth assigned to the YRTCs."Â
HHS came up with its own plan in October that would house girls and boys at Kearney, girls and boys with more trauma and behavioral health issues at the Lancaster County Youth Services Center and at Geneva a small number of girls who are getting ready to leave treatment and go back to their communities and schools.
Other key recommendations by the committee include:
* Create legislation that defines the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Centers, with separate campuses for boys and girls by July 2021.
* Put YRTC schools under the jurisdiction of the Nebraska Department of Education, rather than HHS, but work in collaboration with HHS.Ìý
* Require an annual review of 24-hour facilities by the ombudsman.Ìý
* Require the inspector general for child welfare be notified of any Prison Rape Elimination Act violations at the facilities.Ìý
* Mandate a policy regarding use of mechanical restraints, including shackling of youth, and when they may be used.Ìý
* Require a policy on transporting youths, and notice to parents, courts and attorneys of any moves between facilities.Ìý
The department's spokeswoman, Khalilah LeGrand, said Wednesday the department acknowledges the recommendations and takes them seriously.
"We continue to manage current operations and develop long-term strategies for the YRTC system," LeGrand said. "In doing so, we will give respectful consideration to these recommendations as we make immediate and future decisions regarding our facilities, programming, organizational design, policies and procedures, staff development and clinical assessment models; all for the purpose of continuously improving the level of care and ensuring the safety of Nebraska’s youth in our care."
She said the department was pleased to see a majority of the recommendations were either aligned with the department's YRTC business plan, part of its ongoing initiatives or will be determined as strategies once the department concludes its future planning.
Regular updates will be provided to the HHS Committee as it is charged with oversight of the agency, LeGrand said.
"We are committed to our responsibilities for the YRTCs, and are working towards developing a strategic road map with input from key stakeholders such as the committee," she said.
Voices for Children in Nebraska policy coordinator Juliet Summers said the juvenile justice system is meant to provide meaningful pathways to rehabilitation for all young people who come into contact with the courts.
"These facilities are and have been doing damage to kids," she said. "It is long past time for the Legislature to make plans for and implement significant changes that reflect current best practice in responding to youth behavior, to ensure our system is helping, not hardening, youth in the process of determining who they are going to be and what kind of life they are going to lead."