Contact
Garret Swanson, Office of Communications, (402) 480-0883;
garret.swanson@nebraska.gov
Morgan Rothenberger, Director of Marketing & Communications for Saint Francis Ministries, (785) 488-6947,
morgan.rothenberger@saintfrancisministries.org
Lincoln – In early 2019, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) began a Request for Proposal (RFP) process to seek proposals for administration of child welfare case management services in the Eastern Service Area (ESA). After the careful review of submitted proposals Saint Francis Ministries, a Kansas based child and family services agency and non-profit, was chosen to provide full-service case management in the ESA. PromiseShip was the previous contractor for case management in the ESA; more information about the RFP awarding process and transition can be found here.
Following the transition from PromiseShip to Saint Francis Ministries, DHHS began a quarterly review of performance from January 1 to March 31, 2020 to determine if performance measures were being met. After the Division of Children and Family Services (CFS) completed the review it was sent to Saint Francis Ministries to provide an opportunity for a response. The quarterly review and response will be posted online at www.dhhs.ne.gov within the next week.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nebraska, child welfare providers and family agencies were hit with unexpected challenges that pressured both Saint Francis Ministries and DHHS to rapidly develop guidance and procedures related to the safe administration of youth and families in the ESA. DHHS and Saint Francis Ministries are working together to make sure foster care families have access to personal protective equipment and proper guidance to stay safe during the pandemic.
The foundation for the ESA contract is the provision of services by Saint Francis Ministries to be able to offer case management, a continuum of case oversight, quality community/paid services, and evidence-based services that are responsive to the needs of the families served. DHHS along with The Stephen Group, a government consulting agency specializing in child welfare management assessment, developed a compliance tracking system that covers 12 performance areas. The assessment found Saint Francis Ministries was compliant in all 12 areas.
In response to the analysis of these performance areas, Saint Francis Ministries is currently developing programs and strategies to ensure performance measures are being met. Recently Saint Francis Ministries started the “First Year Experience" program to help address employee retention. This program will evaluate the employment process to determine what areas can be approved as is it relates to employee satisfaction and training.
Other performance areas analyzed highlight the necessity of working past issues related to the exceptionally large transfer of cases from one provider to another. When transferring thousands of foster care cases from one provider to another, there is specific consideration that has to take place to meet the needs of children and their families. Over the next year Saint Francis Ministries will work to address caseload sizes to help make sure foster care children and families receive the appropriate amount of attention and care they need. That means hiring more employees and balancing out caseloads without disrupting the usual care children and families expect and require.
CFS will continue to provide resources for all child care providers in the state as issues related to case transfers and COVID-19 arise. Director Stephanie Beasley is optimistic for the state's future partnership with Saint Francis Ministries saying, “I appreciate the partnership with Saint Francis Ministries who shares our vision in serving children and families. We will continue our focus on improving outcomes and growing our partnership in 2020".
Over the next quarter CFS will continue to measure and analyze performance standards for Saint Francis Ministries as it administers child welfare case management services in the ESA. Another review will happen at the end of the second quarter. CFS is confident Saint Francis Ministries will continue to work to meet all performance requirements while also providing consistent, high quality care to foster children and families.