No
Right Home, Right Time reflects Nebraska's commitment to strengthening safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes, in alignment with the federal A Home for Every Child initiative.Nebraska's Program Improvement Plan (PIP) focuses on three priorities aligned with the vision of Right Home, Right Time: (1) Support at home first, (2) relative/kin first placement when needed, and (3) safe permanency, without delay. Together, these priorities strengthen families, increase kinship connections, and ensure children experience safe, stable, and permanent homes.
Support At Home First
Whenever it is safe to do so, the best place for children is with their families. This priority focuses on strengthening services and supports that help families remain safely together and prevent unnecessary entry into foster care.
Efforts under this priority emphasize early intervention, access to community-based services, and removing barriers that may place families at risk of separation.
Prioritize Relative/Kin Placement
When children cannot safely remain at home, maintaining family connections remains critical. This priority focuses on placing children with relatives or trusted kin whenever possible.
Kinship placements help preserve important relationships, provide stability, and support a child's sense of identity and belonging.
Safe Permanency
For children who do enter out-of-home care, achieving a safe and permanent home as quickly as possible is essential. This priority focuses on reducing delays and ensuring timely, appropriate permanency outcomes.
Efforts include improving decision-making, reducing time in care, and supporting stable, lasting placements for children.
Frequently Asked Questions
Previously, traditional PIPs have been developed in direct response to Child and Family Services Reviews' findings and have focused on compliance and conformity. These have failed to result in meaningful system changes, and penalties have been applied when specific goals were not met.
The new PIP Pilot Program has one clear goal: increasing the ratio of homes to children, focusing on areas of practice spanning the child welfare spectrum. This allows states to select improvement metrics that best fit their needs.
DHHS will report monthly data that meet the Administration for Children and Families requirements beginning August 2026. These measures include:
- Percentage of eligible families referred to FFPSA Services
- Rate of foster care entry
- Time from removal to first relative/kin placement
- Percentage of children placed with relatives/kin
- Percentage of children attaining permanency within 12 months from entry into foster care
- Percentage of children attaining timely reunification, guardianship, or adoption
- Foster home-to-child ratio (number of homes approved for placement/number of children in DHHS custody who require placement)
- Percent of days children are placed in group homes/settings instead of living with a family
- Percent of children harmed after child welfare agency has already confirmed abuse or neglect
- Percent of homes where foster placement ends unexpectedly and children must move
States participating in the new PIP pilot will see immediate benefits, including shifting accountability away from strict, prescribed goals and toward implementing clear, locally tailored strategies that strengthen practice and increase the foster home-to-child ratio. The pilot offers greater flexibility for states to focus on targeted areas across child welfare systems, aligning practice and measurement with the goals of the A Home for Every Child initiative. In addition, it eliminates the need for labor-intensive case reviews, allowing states to dedicate more time and resources to meaningful system improvements.
Stay Involved
Right Home, Right Time is strengthened through partnerships among youth, families, caregivers, providers, courts, Tribes, community organizations, and other stakeholders. Help shape the future of Right Home, Right Time. Stay informed, share feedback, and participate in webinars, focus groups, and other engagement opportunities as we work together to improve outcomes for Nebraska children and families.
Upcoming Opportunities
Focus Groups: Help shape the future of child welfare in Nebraska by joining one or more of our Right Home, Right Time focus groups. These groups support the three pillars of our PIP: Prevention, Placement with Relatives/Kin, and Safe and Timely Permanency. Participants will have the opportunity to share insights, provide feedback, and help strengthen services and supports for children and families. Whether you have lived experience, professional expertise, or a passion for improving outcomes, your voice matters.
SIGN UP
Past Events & Resources
Webinar: Right Home, Right Time Overview Webinar - 6.10.26
Feedback Opportunities
Submit questions, comments, or suggestions to DHHS.CQI@nebraska.gov.