LINCOLN — A top child welfare watchdog called Thursday for Nebraska to end its contract with the Kansas nonprofit managing the cases of abused and neglected children in the Omaha area.

Inspector General of Nebraska Child Welfare Jennifer Carter made the recommendation in a special report looking at the contract with St. Francis Ministries and at the state's history of privatized case management in Douglas and Sarpy Counties.

The report found that the private contractor has failed to meet key terms of its contract with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services for nearly two years. The problems include its failure to meet state-mandated caseload limits for workers, failure to meet monthly with children in care and failure to document case plans within 60 days.

"St. Francis has failed to do its job in consequential ways that affect children and families," Carter said. "The state should not continue to spend millions of public dollars on this contract when St. Francis is not meeting its terms.”

She also recommended that Nebraska end its 12-year experiment with having private contractors manage child welfare cases, saying the effort has been unsuccessful. The report said it has yielded no measurable improvement and demonstrated unacceptable risk.

"The pilot project has demonstrated the significant risk of disruption, instability, and financial uncertainty inherent in the privatization of child welfare case management," the report said. "St. Francis’ performance brought these risks into starker relief."

The inspector general's office was created as part of the Legislature's response to earlier problems with the privatization effort.

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