LINCOLN- A new local taskforce is seeking to come up with ideas to transform Nebraska's child welfare system, which they say is flawed. A state law passed in 2022 by the Nebraska Legislature allowed for the creation of the group, which will utilize input from all three branches of state government, as well as several key stakeholders.

The group's overarching mission is to "reimagine child and family well-being. "Reimagining the way child welfare practice and financing is handled here in the state," said John Stephen, the managing partner at the Stephen Group, a national organization hired by the state workgroup to hold listening sessions with stakeholders across the state.

One of these stakeholders is Monika Gross, who directs the Foster Care Review Office. "It's a good time, I think, to kind of revisit how we do child welfare and child and family well-being in the state of Nebraska," Gross said. Her reasoning for this revisitation is because of the state's rehandling of child welfare cases previously managed by St. Francis Ministries, as well as the fact that the state has a new governor and Department of Health and Human Services director.

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