LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A new report says Nebraska's effort to privatize child welfare services wasn't necessarily bad — it just went too fast.
The report to Nebraska lawmakers says the push to privatize in a three-month period created "an extraordinary level of upheaval" among organizations that worked with the government to help children.
The privatization experiment has faced problems since it began in 2009. Four of Nebraska's five service providers have ended or lost their contracts with the state, citing a lack of funding and an overwhelming number of abused, neglected and troubled children.
The report recommends keeping things as they are for now, with a private contractor still providing services in the Omaha area and the rest being handled by the state. The report suggests "incremental improvement" to keep the system stable.
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