Nebraska sees more deaths and serious injuries to children involved in state cases, report says

The annual report by the Nebraska Social Services Inspector General showed an increase in reports of deaths and serious injuries among children whose lives were involved in the state’s child welfare systems in the year ending June 30.

Inspector General Jennifer Carter said 21 child deaths and 27 serious injuries were reported to her office during the year. That’s up from 11 deaths and 15 serious injuries the previous year.

“The numbers have definitely been trending in the wrong direction this year,” Carter said. She added that there’s not enough information yet to say whether the numbers represent a trend. “It could be that this year is just more dire.”

Not all of the deaths or injuries were preventable or the result of abuse or neglect, she said. But state law requires three deaths and eight serious injuries to be investigated more closely because the children involved were in a state-licensed facility or were in the care of the child welfare system.

A further three deaths and seven serious injuries were caused by abuse and neglect but the families were not previously reported to the Department of Health and Human Services.

In particular, the report cited seven infants who died because they were sleeping in the same bed or in unsafe conditions. Several of these infants died while sleeping in the same bed as one or both parents. Others were placed to sleep in unsafe ways, such as on their stomachs or in too soft bedding.

Although the deaths were ruled accidental, Carter said the number of such deaths was “significant and higher than in prior years, and so it’s an issue that the legislature should be aware of.”

Her office investigated one sleep-related infant death in a licensed family care home. The infant was left sleeping in a playpen for several hours and managed to get wedged under the mattress and the bottom of the playpen. The infant suffocated.

Law enforcement and state social service officials concluded the incident did not constitute abuse or neglect.

But after reviewing best practices and regulations from other states, the inspector general’s office recommended changing Nebraska’s child care regulations to require regular check-ins for sleeping infants. The report said HHS officials accepted the recommendation and are working on an update.

The report also noted challenges to the inspector general’s work that an opinion issued by Attorney General Mike Hilgers created. The August 2023 opinion found that the oversight position created to monitor child welfare and the juvenile justice system violated the state constitution.

Within hours of the opinion, HHS officials blocked access to the information, including notifications of deaths and serious injuries. Juvenile probation officials, which are part of the judicial branch, withheld the information for years, citing separation of powers.

It took a memorandum of understanding negotiated between the Legislature and Gov. Jim Pillen to once again allow the inspector general to obtain information from HHS. The agreement, announced in February, included the creation of a special legislative commission to develop a long-term solution.

Carter’s office and the Office of the Inspector General of the Nebraska Correctional System were established by the Nebraska legislature in response to serious problems in the welfare and corrections systems.