Privatization is all the rage these days with government. With tight budgets, states are looking to save money wherever they can. Nebraska is even looking to privatize their most vulnerable charges - their child welfare services.

The state is making the move to save money, eliminating the jobs of caseworkers that currently investigate and make recommendations on child welfare claims. But they need to get approval from the state department of administrative services before they can move forward.

Some Nebraska legislators are concerned. "I don’t want to see another Beatrice out of this,” said State senator Gwen Howard, who used to be a case worker herself. She was referring to the Beatrice State Developmental Center, where several developmentally disabled adults have died, allegedly from abuse and neglect. The state has paid thousands to outside contractors to improve the facility.

Several other states have privatized their child welfare and family welfare systems, only to see those departments encounter numerous problems.

When Kansas privatized their child welfare systems, it led to them actually spending more money. And with 30 to 50 percent turnover among employees, cases were being handled by people who were incredibly inexperienced - not the kind of people you want making decisions about whether or not a family is torn apart.

When Florida started 5 pilot programs to privatize child welfare services, four out of those five programs failed (pdf). The state went ahead with privatization anyway. The only pilot program that worked was in a wealthy county where there was more money to spend and fewer children needing services.

Several states have privatized their public assistance programs, to see miserable results. Indiana and Texas had huge public failures with privatization - people denied benefits, months behind on caseloads. Both ended up canceling their contracts.

Privatization sounds wonderful. We pay someone else to do what the state does poorly. Certainly, a private business in the demands of the market will do a better job than the government, right? But experience shows that's not always true. When it comes to the needy families, private companies have just as much experience treating them poorly.

Tell Nebraska they need to move slowly and carefully when making big decisions with vulnerable children's lives. Child welfare should be about saving families, not saving money.