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Family Says Its Candidate Caseworker Stalled Adoption
Gwen Howard Works With Foster Children, Is Running For Office
POSTED: 6:24 pm CDT October 15, 2004
UPDATED: 6:46 pm CDT October 15, 2004
SPRINGFIELD, Neb. -- A Springfield couple says they’ve tried to adopt their
foster children for more than a year, but keep running into hurdles.
Shelley and Bryan Dahlgren are trying to adopt two boys they’ve had in their
home as foster children. The biological parents have relinquished their rights
to the children. The Dahlgrens have another daughter.
"Because we love them and they love us and we're the family they know right
now," said Shelley.
A judge told the Dahlgrens he believed the adoption would be quick -- possibly
as fast as eight weeks. It has been a more than a year since they heard that.
"We have always said it was the caseworker," said Bryan Dahlgren. "We have a
hard time getting a response from her."
Their caseworker is Gwen Howard, a 34-year veteran of Nebraska Health and Human
Services and a current candidate for the District 8 seat in the Unicameral. The
Dahlgrens claim that in the weeks leading up to May’s primary and again as
the November election nears, they’ve had difficulty getting ahold of Howard.
"Her priorities are not with the job she's in, it’s with the job she wants,"
said Shelley Dahlgren.
Howard said the two are entirely separate. She said she completed all of the
work on the Dahlgrens’ case in the spring, and the reasons for their adoption
delay were beyond her control.
Those reasons include a new fingerprinting procedure required of prospective
parents. The Nebraska State Patrol and the FBI use the fingerprints to conduct
a national criminal background check. HHS spokeswoman Kathy Osterman said the
state is awaiting the results of the Dahlgrens’ fingerprinting.
"That might be the delay right now, but that wasn't the delay in the spring,"
Bryan Dahlgren said.
Osterman said the Dahlgrens’ attorney caused a delay of about two months by
publishing a notice in the newspaper. Also, the attorney apparently did not
realize the couple needed to have new fingerprints taken after the new law took
effect in the spring.
The Dahlgrens insist those delays could have been avoided if the state had
acted sooner.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "**** . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
Family Says Its Candidate Caseworker Stalled Adoption
Gwen Howard Works With Foster Children, Is Running For Office
POSTED: 6:24 pm CDT October 15, 2004
UPDATED: 6:46 pm CDT October 15, 2004
SPRINGFIELD, Neb. -- A Springfield couple says they’ve tried to adopt their
foster children for more than a year, but keep running into hurdles.
Shelley and Bryan Dahlgren are trying to adopt two boys they’ve had in their
home as foster children. The biological parents have relinquished their rights
to the children. The Dahlgrens have another daughter.
"Because we love them and they love us and we're the family they know right
now," said Shelley.
A judge told the Dahlgrens he believed the adoption would be quick -- possibly
as fast as eight weeks. It has been a more than a year since they heard that.
"We have always said it was the caseworker," said Bryan Dahlgren. "We have a
hard time getting a response from her."
Their caseworker is Gwen Howard, a 34-year veteran of Nebraska Health and Human
Services and a current candidate for the District 8 seat in the Unicameral. The
Dahlgrens claim that in the weeks leading up to May’s primary and again as
the November election nears, they’ve had difficulty getting ahold of Howard.
"Her priorities are not with the job she's in, it’s with the job she wants,"
said Shelley Dahlgren.
Howard said the two are entirely separate. She said she completed all of the
work on the Dahlgrens’ case in the spring, and the reasons for their adoption
delay were beyond her control.
Those reasons include a new fingerprinting procedure required of prospective
parents. The Nebraska State Patrol and the FBI use the fingerprints to conduct
a national criminal background check. HHS spokeswoman Kathy Osterman said the
state is awaiting the results of the Dahlgrens’ fingerprinting.
"That might be the delay right now, but that wasn't the delay in the spring,"
Bryan Dahlgren said.
Osterman said the Dahlgrens’ attorney caused a delay of about two months by
publishing a notice in the newspaper. Also, the attorney apparently did not
realize the couple needed to have new fingerprints taken after the new law took
effect in the spring.
The Dahlgrens insist those delays could have been avoided if the state had
acted sooner.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "**** . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown