General
1.) If elected, what are your three top priorities throughout your career as a legislator? (Do not limit to children?s issues)
Christopher N. Geary
Jeremiah J. Nordquist
a. Modify and maintain a progressive tax system that puts families first.
b. An attractive business climate as without jobs families cannot prosper and taxes cannot be collected to maintain/improve our infrastructure and services.
c. A sustainable, synoptic, long term approach to all sectors of the economy that will enable the State and its people to remain productive and profitable with an eye towards technology, manufacturing, agriculture and renewable energy sources e.g. wind, biomass?
a.) Education & Career Preparation
b.) Affordable & Accessible Health Care
c.) Government Efficiency & Transparency
2.) We are expected to have a significant state budget shortfall in 2013-2014. What child and family programs would you prioritize to be protected from cuts? (Choose as many as apply; Bold answers indicate candidate?s choices below)
Family Navigator/Helpline
Tax Credits for low-income working families
Aid to Dependent Children (ADC)
Staff to assist with public benefit applications
Funding for Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Centers
Juvenile Justice Aid to Counties
Child abuse prevention
Child Welfare/out-of-home care
Medicaid/Kids Connection
Child Care Subsidies
State aid to schools
Special Education
Early childhood education
School breakfast and lunch programs
Other
None of the above
Family Navigator/Helpline
Tax Credits for low-income working families
Aid to Dependent Children (ADC)
Staff to assist with public benefit applications
Funding for Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Centers
Juvenile Justice Aid to Counties
Child abuse prevention
Child Welfare/out-of-home care
Medicaid/Kids Connection
Child Care Subsidies
State aid to schools
Special Education
Early childhood education
School breakfast and lunch programs
Other
None of the above
Health
3.) In 2010, almost one in five Nebraska kids was living in poverty. What do you think state government can or should do to decrease the number of kids in poverty?
To decrease the number of children living in poverty we must maintain a climate that is attractive to both business and workers. This is a multi-faceted answer that will work as follows:
a. Provide dignity and a living income to parents/families.
b. Keep our most talented from leaving the State to seek employment elsewhere.
c. Allow parents enough income so that they may spend adequate time at home with their children raising them as responsible parents should be able to do without economic penalty.
Poverty alleviation requires multi-faceted policy initiatives to create job opportunities for parents, education and career preparation programs to ensure those employment opportunities can support families, and a strong social safety net that helps parents to meet the basic needs of their families while they work and save their way to economic stability.
4.) Quality affordable child care keeps children safe and helps parents to work. Do you support increasing access to child care subsidies for low-income working families?
I believe that higher paying jobs are a better way forward. Although childcare is frequently needed, a child is best raised by its best raised by its parents unless they are ?unfit.?
As a member of the Legislature?s Appropriations Committee, I have fought to strengthen our child care subsidies for low-income working families. We need to improve access by addressing our eligibility standards and improve quality through licensure and child care subsidy provider reimbursement rates.
5.) How do you think the state should respond to a child or adolescent who breaks the law?
Within the law. Keeping in mind mitigating circumstances and the fact that a child committed the crime. Again, if a responsible adult is able to be at home then this sort of thing will decrease.
The state?s response to a child who breaks the law should recognize the diminished culpability and increased capacity for rehabilitation of children and adolescents. Youth should be held accountable for their actions, but in a way that reflects their age and their capacity to grow and change. The state?s response to children who breaks the law should be family-focused interventions and support for opportunities for positive youth development.
6.) The number of cases of child abuse and neglect has risen over the past decade in Nebraska. What should the legislature do to address this?
Parents and families are stressed out in these trying economic times and I believe that this is a major contributing factor to the rise in child abuse. To combat this in the short term I would advocate the following:
a. Counseling and help lines for parents and kids.
b. Stiffer penalties for child abuse, neglect.
c. The long-term solution has a good deal to do with the economic climate we are living in. If a parent has a good secure job, with a livable wage and proper benefits then they are more often than not, less stressed and thusly, less likely to become susceptible to abusive behavior.
Nebraska needs to invest in prevention. In the Legislature, I have prioritized funding for our state?s early childhood home visitation program to promote improvements in infant health, child development, and parenting related to child development outcomes. This type of early intervention will help stem the tide of rising abuse and neglect.
Source: http://votekidsnebraska.com/2012/09/03/candidate-survey-district-7/
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