LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The head of the state Health and Human Services Department says a Lancaster County facility could be a good place to provide intensive behavioral health services to male and female juvenile offenders.

Department CEO Danette Smith made the pronouncement Monday while discussing her department's efforts to better serve the teenage girls sent to the Geneva center that she emptied last week. The female juvenile offenders were moved to the boys center in Kearney after department officials learned the girls' buildings in Geneva had fire hazards, holes in walls and mold and water damage.

Smith says staffers are discussing leasing a 20-bed portion at the Lancaster County Youth Services Center. Discussions with the county are still preliminary, but she says the center could house the youths there, providing education, case management, probation and therapeutic recreation and transition services.

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