LINCOLN, NE – Today, Governor Jim Pillen signed an executive order (EO) to preserve federal earned benefits for eligible youth in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). This EO makes Nebraska the first state to respond via executive action to letters sent by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF). The letters called on 39 states to take immediate action to protect vulnerable foster youth and disallow state child welfare agencies the ability to divert their earned Social Security survivor benefits.