Hennepin County Moves Toward Adding Child Protection Staff
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - Reported cases of child abuse appear to be skyrocketing in Hennepin County, swamping the very staff that's supposed to protect kids.
That's why the county's Health and Human Services Committee green-lighted a measure that will add more people working to prevent and address the problem.
Tuesday's board resolution comes in the wake of legislative efforts to increase child protection funding by $52 million.
It's an action that was largely prompted by several extreme cases of child abuse in both the Twin Cities and elsewhere across the state.
They were little, innocent faces that created a tidal wave of concern and outrage. The names of Eric Dean, Barway Collins and, most recently, Sophia O'Neil resonated with everyone. All were children who had at some point been under county child protection but later ended up dead.
Nowhere is the problem more prevalent than in the state's most populous county.
Last year, Hennepin County child protection workers screened 15,500 calls of suspected maltreatment of children. Roughly a third of all reports lead to investigation of an actual case in need of protective services.
That figure will reach 17,800 initial calls in 2015 and an expected 21,000 by 2016.
"That's, of course if the trend line continues," Assistant County Administrator of Human Services, Rex Holzemer, said. "But it's been pretty consistent in terms of increases month to month as we got into the latter part of 2014 and early 2015."
To handle the mounting caseloads, child protection wants to add 98 more staff. That number will break down into 60 additional social workers, six supervisors, two legal services staff and 30 case management or support workers.
In addition, there will be another five attorneys added to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office to provide the legal representation of cases in court.
"We're ready to devote additional resources to this," Commissioner Peter McLaughlin said.
At one point in the discussion, Commissioner Jeff Johnson questioned other commissioners about whether it is wise to approve the $8.5 million expansion without knowing if more or less is needed to fully protect children. It's also yet to be determined how the extra staff will be paid for after the initial burst of state funding.
Johnson suggested a progress motion to allow for more information before the resolution is voted on.
"I agree with commissioner McLaughlin," Johnson said, "that this is one of the most basic functions of government, and we're not doing it very well right now."
However, the idea of allowing any delay in the vote brought sharp debate from Commissioner Linda Higgins. She said voting on the resolution immediately will send a strong signal to Hennepin County residents.
Commissioner Mike Opat added, "We have to get back to the notion that the kids are more important than their parents. We're off track there."
On Thursday the board hears from the Casey Family Programs staff that were commissioned to do a thorough study of the county's child protection program.
The full board will then vote on the authorization for expanded staff at the July 7 board meeting.
