Hennepin County leads Minnesota in 24/7 child protection response

For years, some of the most seriously abused or neglected children in Minnesota couldn't get help from a social worker for days.

Across the state, child protection agencies would shut down on holidays, weekends and late at night. Calls for help would be forwarded to the police or a nonprofit under contract with the county, and information taken down to relay later to a social worker.

Not anymore in Hennepin County, which according to the state has launched the only completely county-run child protection response system in Minnesota that's operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The expanded program comes with a cost: $26 million for a five-year plan for reforms and more staffers.

"Kids and families don't rest; we were trying to push meeting their needs into a 40-hour workweek," said Carrie Crook, who helps supervise the unit.

Of more than 84,000 child protection reports made last year in Minnesota, 7,400, or 9 percent, were received outside normal business hours or on weekends. It took some agencies more than 24 hours to respond face-to-face after a report was received.

Minnesota began requiring counties to respond round-the-clock to reports of a child in imminent danger back in the 1990s. But officials said the mandate wasn't being consistently followed.

"It hasn't been monitored and enforced," said Jim Koppel, assistant commissioner for Children and Family Services.

According to a 2016 report, 91 percent of the state's counties in 2014 failed to comply with the law requiring a 24-hour to five-day response to abuse reports, depending on the severity of the case.

In November, state officials informed counties that they had to conform with state law by Jan. 1, clarifying that agencies must respond in person to reports of imminent danger within 24 hours. Counties may continue to have a contracted on-call system instead of staffers on site, but they have to establish responsibilities.

Hennepin is the only Minnesota county so far with an in-house child protection response system, according to the state. The county shifted its response last summer from workers for a nonprofit agency to its own social workers, months before the state rule went into place.

"They have a really excellent system and really stepped up to meet that need. … I suspect there will be other counties that follow it," Koppel said.

The state also is exploring a statewide or metrowide system, which could result in a centralized response system or a single streamlined phone number for callers to report child abuse or neglect.

Agencies should respond more consistently no matter what the ZIP code, Koppel said. "Any child in imminent harm is going to be seen as fast as possible," he said.

Hennepin County, which has the most child protection reports in the state, had one of the worst rates in the state and met the response deadline only about 60 percent of the time. So last year the county hired 11 new social workers. And starting Feb. 1, the county will increase the number of child protection workers who investigate cases.

One of the county's new social workers is Shanique Washington, a former nonprofit youth worker who applied for the job after hearing about Hennepin's hiring spree. In a sunny office in northeast Minneapolis, Washington and her colleagues work like 911 dispatchers, wearing headphone sets as they type up calls.

"Our job is to make sure kids are safe," she said between calls on a recent weekend.

In 2016 the county fielded more than 21,000 child protection reports, double the number in 2008 and the highest number in recent history. Of those reports, 8,768 were found to require investigation or an assessment.

Most abuse or neglect reports came from schools, followed by hospitals, police and social services. About 60 percent of the reports were about neglect, 34 percent were about physical abuse or the threat of physical abuse and 12 percent were related to sexual abuse or a parental partner sexually abusing the child.

Hennepin County, like the rest of the state, has seen a dramatic rise in the number of child protection reports. That's likely due to more people calling in reports because of media attention focused on child abuse deaths, as well as the state screening out fewer cases.

Not everyone is supportive. The county has heard from critics saying that Hennepin responds too much to suspected child abuse; others disagree with the additional spending. But it's also the community that's calling for a 24/7 response, Crook said.

"It's exactly what the community is pushing for and we're meeting them where they're at," she said.

After a string of child deaths and heightened concern about abuse and neglect, Hennepin County officials asked a national child welfare organization to assess the county's system. That 2015 report by the Casey Family Programs recommended the county undertake 23 reforms, including "a re-visioning for its child protection system."

That was when Commissioner Mike Opat first heard that Hennepin County lacked a 24-hour response.

"I was amazed," said Opat, who later helped lead a committee tasked with coming up with reforms, one of which was moving to an round-the-clock response. "I think it's a big step forward."

The county had a 24/7 response years ago, but resources were scaled back in budget cuts, especially as child protection reports declined.

Ramping up staffing again means that trained social workers will take reports immediately, giving them access to background information and expertise police officers don't have, Crook said.

"People like us are making the best decisions we can at that moment," she said. "There shouldn't be a roadblock to getting kids help."

Kelly Smith • 612-673-4141