Item Description:
title
Establish Hennepin County Committee on Child Well-Being - Offered by Commissioners Goettel, Edelson, and Fernando
body
WHEREAS, the well-being of children in Hennepin County is of paramount importance to the health and welfare of their families, and is essential for the long-term stability, safety and vitality of the communities in which they live; and
WHEREAS, Hennepin County provides, administers, and coordinates important and necessary programs to support children and their families in a wide range of child well-being domains, including mental health, juvenile justice, child protection, education, economic security, health, and substance use; and
WHEREAS, Hennepin County recognizes the critical importance of ongoing monitoring and evaluation of such programs to ensure that culturally appropriate supportive services are readily and timely accessible to children and their families and appropriately meet the needs of children; that data informed practices are followed in both the design and delivery of services to children; and that the County’s commitment to eliminating disparities is embedded in the operations of all programs that serve children; and
WHEREAS, Hennepin County recognizes that as we implement new and best practices, build a more holistically designed child welfare system, and eliminate disparities for all residents, moving our work and investments further upstream towards preventative approaches will have immense beneficial impacts that will center child and family wellbeing in all our work, reduce involvement with county systems, and improve outcomes; and
WHEREAS, Hennepin County has a strong history of innovation and oversight of Hennepin County’s Child Protection system focused on ensuring the safety of children at risk of abuse or neglect; and
WHEREAS, this history includes the Hennepin County Board:
• in 2014, authorizing a comprehensive review of Children and Youth Services, focused on improving outcomes for County-involved youth in 2014, which resulted in a report from the Casey Family Programs in 2015 that identified recommendations to improve the system, including the formation of a Child Protection Oversight Committee;
• in 2015, establishing the Child Protection Oversight Committee (Resolution 15-0244R1 (July 2015)) focusing on implementing the recommendations from Casey Family Programs;
• in 2017, establishing the Hennepin County Child Well-being Advisory Committee to implement the recommendations of the Child Protection Oversight Committee and advise county staff responsible for children on implementation of best practices to advance child well being (Resolution 17-0108 (March 2017) and amended via BAR 20-0063R1 (February 2020)); and
WHEREAS, in May 2017, a class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota asserting Hennepin County’s child protection system failed to safely and appropriately care for abused and neglected children in Hennepin County; and
WHEREAS, in 2019, the parties settled the lawsuit, and among the terms Hennepin County agreed to were: implementing specific reforms in four primary areas of concern over a four-year period; and creating a Settlement Subcommittee to monitor implementation of the settlement agreement and to report to the Child Protection Oversight Committee quarterly and annually to the County Board; and
WHEREAS, in December 2023, the Settlement Subcommittee issued its final report and concluded Hennepin County had met all of the Settlement Agreement provisions that were capable of being fully implemented in four years and had made substantial progress toward fully implementing provisions that require longer to implement; and
WHEREAS, the Settlement Subcommittee Report included recommendations, including: Hennepin County maintain a commitment to the provisions in the Settlement Agreement; ongoing external review of the Hennepin County child protection system; continuing use of data to evaluate and inform child protection policy and practice; maintaining the commitment to reasonable caseloads; and continuing to focus on disparities in the child protection system; and
WHEREAS, Hennepin County has embedded the agreed upon reforms from the Settlement Agreement in its Child Protection system, including public communication regarding the system through annual reports on Children and Family Services and a public Child Protection dashboard that tracks trends; and
WHEREAS, since 2017, the Hennepin County Child Well-being Advisory Committee has closely monitored the child protection program operated by the Hennepin County Children and Family Services Department, including monitoring the terms of the settlement of the class action litigation through the Settlement Subcommittee and providing advice to the Department and the County Board during the last decade; and
WHEREAS, although Hennepin County continues to address disparities in programs serving children through both its initiative to eliminate disparities for Native American Children in foster care placement and the implementation of the African American Family Preservation Child Welfare Disparities Act, disparities continue to affect the well-being of children in Hennepin County; and
WHEREAS, many children in Hennepin County have suffered from recent traumatic and violent events in their communities - including Operation Metro Surge, multiple school shootings, and mass violence incidents - and continue to be affected by long-standing disparities across child well-being domains; and
WHEREAS, it is important to continue the work of the Child Well-Being Advisory Committee, but with a broader focus.
Resolution:
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners recognizes the important work of the Child Well-Being Advisory Committee, acknowledges that the required activities for this Committee have been met, and extends gratitude to the members, partners, staff, volunteers, families, and residents who have contributed to this effort for the last decade; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners establishes a new committee with the same name, but with a broader focus on multiple child well-being service areas that align with Hennepin County’s mission and will best serve the children in Hennepin County; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that County Administration shall convene a working group comprised of staff leaders with expertise in child protection, mental health, juvenile justice, economic security, health, education, and substance use, as well as planning, facilitation, and coordination support or other necessary experts, to develop the organizational activities (mission, scope, work plan, etc) and to develop an approach to membership (criteria, selection, responsibilities, etc.) that will include staff and external subject matter experts as well as people with lived experience for the new Child Well-being Advisory Committee; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the organizational activities shall draw from established indicators of child well-being and staff expertise that will allow the Advisory Committee to monitor trends, disparities in outcomes, access to services, and system involvement, and to use that information to inform recommendations to the Department and the County Board; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the mission, scope, and work plan shall continue to identify opportunities to improve coordination across County departments and with schools, cities, health care providers, community organizations, and other partners serving children and families; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the new Child Well-Being Advisory Committee shall provide an annual report to the Hennepin County Board regarding trends in child well-being, identified disparities and service gaps, progress on established priorities, and recommendations for County action; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the new Hennepin County Child Well-Being Advisory Committee - shall be operational by July 1, 2027 - and that any activities of the existing Child Well-being Advisory Committee shall continue until the new Committee is fully formed.