MINNEAPOLIS — The Hennepin County Board Tuesday unanimously approved an emergency plan to create a Youth Behavioral Health Crisis Stabilization Center to treat and house youth who don’t have anywhere else to go.
It’s an urgent issue as the county looks to stem juvenile crime and what many describe as a revolving door of youth in and out of the detention center.
“This is really needed and critical at this time,” said County Administrator David Hough.
An urgent need
The urgency was highlighted in October when Minneapolis Police released video of a 10-year-old driving a stolen car through a school playground full of children. The boy had 30 previous contacts with police, MPD said.
“The system doesn’t have an answer for what to do with someone this young and that is the revolving door that we’ve been seeing,” MPD Chief Brian O’Hara said at the time.
Often children who are very young are found incompetent to stand trial because of their age and sometimes because of mental illness or low IQ. When that happens, those youth must be released from juvenile jail. There are few residential treatment centers that will take kids accused of violence.
So they return home – and often are arrested again.
“That’s the biggest gap in the system right now,” O’Hara said.
Hennepin County Takes Action
“It really is for families, a crisis and it’s a crisis for our county,” said Hennepin County Commissioner Heather Edelson.
The plan, presented by Haugh, would spend $15 million to turn two floors of the Hennepin County Behavioral Health Center into a treatment facility for youth. The facility would have between 10 and 15 beds.
Hough said it would be a place for those youth found incompetent to go and receive treatment while plans are made for community treatment or for longer-term out-of-home placement.
Length of stay would vary but could range around 30 to 45 days county leaders said.
“The hope and expectation is that from this facility children will return home stabilized and they’ll receive a continuum of care,” Hough said.
County Commissioner Jeff Lunde who has been working on this issue as part of a state task force cautioned, this is not the whole solution.
He pointed out that the state legislature will still need to change licensing requirements and reimbursement for providers to create a long-term solution to the youth mental health crisis.
The county will continue to pursue that and a regional care solution.
“This will buy us some time. It’s a good step,” Lunde said.
Public Safety Leaders Praise Move
Police Chief O’Hara and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty have both stressed the need for more placements for youth accused of crime who don’t meet criteria to be jailed.
Tuesday O’Hara praised the County Board’s vote, saying “This is very positive news. It is an important step in addressing the complicated issues related to juvenile crime and restorative justice. I appreciate the sense of urgency displayed by the Board of Hennepin County Commissioners.”
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said, “The need for placement options with varying levels of security for youth who cannot safely be at home for a period of time is both urgent and well-documented. We look forward to learning more about this plan and working collaboratively to improve outcomes for our youth with complex needs.”
Judge previously blasted Hennepin Co.
This fall KARE 11 reported on the case of an incompetent 12-year-old being held illegally in the JDC because of a lack of treatment options. The boy’s mother did not feel it was safe to bring him home but he was not legally allowed to remain in juvenile jail.
Fed up, the judge blasted Hennepin County saying they had acted with “insufficient urgency and effort” to solve the problem.
County leaders defended themselves in court, pointing out that the lack of treatment beds for violent youth is a statewide and national problem.
Now, a bit over a month later, Hough acknowledges this action is “long overdue.”
He says they can’t wait on the state to act.
“In light of the recent activity and pressures and stressors we are seeing in the juvenile justice system,” Hough said. “It’s time that we do this because if we don’t it’s not going to be done for some time.”