Caledonia Argus

State has worst foster care re-entry rate

Posted: 3/23/04

By Shannon McKinney
Argus News Reporter

Houston County needs to come up with a plan to lower the re-entry rate of children into foster care.

That was the bad news that social services director Karen Meier-Wills gave to county commissioners at the monthly human services meeting at the courthouse in Caledonia on March 16.

Commissioners reacted with frustration to the added costs that will be involved.

Meier-Wills explained that the reasons for the change stem from Minnesota being ranked as the worst state in America for children re-entering foster care.

The national standard is 8.6 percent, while Minnesotaís re-entry rate is 27.3 percent.

Re-entry is described as a child who enters foster care and later returns home, but re-enters foster care within a year.

It is unknown what Houston Countyís percentage of re-entries are. But Beth Wilms, human services director, suspects that it is lower than the state average.

The costs associated with documenting and explaining the countyís re-entries include the extra time it takes for staff training for learning new forms, and a new process. ìItís an intangible cost to us. You canít put a dollar amount on it,î said Wilms.

ìThe state wants us to come up with a plan for how to address this issue,î explained Meier-Wills.

Houston County had six cases last year that re-entered the foster care system. Wilms explains that the reasons for re-entry were very legitimate.

She explained one case where a child was taken from the home because a parent was ill, returned home, but than later re-entered because the parent died.

Kelleher said the reasons for re-entry wouldnít matter to the state. ìIt is B.S. They just cut us 25 percent on funds and then when something like this happens, we have to explain why.î

Commissioner Ann Thompson sarcastically suggested, ìWeíll just leave kids in a dangerous situation.î

Graf suggested sending a letter to the Minnesota Department of Human Services to very politely explain the reasons for re-entry.

Meier-Wills added that the department is also looking to poll community partners to gather ideas and concerns about the issue.

Graf, however, wanted to make sure the state does not get off the hook.

Meier-Wills explained that the federal government is putting pressure on the state. ìThey will lose dollars if they donít improve the situation.î

ìItís a game,î said Wilms.

ìWeíre supposed to do more with less. Thereís only so much you can do with less,î said Kelleher.

Staff busy with commitments

Meier-Wills reported that the social workers have been busy with a high number of mental health commitments. ìWe had three come in on one day. We barely had staff to handle them,î she said.

Kelleher asked how a commitment comes in.

Meier-Wills explained that they may be referred through the hospital setting, or family.

Wilms observed that the county has taken more commitments in the last three months than in the four years that she has been with the county.

Corcoran suggested the increase may be because mental health institutions are putting their patients back into the community before theyíre ready.

Some of the commitments include a suicide attempt, a drug overdose, and a terminally ill person who tried to self-medicate with alcohol.

Viola Horsman to retire

The board received notice that 20-year employee Viola Horsman, financial worker, will retire sometime between the end of June and beginning of July.

The department is already in the process of interviewing candidates for a vacancy that was created when Maria Johnson, another financial worker who resigned a few weeks ago. Personnel director Tim Comstock suggested looking for an additional candidate to replace Horsman when she leaves.

Financial assistant supervisor Bonnie Goetzinger said that Horsmanís position absolutely needs to be filled. ìIf we doní fill it, weíll each have 225 cases. That is not manageable.î

In other matters, the board approved the destruction of 194 files which meet the criterion for destruction. ìWe have months worth of documents that need to be shredded,î said Wilms.

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