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Health & Human Services committee reviews strategic-plan outcome measures; officials report mixed progress
Summary
Committee reviewed strategic-plan objectives on child well-being, mental health and substance use, with officials reporting improved high-school graduation rates and reduced out-of-home placements but continued mental-health access and overdose challenges.
The Health & Human Services Committee reviewed progress on strategic-plan objectives covering child well-being, mental-health access, and substance-use interventions, hearing staff reports that show mixed results across measures.
Administrator Lance Leonard and department directors walked the committee through objective 3.3 (ensure every child reaches adulthood with health and stability), objective 3.7 (local access to effective mental-health treatment), and objective 7.2 (mitigating drug and alcohol impacts). Leonard noted the committee is the lead for several outcome measures that the board set when it extended the strategic plan through 2024.
On objective 3.3 outcome measures, staff reported a county high-school graduation rate increase to 94.5% for the most recent year of Department of Public Instruction data, exceeding the 93% target cited in the plan. Social-services Director Krista Jensen described an 8% reduction in out-of-home placements from 2023 to 2024, a 40% increase in relative placements and decreases in higher-level placements such as residential-care facilities and group homes. Jensen said there were no juvenile correctional placements in 2024, compared with one in 2023.
For childcare capacity (also under 3.3), officials noted ongoing workforce challenges and steady declines in licensed slots; the county allocated ARPA funds in 2024 to support childcare providers, and staff said they will report back with impact data on slots and provider recruitment.
On objective 3.7 (mental health), staff reported a long-term decline in emergency mental-health detentions (chapter 51/15 emergency detentions) from a high in earlier years to lower numbers in recent years, citing coordinated crisis-response efforts, law-enforcement training (CIT) and the county’s CART (crisis assessment response team). However, survey data indicate many residents still report barriers to accessing mental-health care, and suicide deaths have not shown sustained declines.
For substance-use objective 7.2, staff described investments such as drug take-back boxes at law-enforcement sites, a fatal-overdose review team and public-health naloxone vending machines; county data show overdose deaths increased in 2020–21 and have trended down over the last two years. County officials said they are shifting some program metrics toward quality-of-life measures for people in treatment rather than relapse rates.
Vice Chair Dickinson asked committee chairs to package committee findings for the full board; staff said the strategic-plan revision will follow completion of the comprehensive plan next year and that outcome measures will be re-evaluated to emphasize measures the county can influence directly.
