Crow Wing County says public-assistance processing improved, child-welfare caseloads down and prevention work saved costs

Kara Griffin, division manager for Family & Children's services in Crow Wing County, told the county board that a 2024 reorganization of intake and processing cut average application-processing time from about four weeks to about two weeks and produced other service and budget improvements.

Griffin said those operational changes improved customer service and staff workload: "Since they reorganized the work, they're averaging about 2 weeks out in processing." She also noted child-care assistance applications are now being processed in about one week.

The changes followed a decision to split intake duties from processing duties: a core group focuses on intake and interviews while the rest of the team concentrates on back-office processing. Griffin said the arrangement reduced backlog, phone volume and walk-ins and made the work more client-focused.

Why this matters: faster processing affects families waiting for benefits and provider reimbursements, and the county recorded measurable performance gains under state timeliness targets. Griffin said, "We averaged 91% of timeliness in 2024," exceeding the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) timeliness benchmark; she added the county processed expedited SNAP applications and health-care…