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Stevens County Human Services reports rising intakes, warns of staffing and levy pressure from new state disproportionality law
Summary
Human Services presented its 2024 annual review showing 796 intakes, rising children's mental‑health work and 48 placements. Staff warned the African American Welfare and Disproportionality Act could raise child‑protection workload 30–40 percent, prompting calls for more social workers and potential levy impacts.
Human Services Director presented the department's 2024 review and told the Stevens County Board that the agency recorded 796 intakes in 2024 — about two per day — with 454 involving children and 342 adults. The department said it opened 611 work groups last year, had 48 placements and saw children's mental‑health cases rise to 104 from earlier years.
"In 2024, our intakes were 796," the director said. "So we're averaging almost little over 2 a day...of that, 796 children, there were 454 and adults, there were 342 intakes." The director described intake sources as phone, email, fax and walk‑ins and explained each intake is screened and documented in SSIS.
Commissioners and staff discussed how a new state measure the presenter called the "African American Welfare and Disproportionality Act" could increase child‑protection workload. The director said initial conservative estimates from statewide pilots project a 30–40 percent increase in cases and in "extreme effort" required for disproportionately represented families.
"I think you can probably add about 30 percent on the child, 30 to 40 percent is what our initial estimates are," the director said, adding the estimate is conservative and would require more staff time and training.
Staff said the county's ability to implement new requirements is hampered by legacy state systems: "We can't even do some of the things...it's really the state system," the director told commissioners, citing the green‑screen Maxis system and limits on functionality. Commissioners noted lack of rural, culturally‑sensitive services and questioned where additional staff would be housed.
The director forecast hiring needs: "It'd be another 2 to 3 child protection social workers," and indicated the county lacks immediate space for additional employees. Staff also told the board that continued caseloads tied to MNsure and other eligibility programs are higher than expected after COVID, noting the county has not seen the post‑COVID caseload drop that was projected.
County leaders asked about financial impacts. The director said AMC (Association of Minnesota Counties) preliminary figures suggested some proposals in the governor's budget could shift costs to counties by several percentage points, and that county calculations on a range of new cost shifts had indicated a possible 3 percent increase to Stevens County levy for some items.
Why it matters: Commissioners were asked to weigh recruitment, training and potential levy increases against the operational needs from higher caseloads and new state mandates. Human Services asked the board for continued attention to system modernization, staffing, and service availability in rural areas.
