Karen Newman
After receiving permission to fill vacancies for social workers in the Child Protection/Child Welfare and Disabilities divisions, Clay County Social Services Director Rhonda Porter presented the department’s annual update.
Clay County Social Services currently employs 131 full-time employees and one variable hour individual. The department is located on floors 1, 4, and 5 in the Family Service Center located at 715 11th Street North in Moorhead. Ten divisions are included in the department:
Behavioral Health and Adult Protection
Licensing and Disability Services
Home and Community Based Services
Child Intake and Assessment
On-going child Protection
Children’s Mental Health and Child Welfare
Financial Services
Child Support Fraud and Collections
Office Support
Porter pointed out that in addition to their staff, the department has more than 50 contracts with community service providers and 9 contracts with the State of Minnesota’s Department of Human Services (DHS) for grants that are locally administered. She stated that most of the work done by the Social Services Department is mandated by federal laws and state statutes and rules.
Clay County received $26,059,910 in revenue in 2021. The tax levy and credits accounted for 41%; federal accounted for 27%; state/county program aid represented 24%; and the remaining 8% was from miscellaneous sources.
Citing a concern of the Association of Minnesota Counties (AMC), Commissioner Jenna Kahly asked about out-of-home placement. She specified county concerns about where financial responsibility lies for county residents who don’t meet the medical criteria for admission to a state facility. Porter replied that the county is 100% responsible for care costs until a state facility is found.
Kahly responded that at this time, the county funds submitted to the state for out-of-home placement costs for individuals who do not qualify for a state-run facility, are put into the state’s general fund. Kahly spoke about planning at the recent AMC meeting, “One of the ideas that the commissioners and the social workers’ professional organization are looking at is whether that money could be used, instead of going into the general fund, to build out the capacity for beds in greater Minnesota.” Porter agreed and responded that in 2021 Clay County paid more than $80,000 in costs for one individual who didn’t meet the medical criteria for placement in a state facility.
Porter reported that for 2021, it appears that Clay County collected revenues in excess of expenditures. Although in business collecting revenue over expenditure is a positive, in the human services world it is not. Porter cautioned, “It tells us that people out there who needed services perhaps aren’t getting them; or aren’t getting them to the level they need them.”
She provided revenue over expenditures data for key areas:
Salaries/Benefits $221,472
(4 retirements & 12 resignations/turnovers)
Reduced staff travel and training costs $117,047
Out of home placements under budget $465,560
Fee for Service Client Costs $400,000
(Contracted provider staff shortages/
availability; client caution/circumstance;
Service Provision Reform led to reduced
county shares & increased insurance
coverage)
Challenges for 2022 include:
Need for adult mental health state-operated beds.
Need for community resources for civil commitments.
Impact on jails resulting from lack of state-operated beds.
More children’s residential mental health placement options.
Provider staff shortages resulting in limited services for some program areas.
Increased caseload for home and community-based services for people with disabilities.
Recruiting more childcare providers.
Working for border counties to have expanded reciprocal out-of-home. placement and support collections through legislation.
Opportunities include:
Homeless prevention aid service planning.
Opioid settlement funds.
Substance use crisis funding planning.
Mental Health Crisis Grant potential.