With a down economy, the Sherburne County Social Services Department is seeing increases in issues related to children.
After talking to department employees, the cases and questions are running the gamut from neglect to health insurance needs and child support payments.
Jill Johnson, an intake social worker, said many of the phone calls are from parents curious about for how long their children can be left home alone.
Many parents are becoming increasingly concerned because they have been laid off, money is tighter and they can no longer afford a child care provider, she said.
According to Minnesota statute, failure to provide for necessary supervision of child care arrangements occurs when a child is unable to provide for their own basic needs of safety, or the basic needs of another child in their care.
In Sherburne County a number of factors are looked at to determine if a child can be left alone and for how long, Johnson said.
For example, the child’s age, mental ability and maturity level, such as if they are able to call 911 in case of emergency, is something the agency would look at.
Another consideration is whether there’s a smoke detector in the home, the presence of dangerous chemicals, and if there is easy accessibility to a parent or caretaker, either in person or over the phone.
Katie Conner, a child protection social worker, said many of the parents she’s working with are confused and frustrated with their current situation.“Some don’t know there are guidelines,” she said. “Others don’t know what to do.”
Social Services Planner Christina Zeise said what’s important is for parents to remember there are options to leaving their child home alone.
The first step is to call the department, where they will be referred to the income maintenance unit. Here parents can apply for basic sliding fee child care, which is a state financial assistance program to help families pay for child care while they go to work, or attend training or school to prepare for work.
The program also includes the Minnesota At-Home Infant Care program, which provides assistance to families with a child less than one year of age. The money goes to covering some of the costs associated with a parent staying at home to care for their baby.
Another option Zeise recommends is to be creative and barter with friends, neighbors and family for sitting. Others could also be in a similar situation and would like switching off for free child care.
But it’s not only child neglect that is seen as an increasing problem in the county, but also instances of child abuse, Zeise said.
Many times when the economy goes down, finances get tight and stress levels rise, and the risk for child abuse increases, she said.
A short-term program offered through the county to try and deter those factors often associated with abuse and neglect, is the Crisis Nursery.
With that program, a child is placed with licensed foster care and child-care providers for a few days. The program runs for five days, but in some situations can go up to 15 days.
During this time, the parent is assisted in resolving conflicts and linked with resources specific to their situation.
However, it’s not only neglect and abuse reports that are increasing, but also services related to child support payments.
Child Support Supervisor Barb Gustafson said the department is seeing a rise in services due to declining financial situations.
“Across the board, everyone is feeling the pinch,” she said.
Two common calls are about needing child support that’s been going unpaid, or not being able to pay child support due to a job lay-off.
Gustafson said a lot of times, single parents say they don’t care about the back pay they haven’t been receiving, they just want it to start now.
In these forgiveness of arrears cases, it might not have been a problem before, but now money is tight and the child support is needed.
Gustafson said another common issue is when a non-custodial parent’s finances change from either being laid off, or having to take a job that makes less money than what their court order was set at.
“It’s no longer equitable and fair, since it was based on what they were making at the time,” she said.
In these situations, payments can be modified to fit the current financial standing, Gustafson said.
If this is the case, non-custodial parents should call their child support officer. If they don’t have an officer, the court administrator’s office will allow them to petition the court to modify their order.