Child protection data

Children and Family Services promotes the safety, stability, healthy development and well-being of children and youth in Hennepin County.

This dashboard contains data about our work with children and families, particularly within the child protection system.

Child protection dashboard

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To interact with the data, open the child protection dashboard in its own browser window

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Children in child protection reports

Children who are the subjects of child protection reports are alleged victims of abuse or neglect. Reports fall into broad categories of allegation types. Most reports are about alleged neglect, which includes allegations of parental substance use. 

All child protection reports go through a screening process to determine if the reported information meets state guidelines for a child protection response. Those reports are referred to as "screened in." Screened-in reports can be assigned to one of three tracks: Family Assessment, Family Investigation, or Facility Investigation. 

This dashboard shows either the number of reports or the number of children ages 0 to 17 who are subjects of child protection reports. It also shows the number of screened-in reports or the number of children ages 0 to 17 who are the subjects of screened-in reports.

What you can do on this tab

• Toggle between number of reports or number of children
• Click on an allegation type to filter the counts
• Hover over the line graph to see track assignments
• See age and race information (may be unknown at the time of the report)

Families receiving case management

After a child protection report is screened in, it is investigated or assessed. Through that investigation or assessment, it may be decided to provide ongoing services to support the family. Those services are known as "case management."

This dashboard shows either the number of families or children age 0 to 17 who are receiving case management. Note: This includes children who are in foster care, as well as children and families who receive case management while the children remain living at home. 

What you can do on this tab

• Toggle between number of families or number of children
• See age and race information

Out-of-home placement dashboard

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To interact with the data, open the out-of-home placement dashboard in its own browser window

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Understanding out-of-home placement

Our first goal remains keeping children safe in their homes whenever possible. When children must be separated from their parents, they enter foster care, known as "out-of-home placement" more generally. When children are in out-of-home placement, our goal is to reduce trauma by placing with relatives.

When those two options are not possible, we place with non-relative foster parents until children can be safely reunified or placed with relatives. Sometimes, children with complex behavioral and mental health care needs may be placed in congregate care.

Children in out-of-home placement in past 13 months

This dashboard shows numbers of children entering and exiting out-of-home placement each month, as well as a total count of children who experienced placement each month.

What you can do on this tab

• Access distinct counts of legacy youth (children/youth under state guardianship) and children eligible for ICWA in out-of-home placement
• See age and race information

Children in out-of-home placement in past four years

This dashboard shows summary data about children who experienced out-of-home placement during the last four years.

What you can do on this tab

• Access cumulative and point-in-time counts of children who experienced out-of-home placement
• See a breakdown of placement locations: with a relative, with a non-relative, or in congregate care
• See age and race information

Entering and leaving out-of-home placement

This dashboard shows data about why children enter out-of-home placement and outcomes when children leave placement.

When a child enters out-of-home placement, a primary reason is identified. Multiple primary reasons may relate to the same broader theme. For example, the reasons of "caretaker drug abuse" and "prenatal drug exposure" both relate to parental substance use. Categorizing related entry reasons together helps show trends in the data. Altogether, parental substance use accounts for the largest portion of out-of-home placements.

Our goal is to safely reunify families whenever possible, and going home remains the most common outcome for children. Other outcomes include:

• Adoption (relative and non-relative)
• Transfers of custody
• Living with a previously noncustodial parent
• "Aging out" - reaching the age of majority (age 18) while in out-of-home placement

What you can do on this tab

• See the most common primary and categorized reasons for children entering out-of-home placement each year
• Access counts of children entering and leaving placement each year
• See reasons children leave out-of-home placement and where they go
  • Hover over bars to see median number of days in placement

Additional data

In Hennepin County

Annual reports: Child protection and child well-being

These reports offer additional child protection data and more about work to transform county services for children and families.

Across the state

Child Welfare Data Dashboard - Minnesota Department of Human Services

This dashboard provides data on nine state measures and seven federal measures used to monitor the status of children served by Minnesota's child welfare system. 

About the dashboard

How to use the dashboard

The dashboards are interactive. Reveal more information by hovering over a data visual. You can also click on elements within the data visuals to filter the dashboard page by your selection. To filter by multiple elements, use Ctrl+Click.

Data updates and questions

Dashboards are updated in March, June, September and December, with data through the end of the preceding quarter. For example, the update in March will include data through the previous December.

The dashboards and contents are managed and monitored by the Continuous Quality Improvement and Data Analytics team within Children and Family Services.

For any questions related to dashboard content, contact CFS.Public.Dashboard@hennepin.us.