Kids suffering mental health crisis would have place to go under new proposal

Imagine, if you are a parent, that your 13-year-old child is sobbing, so sad they tell you they don’t want to live. You take them to the emergency room, but because they don’t have an actual plan to commit suicide and the hospital beds are full, you have to take the child home again.

“Your mind bounces from wanting them to come home to wanting them to be admitted,” Sue Abderholden, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Minnesota, told the House Behavioral Health Policy Division Wednesday.

“As a parent, your heart aches for them and you feel helpless to fix it,” she said.

Abderholden asked members to consider those circumstances to illustrate the growing dilemma faced by families as depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses rise in Minnesota’s children as a result of COVID-19, and ask for their support of a proposal meant to address the problem.

Sponsored by Rep. Liz Boldon (DFL-Rochester), HF4021 would allow children referred for mental health crisis stabilization to receive residential treatment services for up to 30 days and be subject to existing screening and admissions criteria for ongoing residential treatment.

The bill, as amended, was approved 10-0 by the division and referred to House Human Services Finance and Policy Committee. The companion, SF3651, is sponsored by Sen. David Senjem (R-Rochester) and awaits action by the Senate Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee.

Adults have “crisis homes” they can go to when experiencing acute mental health problems, facilities for people who don’t need a hospital level of care but are in, or heading toward, a crisis.

“We don’t have them for children, and we need them,” Abderholden said.

The bill would allow a mental health professional, physician in an emergency department or member of a mobile crisis team to refer a child to a residential treatment facility for crisis stabilization.

“We wish this was not needed, but the reality is that it is,” Boldon said. “There are kids in crisis across our communities, across the state. This really is aimed at getting them the care they need, when they need it.”

Rep. Keith Franke (R-St. Paul Park) asked if the bill, which has no appropriation, would cost any money. Boldon said she is waiting on a fiscal note but the bill is largely focused on policy. Abderholden said the services are already partially covered by Medicaid and that existing residential facilities could set aside beds for children.

“This seems like a really good bill,” Franke said.