Ramsey County to open treatment homes for youth in juvenile justice system

The Ramsey County Board will use $1.95 million in state grant money to acquire properties to serve as therapeutic treatment homes for youth in the juvenile court system.

Funded through the state Department of Public Safety, the first home is expected to open by the end of the year and the county is currently negotiating with outside organizations for services. Services will include individual and family therapy and trauma-informed therapy methods, anger management, substance use disorder counseling, life skills education and mentorship and extracurricular activities.

Each facility will house up to six young people who have a judicial order for placement and services through juvenile court as an alternative to detention or out-of-county placements, according to the county.

“I just want to say that this is really important work. It’s transformational work,” said county Board Member Tara Jebens-Singh at the board’s Jan. 27 meeting. “There has been heavy lifting from community, from our community engagement teams that have been working on this to make sure that there is community voice in this. And a tremendous heavy lift with staff in the midst of doing many, many, many other things.”

The county board received a total of $4.64 million in funds from the state to establish up to seven “trauma-informed” therapeutic treatment homes in May 2024, with current plans for two to three homes. The homes will be licensed by the Department of Human Services and must provide intensive treatment. Another $4.75 million from the state will go toward services.

The $4.64 million will go in part to 10-year mortgages on the homes, after which the county would have first right of refusal in the case of a property sale, meaning repurchase of the property would be reserved for the county first, as requested by board members.

“We’ve been working on this since like 2019,” said Board Member Rena Moran. “So to get providers who are in this and want to invest in it and want to do this work is really critically important.”

Ramsey County closed Boys Totem Town, its male juvenile corrections facility, in 2019, due to a decline in the number of young people sentenced there and a focus on more community-based programs.