FOX 9 Investigators

A teenager’s year-long journey through Minnesota’s juvenile justice system is exposing the state’s failure to provide adequate care and rehabilitation for young children accused of committing violent crimes.

With nowhere to go,13-year-old escaped hotel respite care after judge ordered his release from Juvenile Detention Center.

Hennepin County officials approved $15 million on Tuesday to repurpose part of an existing facility for professionals struggling to find adequate treatment for children who have engaged in violent behavior.

A review of state data and recent court cases highlights the challenge of addressing juvenile crime. FOX 9 interviewed attorneys, police and parents of young offenders.

Under a new state law, Minnesotans who experience a mental health crisis will not be charged for mobile crisis services. The legislation gained bipartisan support after the FOX 9 Investigators exposed how one of the state’s largest counties billed people hundreds of times after calling the crisis hotline.

Ramsey County is ending its controversial policy of billing people who call the crisis hotline in search of life-saving help from the mobile crisis response team. The FOX 9 Investigators previously exposed how the county billed hundreds of people after they called the crisis hotline. 

Ramsey County is now reviewing its controversial policy of billing people in crisis, after the FOX 9 Investigators exposed the county’s practice of sending bills to vulnerable people who call the crisis hotline for life-saving mental health services.

Ramsey County billed people 745 times in the last 18 months, after individuals called the county’s crisis line for life-saving mobile crisis services, according to new data obtained by the FOX 9 Investigators.  

People in crisis are getting billed by Ramsey County after calling the crisis line for help – including individuals in mental distress and contemplating suicide – which is alarming mental health advocates across Minnesota.