Family Advocacy Center aids 350 abused children a year, needs funding

The Family Advocacy Center of Northern Minnesota has become a critical stop for Beltrami County children after sexual and physical abuse, serving more than 350 children a year while leaders say the financing behind that work remains uncertain. Executive Director Courtney Haskins and state Rep. Bidal Duran discussed the center’s role on the ChatAbout podcast June 5, putting child-protection work and state policy on the same stage.

For families in crisis, the center does more than provide a place to go. It helps coordinate the response around a child so cases do not bounce from one office to another, bringing together law enforcement, health providers, advocates and clinicians after abuse is reported. That coordination matters in a county where trauma cases can require repeated interviews, medical follow-up and legal support, all while the child is still trying to recover.

The local center also sits inside a much larger statewide need. Minnesota Children’s Alliance represents 13 children’s advocacy centers across Minnesota, and those centers serve about 3,000 children each year. State child-protection materials say maltreatment reports are made in Minnesota about every seven minutes, a reminder that the demand for specialized response is constant, not occasional.

Beltrami County already has multiple systems that intersect with child safety. Health and Human Services handles suspected child abuse and neglect referrals. The county’s Children’s Mental Health program serves residents under 18 who meet the criteria for severe emotional disturbance. Its Truancy Intervention Program works with schools and families to improve attendance, and county victim-rights materials point families toward courthouse safety, bail-hearing notification and protective-order enforcement. The Family Advocacy Center fits into that network as the place where trauma response, investigation and support meet.

The county’s geography makes that coordination harder, not easier. The Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office patrols more than 3,000 square miles and protects more than 43,000 residents, with a summer population that can more than double because of tourism. In a county that large, families often need services to line up quickly and close to home, especially when a child has already been through one traumatic event.

Beltrami County has also seen how child-welfare funding pressures can spill into larger government budgets. A previous Red Lake Initiative shifted jurisdiction over out-of-home child placements on the reservation and eased a significant county funding crisis. That history underscores why Haskins’ warning about the center’s finances matters: if the advocacy work weakens, the burden does not disappear. It shifts to law enforcement, schools, hospitals and families already under strain.