Dayton seeks $8 million to rebuild child psychiatric hospital in Willmar

The Dayton administration has launched a campaign to save and rebuild Minnesota's only state-operated psychiatric hospital for children and teens, arguing that private-sector facilities don't furnish the sustained, intensive care that some young patients require.

The Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Services (CABHS) facility in Willmar, which has struggled to stay afloat amid budget cuts and a shortage of professional staff, would be resurrected under an $8 million plan in Gov. Mark Dayton's bonding proposal.

The 16-bed hospital treats children with some of the most complex and highly acute psychiatric problems in the state, but has been operating at less than half capacity for the past two years. Last spring, a proposal to close the facility and shift its services to private hospitals drew heavy criticism from families and medical professionals, who argued that such a move would leave a hole in the state's safety net for children with severe mental health problems. Many of its young patients require an intensive level of longer-term care that is not available in the private health system, these families said.

"That hospital absolutely needs to stay open," said Mike Praus of Waconia, who credits CABHS with stabilizing his 17-year-old daughter after a long bout with anxiety and aggression. "If there was one heart hospital in the state, you wouldn't close it down. It's that essential."

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