Children’s Minnesota and Washburn Center for Children Expand Partnership with Goal to Reduce Emergency Department Boarding

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MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 8, 2025--

Children’s Minnesota and Washburn Center for Children are tackling one of the most distressing trends in children’s health care: the growing number of kids coming to hospital emergency departments in mental health crisis and being held for days without access to needed treatment.

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The new service focuses on understanding each family’s unique needs and building an immediate safety and stabilization plan. Staff begin working with caregivers while their child is still in the emergency department — helping them gain confidence and direction for the transition home.

Over the past decade, emergency room visits for youth mental health crises have surged, leaving hospitals nationwide struggling to meet the demand. Known as emergency department boarding, this practice keeps children waiting—sometimes for days—until an appropriate placement becomes available or there is a plan to support a safe return home. During 2024 alone, Children’s Minnesota saw more than 1,200 such visits.

To address this, Children’s Minnesota and Washburn Center have launched a new collaborative. Washburn Center for Children has hired an acute response therapist who will work with Children’s Minnesota emergency departments to support families in crisis by connecting them with critical services and mental health care faster and more effectively.

“When a child arrives in our emergency room in the midst of a mental health crisis, they are at their most vulnerable. In these critical moments, it is our responsibility to offer not just care, but a lifeline,” said Emily Chapman, MD, president and CEO of Children’s Minnesota. “This partnership is one more step towards supporting families with the tools they need to navigate this difficult journey.”

A new bridge to healing

The new service focuses on understanding each family’s unique needs and building an immediate safety and stabilization plan. Staff begin working with caregivers while their child is still in the emergency department — helping them gain confidence and direction for the transition home.

This innovative program mobilizes community-based mental health experts to stabilize children, equip caregivers, and reduce time spent in hospital environments.

“Innovative partnerships are essential to transforming children’s mental health care,” said Craig Warren, CEO, Washburn Center for Children. “Too many families in our community find themselves in the emergency room during a child’s mental health crisis, feeling lost, alone and stuck for days. With this new collaboration, we’re planting the seeds of hope—creating a better way for families to find support, care, and healing when it matters most.”

The goal of the collaboration is to help youth and their family access intensive in-home or community-based support within 72 hours of referral to the new acute response therapist.

Key components of the program include:

• Developing a family stabilization plan before youth are discharged
• Connecting families with follow-up therapy, skill-building and community resources
• Assisting with documentation, care coordination and how to navigate public systems
• Creating individualized safety and support plans to maintain progress after leaving the hospital

This approach helps caregivers feel supported and children feel understood, creating a smoother path to recovery, safety and emotional wellness.

By joining the clinical strengths of Washburn Center’s community-based teams and Children’s Minnesota’s kid experts, this model:

• Reduces boarding time in emergency departments
• Improves care continuity for children and families
• Frees up hospital resources and inpatient beds
• Ensures tailored, home-based treatment proven to deliver lasting outcomes
• Reduces barriers for underinsured or uninsured families

About Children’s Minnesota

Children’s Minnesota is one of the largest pediatric health systems in the United States and the only one in Minnesota devoted exclusively to children, from before birth through young adulthood. An independent and not-for-profit system for more than 100 years, Children’s Minnesota offers more than 60 pediatric specialties through its two hospitals, multiple specialty centers and clinics throughout the metro area. The Kid Experts® at Children’s Minnesota are chosen by more families than any other pediatric health system in the region.

Find us on Facebook @childrensminnesota or on Instagram @childrensmn. Please visit childrensMN.org.

About Washburn Center for Children

Washburn Center for Children leads in child-centered care with the broadest and deepest spectrum of outpatient children’s mental health services in Minnesota. With one of the largest teams of children’s mental health therapists, its community-based model is strengthened by families and children served and grounded by impact that reaches to family networks, neighborhoods, schools and communities. Washburn Center is also a leader in training mental health professionals in trauma-informed, evidence-based care. Visit www.washburn.org for more information.

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Media contacts:Dina Elrashidy | Public Relations Manager |[email protected]| 763-478-7102Julie Carver | Director of Communications | She/her/hers |[email protected]| 612-597-0934

KEYWORD: MINNESOTA UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: PRACTICE MANAGEMENT HEALTH PARENTING MENTAL HEALTH CHILDREN FAMILY HOSPITALS CONSUMER

SOURCE: Children’s Minnesota and Washburn Center for Children

Copyright Business Wire 2025.

PUB: 12/08/2025 10:00 AM/DISC: 12/08/2025 10:01 AM

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