Child Protection
How to Report Child Abuse & Neglect
If the child is in immediate danger, call 9-1-1 or your local police department.
Anybody can make a voluntary report of suspected child abuse or neglect if that person has reason to believe that a child has been mistreated. Others are mandated to report by statute.
If you are unsure if you should make a report, call 218-643-7161 & ask for INTAKE or email the form below to intake@co.wilkin.mn.us.
The identity of the reporter is always kept confidential.
Wilkin County Family Services is mandated by federal and state laws to provide child protective services to protect children whose health or welfare may be jeopardized through physical abuse, mental injury neglect, or sexual abuse. This is a major responsibility and is taken very seriously by this department.
While it is recognized that most parents want to keep their children safe, sometimes circumstances or conditions interfere with their ability to do so. When this occurs, families are best served by interventions that engage them in addressing the immediate safety concerns and by providing family support and family preservation services.
Wilkin County Family Services believes that a child’s best interests and protection is usually maximized by maintaining the child at home whenever possible. However, it is sometimes necessary to seek temporary removal of a child to assure safety. When children must be separated from their families, the agency moves to place each child in the least restrictive living arrangement – one familiar to the child and most closely resembling a family setting. This placement may be with appropriate relatives, friends, or in a foster care home. The agency must make efforts to reunify the child and family as soon as it is safe to do so. Children need to feel they belong to a permanent family. In some cases, it is not possible to assure safe return to the parental home.
When reunification is not possible, a child’s need for a permanent home demands that the agency move just as quickly to provide the child with a permanent family through adoption or transfer of permanent physical and legal custody to a relative or someone with whom the child has a significant attachment.