Emergency shelter and intake programs at St. Joseph’s Home for Children concluding by end of 2020

By the end of 2020, St. Joseph’s Home for Children in South Minneapolis will end its emergency shelter and central intake operations for Hennepin County.

Tuesday, nonprofit Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced the decision, stating St. Joe’s has seen a significantly reduced number of children served by the emergency shelter and central intake programs in recent years, "with an average census often below 10 children a night in shelter."

The nonprofit stated it will work to place children currently receiving care into the homes of relatives, foster families, or find other community-based options for them.

Additionally, "work is underway to design the next phase," the nonprofit stated.

"Hennepin County and Catholic Charities’ partnership has endured for decades," Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat, chair of the county’s Child Well-being Advisory Committee, said in a statement. "As with all great partnerships, it evolves from time to time and this is the next step in our work to bring transformational change to child protection. This closure actually represents wonderful progress to reduce the trauma kids face when families are in crisis."

St. Joe’s was founded in 1869 as Catholic Charities’ first program in the Twin Cities. It helped children left parentless by pioneer hardships, the Civil War and pandemics, according to the nonprofit.

"From babies to adolescents, children have found safety and stability in the care of St. Joseph’s Home for Children for generations," Tim Marx, president and CEO of Catholic Charities, said in a statement. "We are so proud of that legacy. While it’s always hard to leave a bit of history behind, this transition means the community is getting closer to its goal of keeping vulnerable children safely connected to and supported by their families and home communities, relying much less on an institutional setting like St. Joe’s – and that is a good thing."

KSTPKindness: Officers deliver pizza to kids in St. Joseph’s emergency shelter in Minneapolis