The Minnesota Legislative Task Force on Child Protection met at the State Senate building on Monday, October 22, 2018. After introducing new task force members and reviewing the role of the task force, the first item on the agenda was testimony from Jamie Sorenson, Child Safety and Permanency Director at the Department of Human Services (DHS) who provided a review of the implementation of task force recommendations. Mr. Sorenson shared some valuable data from the soon-to-be released 2017 Out-of-Home Placement Annual Report including a 27% increase of children in out-of-home placement between 2014 and 2017. We will summarize this report when it becomes available.
Mr. Sorenson proceeded to explain some of the major improvement efforts being led by DHS including better support and expansion of initiative tribes, expanding technical support and program improvement plans to counties and tribes including improving child safety by implementing a Collaborative Safety Model.
Mr. Sorensen included some recommendations for information sharing during future task force hearings including the Child Welfare Training System addition of a competency framework for child protection supervisors, the piloting of the Minor Connect program as a strategy for supporting unaccompanied homeless youth and Family treatment drug courts as an evidence-based practice being implemented in some counties.
Next on the agenda was a review of the recent federal Family First Prevention Services Act (Family First) by Jamie Sorensen. A detailed summary of Family First by Children’s Defense Fund might be helpful background. In Minnesota, no paperwork has been filed on whether we will participate or delay in the implementation of Family First, but Mr. Sorenson expressed a desire to bring in funding “sooner rather than later.” DHS is convening a meeting of county and tribal stakeholders along with a visit from Casey Family Programs on November 1st to explore the opportunities Family First can provide to Minnesota. There was agreement that the additional prevention funding of Family First is a great opportunity to capture more support in the state but this is balanced by the challenge of limiting group foster care funding which could be a financial loss. Task force co-chair Representative Kresha emphasized the importance of being “on the same page” and communicating effectively in taking advantage of the new legislation. Mr. Sorensen agreed and stated the importance of making decisions in collaboration with counties and tribes.
Senate and House staff provided a review of 2018 child welfare-related legislation that was passed including amending the foster care licensing act to require at least one hour of fetal alcohol training for foster parents annually, a requirement of representative of communities of color to review and revise Northstar Care for Children legislation and incorporate changes into MAPCY (Minnesota Assessment of Parenting for Children and Youth) that take in account different cultural needs of children, and the addition of the Foster Care Sibling Bill of Rights.
There was additional mention of some related legislation that was not passed in 2018 but will likely be proposed again next session, including funding for a child welfare training academy, restoring the 20% withhold for county funding, and the African American Family Preservation Act.
The hearing ended with testimony from Laurie York, Director of White Earth Indian Child Welfare. Ms. York asked for continued and additional funding of the White Earth Nation’s Gizhiwaaso, MATS & MOMS programs which provide culturally specific services and practices to parents in order to prevent involvement in both substance abuse and child welfare. She was complemented by legislators for the effectiveness of this work.
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