It’s that time of year again. Spring semester at the School of Social Work means guest blog posts from students enrolled in the SW5905 Permanency in Child Welfare course. Each week starting next week and continuing through to the end of May, we will be publishing blog posts written by students learning about permanency and adoption. [...]
Decades of policy advocacy have led to numerous changes in our child welfare system. Some have said the current changes to public child welfare harken back to reform in 80s that workers hoped would have a longer lasting effect than it has. In order to really understand the policies that impact child welfare, it is [...]
On Monday, February 23, House File 8 was passed out of the House by a unanimous floor vote (130-0) and sent to the Senate. Today the Senate Rules and Administration committee substituted HF 8 for its companion, SF 807, and HF 8 was given a second reading. Per the Senate lawmaking process, HF 8 will [...]
The House and Senate introduced their 2015-2016 Health and Human Services (HHS) Omnibus Bills that will establish the HHS budget for the next two years: SF 825 and HF 850. The bill covers everything from child protection to health care to food services. This post will highlight the proposed policy changes to past child welfare [...]
Crossover Youth Series Written by Wendy Haight, PhD, Gamble-Skogmo Chair In our first blog post, we described crossover youth and why we should be especially concerned about their well being. The goal of this blog post is to describe an innovative intervention to correct the developmental trajectories of youth dually-involved with child welfare and juvenile [...]
Over the last week, a few bipartisan bills were introduced that would redirect the legislature's and Governor's attention to the importance of positive life experiences for young children in their policymaking. Since the last biennium, early learning and experiences have been a focal point at the legislature, what with the passing of universal all-day kindergarten [...]
Earlier this month, 13 of our IV-E MSW Child Welfare students completed the Minnesota Department of Human Services' Child Welfare Foundation Training (CWFT). The CWFT is mandatory for all newly hired child welfare workers in counties throughout Minnesota, as well as new hires from White Earth and Leech Lake. The training meets the statutory requirement [...]
Senator Kathy Sheran discussing the DE amendment for SF 807 during the Feb. 18, 2015, hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Human Services and Housing. Source: Senate Media Services webcast (screenshot) Two of the initial recommendations from the Governor's Task Force on the Protection of Children are the focus of the delete-everything (DE) amendments [...]
