The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released the report Housing for Youth Aging Out of Care in May 2014. This report details the housing challenges that youth who age out of the foster care system face. According to the report, several regional studies have shown that between 11 and 37 percent of these [...]
On May 11, 2014 Governor Mark Dayton signed into law H.F.2536, which is better known as the Women’s Economic Security Act (WESA). The bill compiled nine pieces of legislation that are designed to increase the conditions in the workplace for women. The nine parts of the bill are: Closing the gender pay gap by creating [...]
Now that the Minnesota legislative session has officially ended, here is a summary of some of the child-welfare related bills that have been signed by Governor Dayton since mid-April that we have not yet covered. The policies are separated into three categories: harm reduction, financial stability, and juvenile justice. Bills Related to Harm Reduction Along [...]
As mentioned in yesterday's post, Governor Dayton signed into law the omnibus Heath and Human Service Policy bill (H.F. 2402 / Chapter 291) on Wednesday, May 21. The new law includes language that will "require counties to maintain sufficient information to identify repeat reports alleging maltreatment of the same child for 365 days, for reports [...]
IV-E Scholar Courtney Knoll is interning within the ICWA unit at Hennepin County. She has had the opportunity as an MSW IV-E student to attend both the 2013 Summer Institute in American Indian Child Welfare coordinated by the University of Minnesota—Duluth's Center for Regional and Tribal Child Welfare Studies and the 2014 Winter Institute on [...]
Governor Mark Dayton recently signed into law the omnibus health and human services policy bill. Within this bill are a few statutory changes that essentially add up to "no smoking in foster homes/in the vicinity of children and youth in foster care." Prevention of Secondhand Smoke Exposure for Children in Foster Care The main statutory [...]
Source: U.S. Congressman Robert Pittenger (NC-09) Yesterday President Barack Obama signed into law the Kilah Davenport Child Protection Act of 2013. The law is named for Kilah Davenport, a four-year-old girl whose stepfather physically assaulted her in 2012 and caused damage to 90 percent of her brain. She died just last month as a result [...]
On May 16 the Omnibus Education Policy Bill, HF 2397, was signed into law by Governor Dayton. Within the bill text there is an overarching theme related to childhood academic achievement, including a provision allowing for greater educational stability for youth in foster care and others related to English learners and their families. As these [...]
