One of the new laws that went into effect last Wednesday was regarding unreasonable child restraint. Although we've posted on this in the past (Criminal Neglect Penalties for Unreasonable Restraint of Children added to the Vulnerable Adult Bill), I recently saw an article that discussed this new law as a policy change for general child [...]
Photo by Chris Wilson for the Journal Sentinel The abuse of children who have been adopted by their adoptive parents is particularly tragic, considering that adoption is supposed to be the safe haven for children who have already experienced the traumatic dissolution of their birth families. A recent case of the abuse of internationally adopted [...]
The Children's Law Center of Minnesota has published a module entitled Critical Advocacy Tools For Attorneys Helping Foster Youth Clients Achieve Positive Outcomes During and After Preparation for Adulthood, written by Staff Attorney Julia Hillel Larsen. The Children's Law Center represents many youth in court hearings and works to make sure their clients are getting [...]
The University of Minnesota has some amazing scholars researching adoption. Here is a presentation by Megan Gunnar, Department Chair and Regents Professor at the Institute on Child Development here at the University of Minnesota, presenting a keynote address on the developing adolescent brains of post-institutionalized adopted children at the 2012 Rudd Adoption Conference, New Worlds [...]
Disruption: When an adoption fails prior to finalization of the adoption.Dissolution: When an adoption fails after the adoption has been finalized. On Wednesday, Today Moms discussed the issue of adoption disruptions and dissolutions in an article entitled It takes more than love: What happens when adoption fails. It seems that the goal of the article [...]
The Minnesota House Research Department has published a Short Subject entitled Human Services Programs: The Relationship Between Federal, State, and Local Governments. The point of this Short Subject is to make clear what each government's role is in terms of the administration of Minnesota's human services programs. Federal Government's Role The federal government appropriates money [...]
The Child Welfare Information Gateway has created a factsheet for adopted individuals and birth families on the search and reunion process. This publication also includes information on hiring a professional searcher, using social media, and issues that come up in the reunion process. The resource is free and you can download it as a PDF [...]
The 2012 legislative session concluded with several changes to Minnesota child welfare policy. This has been covered extensively in past blog posts, but I thought the topic of sibling placement and separation was important to highlight. New statutory language related to siblings involved in child welfare Overall, the new statutory language indicates that keeping siblings [...]