The North American Council on Adoptable Children will hold its 38th annual conference in Crystal City, VA on July 25-28, 2012. This year's theme, Celebrating Families: Valuable Lessons from Children, Parents and Professionals, begins with a pre-session workshop with Dr. Bruce Perry, noted expert on child trauma. Dr. Perry is a Senior Fellow at the [...]
MN Adopt is offering a training series, Beyond Consequences Training and Support - 8-part Series with Brenda Benning, MSW, LGSW. This training series will provide insight into children's behaviors as well as hands-on skills to help parents work with children that have experienced traumatic histories. The series is based on the book "Beyond Consequences, Logic [...]
A story by Gail Rosenblum was published today in the StarTribune that is, unfortunately, not all that uncommon a scenario in the child welfare system these days. Tomorrow, the MN Court of Appeals will hear arguments on behalf of two families that want to raise two young girls that have been in foster care. We [...]
On August 1, 2012 changes to Minnesota law regarding continuing foster care past age 18 ("extended foster care") will go into effect. The new statutes amend previous laws in order to implement the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act requirements: Eligibility & Requirements Youth are ineligible if they can safely return home, [...]
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has just released a Committee Opinion on Adoption. This statement aims to provide a discussion about the role of and challenges for obstetrician-gynecologists in working with women seeking medical assistance related to fertility, pregnancy and childbirth. The Committee on Ethics of the Ameican College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists [...]
The Minnesota Department of Human Services has just released two bulletins summarizing the 2012 children and family services legislation & the 2012 adoption assistance legislation. Most of the new changes are effective August 1 or 2, 2012, with the exception of Jacob's Law, which is effective July 1, 2012. For our child welfare-related summaries of [...]
Minnesota's Department of Human Services has issued a bulletin that summarizes the changes made to the adoption assistance program from the 2012 legislative session. Some of the major highlights and changes are noted below. For a more in-depth review, please read the actual bulletin. All statutes and rules pertaining to adoption assistance can now be [...]
Today is World Refugee Day. At the end of 2011, 15.2 million people were refugees, with 46% being children under the age of 18. Currently it is estimated that there are more than 70,500 refugees in Minnesota; more than 3 million refugees have entered the U.S. since the Refugee Act of 1980 was passed. The [...]