There are more than 400,000 children and youth in foster care; May has been designated as National Foster Care Month in order to bring awareness of the experiences of these children and youth. This year's theme is "Change A Lifetime" in order to encourage individuals to work to change the lives of children and youth [...]
Apologies for our LONG absence these past couple of weeks. First we were at the 18th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington, D.C. (held April 16-20), and then we were preparing for our 13th Annual Child Welfare Conference (held yesterday, May 1, in Minneapolis). Many child welfare-related bills have been signed into [...]
Legislative Updates: Do you ever wonder what happens to the bills after we blog about them? Here are some bills that recently had some movement in the House and Senate. Criminal Neglect Penalties for Unreasonable Restraint of Children was signed by Governor Dayton on Wednesday, April 18, 2012. For details check out the CASCW blog [...]
Earlier this month, the House Research and Senate Counsel, Research, and Fiscal Analysis legislative offices published "side-by-side" comparisons of the House and Senate Health and Human Service Omnibus bills. As of last week the Senate File (2039) has been absorbed by the House File (2294). Because of this, the following overview of the side-by-side comparison [...]
Welcome back to session, Minnesota legislature! With just a few weeks left, there's a lot to do. This week appears to be pretty quiet regarding hearings of child welfare-related legislation. As of today, there is just one bill related to child welfare that's being heard. However, should this change, we will of course update this [...]
S.F. 1586/ H.F. 1945 was revised on April 9, 2012, adding additional penalties for parents, guardians or caregivers who confine or restraint children which results in demonstrable bodily harm. Demonstrable bodily harm is bodily harm capable of being perceived by a person other than the victim. These penalties include up to 2 years in prison, [...]
S.F. 2297 and H.F. 1899 were signed into law by Governor Dayton on April 4, 2012. This law, known as Jacob's Law, requires both parents to be notified if their child is a possible victim of abuse, neglect or sexual assault. This petition was brought forth by Sarah Guggisberg of Clara City, MN whose son [...]
S.F. 753 was introduced by Senator Rosen on March 14, 2011. If enacted, this law would require those who engage in social work or are presented to the public as a social worker become licensed by the MN Board of Social Work by July 1, 2016. This would apply to those who are newly employed [...]