Governor Dayton issued a statement last night that the State Capitol would reopen this morning at 9am. This is a result of Governor Dayton's acceptance of the June 30 GOP budget offer last Friday (7/14), which offered to balance the budget with borrowing from future tobacco settlement payments and shifts in school aid. However, Governor [...]
As of today, Judge Gearin has ordered continued funding of additional programs and grants from the Minnesota Department of Human Services, based on Special Master Kathleen Blatz's recommendations from July 11: MFIP Consolidated Support Services Grants & MFIP Consolidated Support Services Grants T01, F640These two grants provide support services for MFIP/DWP recipients, including job skills [...]
Our next summer topic is on the youngest of children involved in child welfare, those aged 0-5 years. We chose to focus on this topic not only because of the attention early childhood experiences has been getting lately from state and federal legislators (e.g. U.S. Senator Al Franken, MN Representative Nora Slawik, and MN Senator [...]
As I'm sure you know by now, the Minnesota government began its shutdown on July 1 due to a budget impasse between the governor and the legislature. It is now Day 6 and no deal is in sight. Several news outlets (see below for links) have reported that the two sides did not meet over [...]
To wrap up the month of June's focus on international adoption, I'd like to discuss illegal international adoptions, as well as what happens when international adoptions are disrupted. It is important to understand the issues these can cause for the field of child welfare in the United States. Illegal International Adoptions An international adoption can [...]
As the July 1 deadline for the governor and legislature to come up with a budget solution draws nearer, many people are wondering how a government shutdown could affect them. In addition to the previous post highlighting the two different petitions filed by the Attorney General and Governor Dayton, there are several other great resources [...]
Today, June 20, is World Refugee Day. Since our June theme is international child welfare, we decided to highlight a program in the United States that helps unaccompanied refugee minors, in honor of this day. The Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program, overseen by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, "helps unaccompanied minor refugees develop appropriate skills to [...]
This week two petitions were filed in Ramsey County Court regarding continued funding for core functions of the state should a government shutdown occur. The first petition was filed on Monday, June 13, by the Minnesota Attorney General's office. This petition stated that in order to protect the constitutional rights of Minnesotans on a state [...]