Welcome back for another Child Welfare Week in Review!

This week the US Supreme Court heard a case involving child abuse investigations at schools, regarding whether parent’s consent is required before a child can be questioned at school by a child care worker or a police officer.

Read mainstream media coverage, and in-depth legal analysis.

In the MN House Health and Human Services Finance Committee on 3/1/11, Mary Reagan spoke once again on behalf of the Child Welfare field. She is the Executive Director of Minnesota Council of Child Caring Agencies, and she testified about the impact of funding cuts to Child Welfare services. Mary talked about protecting CCSA dollars, redirecting funds to vulnerable children and adults, and the danger of diminishing social supports and services that families rely upon. You can listen to her 2-minute testimony here or here at the 1:17 minute mark.

Ready to throw in your two cents? If you want to voice your opinion, or listen while others testify, this is the next chance:

Senate Committee on Health and Human Services
Monday, March 7, 2011 – 1:00 PM
Room 15 Capitol
Agenda: Public Testimony on Governor’s Budget Recommendations

Also coming up next week:

SF0372, a bill establishing full-service school zones has a meeting scheduled in the the Senate Education Committee on 03/08/2011, 03:00 PM in Room 15 Capitol. Here’s the description of the bill: “A full-service school zone may be established for a school located in an area with higher than average crime or other social and economic challenges, that provides education, health or human services, or other parental support in collaboration with city, county, state, or nonprofit agencies.”

New bills introduced this week include:
This is a bill we’ll follow closely:
Senators Nelson, Senjem, Rosen, Bonoff and Olson introduced–
HF749 : Called the Family Reunification Act of 2011, this bill allows for the reestablishment of a legal parent and child relationship. This can be requested by parent or child, before or after the child has turned 18 years old.

This is a very interesting proposal to consider for many reasons, including:
-Adolescent development and transition (CASCW’s 2009 CW360 publication)
-The importance of lasting connections, as is promoted through customary adoption (National Indian Child Welfare Association)

Other Child Welfare bills introduced this week include:
SF540: A bill for an act relating to education; modifying parent notification of child maltreatment in a school facility; requiring a policy for educating employees about mandatory child maltreatment reporting.

And SF570 closely mirrors SF63, introduced by Jungbauer earlier in the session, urging the members of the United States Senate to oppose ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

On 3/3/11 Senators Jungbauer and Nienow introduced SF570 urging the members of the United States Congress to propose the Parental Rights Amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to parental rights.