As the Minnesota State legislative session progresses, with hundreds of new bills introduced in both the House and the Senate, we are following several bills of interest to child welfare professionals. You can find those bills on our Bill Tracker.

While this year’s session will last only ten weeks, and all legislators are up for re-election this fall, there are many important issues to address in response to the recommendations from the Governor’s Task Force on Child Protection, including concerns that have been heard over the past year at the Legislative Task Force on Child Protection.

The Legislative Task Force on Child Protection is currently set to conclude at the close of the 2016 legislative session. However, bills have been introduced in both the House and Senate by the co-chairs of the task force to continue this group without an end date. The House bill (HF 2683) and the Senate bill (SF 2428) have each received a hearing and will move forward. Such action sets the stage for an ongoing legislative commitment to child welfare policy reform, in spite of co-chair Senator Sheran’s (D) plan to leave the Senate following this year’s session.

One issue that was mentioned several times at Legislative Task Force meetings over the past few months was the rate of payment to foster care providers under the new Northstar Care for Children program. Several providers testified that the new rates were very low in comparison to past levels and that the current monthly payment amounts did not cover the costs of caring for children. The Senate and House have introduced bills to nearly double those rates to foster care providers.

The revised Minnesota Child Maltreatment Intake, Screening and Response Path Guidelines emphasize county child protection agencies’ responsibility to respond to a report of alleged child maltreatment within 24 hours. This practice has been implemented differently in agencies across Minnesota, with many counties interpreting the law to mean that the 24-hour response expectation excludes weekends and holidays. Counties have been directed to modify their current practices to ensure that their response occurs within 24 hours inclusive of weekends and holidays, with trained screening staff, rather than using an answering service. A bill, SF 3138, has been introduced that would exempt counties with fewer than 8,000 people from this requirement.

Another bill of note would separate the Office of the Ombudsperson for American Indian Families from the Ombudspersons for Families The bill, HF 2701, with the companion bill SF 2988 establishes this independent office and creates an American Indian Community-Specific Board, which would appoint the Ombudsperson for American Indian Families and provide input to the ongoing work of the office.

We will continue to update our Bill Tracker throughout the remaining weeks of session to help you follow these and other child welfare related bills.