As mentioned in yesterday’s post, Governor Dayton signed into law the omnibus Heath and Human Service Policy bill (H.F. 2402 / Chapter 291) on Wednesday, May 21. The new law includes language that will “require counties to maintain sufficient information to identify repeat reports alleging maltreatment of the same child for 365 days, for reports that were not accepted for assessment of investigation.” Additional language states that all reports that are screened out may only be used for the purpose of making an offer of social services to those who were the subjects of the screen-out report.

Database to track screened-out calls

Minnesota does not currently have in its social services information system (SSIS) a method or process of tracking all pertinent and identifying data from maltreatment reports that are screened out. According to the new law, counties will now be required to compile identifying data on maltreatment reports that are screened out and enter them into SSIS; the type of identifying data is to be determined by the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS). This data would be required to be retained for 365 days so that counties would be able to track the number of screened out reports that a child/family has.

Omitted Provision from the Senate Bill

The House file was the main file for the omnibus bill and what was ultimately signed into law. The Senate file (S.F. 2087) included additional language that would have required counties to adhere to DHS’s Minnesota Child Maltreatment Screening Guidelines in their screening practices and to “immediately implement” any updates, additions, or protocols when notified by DHS.

The basis of this now-omitted provision is found in the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) report on child protection screening. The report found that counties do not vary in the screening of referrals that indisputably meet or do not meet statute criteria of maltreatment. However, within the report it is noted that there is variability among county screening practices with referrals that may or may not meet the criteria for maltreatment. Though counties use the DHS screening guidelines to inform their screening practices, advocates pushed for this provision to ensure that such variability would be reduced.

More Information

For more information on the background of this bill, check out our previous blog posts on this topic: