On Wednesday, January 21, House File 191 was heard in the House Health and Human Services Reform Committee. H.F. 191 implements several of the recommendations put forth by Governor’s Task Force on the Protection of Children. According to the bill’s author, Representative Ron Kresha, who talked about H.F. 191 at the last CPS Task Force meeting, this bill will be the vehicle for these recommendations to be implemented during this session.
Rep. Kresha introduced a delete-all (DE) amendment as well as an A1 amendment at this hearing. He pointed out that this bill is the beginning of the reform process, and that there are other aspects that still need to be considered. He also urged committee members and others to avoid blaming individual workers in the child protection system, saying that all the legislature and others can do is put in some consistency and have services in place to help families, but that behavior is difficult to modify and no statute can do that by itself.
Throughout the committee hearing, Rep. Kresha and other Task Force members who testified on parts of the bill reiterated the importance of consistency across the 87 counties in Minnesota.
What’s in H.F. 191?
In a nutshell, as presented by Rep. Kresha and supported by Rep. Mullery, the bill with both amendments would:
- Repeal the previous law that barred use of screened out reports in screening decisions.
- Revise the public policy statement to put children first.
- Clarify statutory requirement for cross-reporting all reports (whether screened in or out) between law enforcement and child protection.
- Modify the statutory definition of physical abuse by taking out the statement requiring actions to be done in anger (Rep. Kresha said, “If it’s maltreatment, it’s maltreatment, no matter how you feel at the time.”).
- Make child safety the focus of any assessment and investigation by no longer identifying Family Assessment (FA) as the preferred response and allow counties to figure out the best course of action in any given situation.
- Clarify that reports alleging sexual abuse require an investigation.
- Allow counties to use the FA response for any reports not alleging substantial child endangerment.
- Require counties to follow state screening guidelines, with any county-level modifications needing to be approved by DHS.
- Require screened out report data, including allegation and reason for screening out, to be maintained for 5 years.
In a previous blog post, I wrote about the issue surrounding the language related to when an investigation would be required. In the original bill text, an investigation would have been required for any report alleging physical or sexual abuse or neglect of a child—all reports that are screened in allege at least one of these. Rep. Kresha has since modified the bill text as a result of several conversations with organizations (including CASCW), and both the DE and A1 amendments modify this specific provision in order to make things more clear.
Committee Testimonies
Several individuals testified on components of the bill, including other Task Force members and individuals who have been directly impacted by Minnesota’s child welfare system. Most supported the bill provisions, such as Vickie Underland-Rosow (Hennepin County Citizens Review Panel) and Suzanne Alliegro (the Guardian Ad Litem Program Administrator), and many had additional recommendations to add to the bill. For example, Mary Olson and Cathy Gillman, adoptive and foster parents (respectively), asked that the legislature consider the voices of those who know children best, namely foster and adoptive parents. Hank Marotske of PATH shared his personal story and advocated for changes benefiting older youth in foster care and promoting connectedness for children and youth involved in child welfare. Judith Brumfield, representing Minnesota Association of County Social Service Administrators (MACSSA), asked that if any changes are to be made that will add to the system, that the legislature look at resources not just in the child protection system, but in other systems that are involved in child protection.
As a result of one of the testimonies, Rep. Schultz asked for more information on whether there are barriers for families who want to be foster homes, and whether these barriers are preventing families from fostering.
Bill Passed and Referred
The hearing ended with a vote in favor of passing the bill and referring to the House Civil Law and Data Practices committee.
