The final report and recommendations from the Governor's Task Force on the Protection of Children were issued yesterday. The recommendations are organized into short-, mid-, and long-term reforms, each preceded by a short description of the challenges faced in each area and the goals of the Task Force in general. Over the next few weeks [...]
On Tuesday, March 17, Governor Mark Dayton signed into law House File 8, a bill that implements two recommendations from the Governor's Task Force on the Protection of Children. The new law is effective immediately. In his press release on this action, Governor Dayton said that he has dedicated an additional $52.5 million for child [...]
Last month Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) Commissioner Lucinda Jesson stated that DHS would soon be providing practice guidance on child protection screening, track assignment, and other practice issues based on initial recommendations from the Governor's Task Force on the Protection of Children. On Thursday, Feb. 5, this guidance was issued in the form [...]
The National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) and the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW), in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Human Services, announce the release of The Relational Worldview: A Tribal and Cultural Framework for Improving Child Welfare Outcomes, a two-set training video for professionals and organizations working with American Indian [...]
Last week, all U of MN Twin Cities MSW 2nd year and Advanced Standing IV-E students attended 3 days of the DHS Child Welfare Foundation Training. Prior to this training, they also completed approximately 20 hours of on-line training modules. These trainings covered a wide variety of relevant topics such as family systems, child development, [...]
Governor Mark Dayton announcing an executive order regarding Minnesota's child protection system. Source: Tom Scheck/MPR News Over the last few months the Star Tribune and other media outlets have put Minnesota's child protection system in the spotlight, highlighting concerns surrounding the low screen-in rates of reports of alleged child maltreatment as well as the death [...]
This post is in response to the Star Tribune opinion article written by Joanna Woolman and the comments that followed Ms. Woolman's article. A version of this blog post has been submitted to the Star Tribune as a commentary. This post was edited at 3:29 PM, 9/12/14, to clarify current DHS policy. I appreciate Joanna [...]
Minnesota Statute 257.0725 requires the Department of Human Services to make available annually a report on child maltreatment and children in out-of-home placement. This report for the year 2012 is now available online. Federal Safety Measures In terms of Federal Safety Measures, Minnesota did better than the national standard for: absence of repeat maltreatmenttime to [...]
