In 2014, there were over 12,000 children who spent some time in out-of-home care in Minnesota, with a majority in family foster care. While most children in foster care return home, for others, reunification is not an option. As the agency policy specialist for the Permanency Unit of the Child Safety and Permanency Division at [...]
In February I wrote about the Health and Human Services omnibus bills. If you've been keeping up with the goings on in the Minnesota House and Senate, you know there has been a need for consensus before moving forward with what will make it in to the final Health and Human Services appropriations bill. The [...]
Throughout the last few days and continuing into next week, the House Health and Human Services (HHS) Finance Committee has been discussing the delete-everything (DE) amendment to HF 1638, which would turn this bill into the omnibus HHS finance bill. The DE amendment is 354 pages long; what follows is the child welfare–related components. This [...]
The House and Senate introduced their 2015-2016 Health and Human Services (HHS) Omnibus Bills that will establish the HHS budget for the next two years: SF 825 and HF 850. The bill covers everything from child protection to health care to food services. This post will highlight the proposed policy changes to past child welfare [...]
Today's guest blogger is Steve Schirlbauer The article I summarized is entitled "Adoption payment hike could get more Minnesota kids in permanent homes" written by Jeremy Olson of the Star Tribune on March 13, 2013. Description Minnesota provides monthly compensation to families providing foster care or adopting children whose birth parent’s parental rights have been [...]
Last month we observed National Child Abuse Prevention Month. We focused on making meaningful connections as a way to reduce instances of child maltreatment, for such connections strengthen bonds between not only individuals, but also among families and communities. Meaningful connections build support networks for children and families while reinforcing a sense of communal responsibility [...]
Last year Governor Dayton signed into law Northstar Care for Children, which is set to go into effect January 1, 2015. Throughout this legislative session there have been several bills introduced that would make changes to Northstar Care for Children before its implementation, namely S.F. 2754/H.F. 3216, S.F. 2240/H.F. 3027, and S.F. 2753/H.F. 3215. In [...]
The main piece (in my opinion) of Chapter 108 (the session law that was the omnibus Health & Human Services Finance bill) is Article 17, which establishes Chapter 256N in Minnesota Statutes, Northstar Care for Children. As I said in an earlier blog post on Northstar Care for Children, this program will make foster care, [...]
