As of last Thursday, August 1 2013, the Family Reunification Act went into effect. This law allows foster youth 15 and older who were never adopted to have the option to reunite with their birth parents. The law stipulates that the birth parents must be able to demonstrate that they have resolved or addressed the [...]
DHS initiative: Reform 2020 Reform 2020 is a 2011 legislative directive for DHS to reform Minnesota's Medicaid program, Medical Assistance (MA), so as to improve outcomes for people with disabilities, seniors, and other enrollees. Specifically, Reform 2020 focuses on community integration and independence, improved health, reduced reliance on institutional care, attainment of housing and employment, [...]
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision on Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, otherwise known as the Baby Veronica case. The U.S. Supreme Court had been asked to decide what constitutes a "parent" under the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), specifically if the definition includes an unwed biological father who had not complied [...]
Behind Sesame Street, there is Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization whose mission is "to use the educational power of media to help children everywhere reach their highest potential." Sesame Workshop utilizes on-the-ground outreach and collaborations with partners and local agencies in order to have the most impact. Sesame Workshop's initiatives encompass many areas and [...]
One of the Minnesota legislature's areas of interest this past legislative session was mental health services, particularly school-based/school-linked services. Several of the bills that were introduced that focused on mental health services for children were included in either the education or health and human services omnibus bills. Funding for school-linked mental health services The education [...]
The 2013 KIDS COUNT data book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation was recently released. Updated each year, KIDS COUNT provides a snapshot of child and family well-being in the United States as well as within each individual state. The data found in this year's data book is from 2011. Because there is so much [...]
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, [...]
Updated and edited 7/1/13 to reflect references to U.S. Code and to provide a cautionary word of advice (see last footnote). Guest blog post by Rebecca Scholtz. Child welfare professionals can play a crucial role in helping undocumented children access immigration assistance. You don't need to be an expert in immigration law to identify an [...]