Last year I blogged about recommendations for state-level changes regarding Minnesota's parental recognition laws as they pertain to adoption and foster care by same-sex couples. As it stands, Minnesota law is unclear on the legality of joint adoptions and second-parent adoptions; these issues have instead been left up to individual courts to decide. Last week [...]
Yesterday Governor Dayton signed the omnibus Health & Human Services (HHS) Finance bill, making it Chapter 108 in the 2013 Session Laws. The main point of this bill was to establish the HHS budget, but there are also policy changes that will impact child welfare. One big change from earlier versions of the bill is [...]
This guest post was written by Abdifateh Ahmed. Article: Why Are So Many Celebrities Adopting Black Babies? Writer: Kristen Howerton Posted: 06/14/2012 11:10 am Journal: Huffington Post Photo: Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images Summary The article sums up why celebrities are adopting children and why higher percentages of celebrities are adopting trans-racially and specifically black [...]
Last week I came across a news article from the Times-Picayune. The LA senate approved a bill sponsored by Patrick Jefferson (D), HB219, that would prohibit the disqualification of a prospective adoptive parent based solely on past criminal history. HB219 would require a judge to consider the type of offense and length of time since [...]
May is National Foster Care Awareness Month. This is a way to bring awareness and attention to the needs of foster youths, foster parents, adoptive parents, and so many other individuals who work to help these children succeed. Interestingly, May is also National Mental Health Awareness Month per a presidential proclamation signed by President Barack [...]
This guest blog post was written by Salma Hussein. I recently came across an online article titled "Outrage, sadness as Americans barred from adopting Russian children," on worldnews nbc website. The article was dated March 30th, 2013 and written by Jim Maceda who is based in London. [Photo by NBC News] The strength of the [...]
On Sunday Governor Dayton and House and Senate leaders announced that they had come to an agreement on budget targets for the next biennium. This announcement was particularly important for those of us in the health and human services field, as Governor Dayton and the legislative leaders had different ideas regarding the budget target for [...]
Photo: Derek Montgomery for The New York Times Today the New York Times published a story by reporter Phyllis Korkki about older adults who are choosing to open their homes to children instead of "retiring." A Minnesota family, Rebecca and Jim Gawboy, are featured. Rebecca is a retired community organizer and Jim is a retired [...]