CASCW at the Capitol

CASCW at the Capitol, our child welfare policy blog, was developed as a way to disseminate relevant child welfare-related policy information to child welfare practitioners and supervisors.

April 2015

Final Task Force Recommendations: Screening

By |2016-12-01T19:32:55-06:00April 17th, 2015|Categories: CASCW at the Capitol|Tags: , , , , |

Throughout the year we have been following the Governor’s Task Force on the Protection of Children from its creation through the debates and now to the final report and recommendations that were released in March. All of the recommendations have an impact on either statute, practice, training, the social service information system, the Department of [...]

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Omnibus health and human services finance bill includes child protection task force recommendations, Northstar modifications

By |2016-12-01T19:32:55-06:00April 16th, 2015|Categories: CASCW at the Capitol|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

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 [...]

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Senate HHS Committee Hears Proposed Child Protection Staffing & Services Funding Formulas

By |2016-12-01T19:32:55-06:00April 9th, 2015|Categories: CASCW at the Capitol|Tags: , , , , |

On Wednesday, April 8, the Senate Committee on Health, Human Services and Housing heard from Ralph McQuarter of the Department of Human Services (DHS) and Jim Koppel, Assistant Commissioner of Child and Family Services at DHS, on proposed child protection funding formulas that are based on recommendations from the Governor's Task Force on the Protection [...]

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Bills Seek to Strengthen Indian Child Welfare Policies in Minnesota

By |2016-12-01T19:32:55-06:00April 8th, 2015|Categories: CASCW at the Capitol|Tags: , , , , |

The two human services policy bills, SF 1356 (authored by Senators Sheran and Lourey) and its companion bill HF 1535 (authored by Rep. Mack), modify the Minnesota Indian Family Preservation Act (MIFPA), out-of-home placement provisions, and reporting requirements of maltreatment. Most of the child welfare changes found in this bill specifically impact Indian child welfare [...]

Final recommendations from the Governor’s Task Force on the Protection of Children now available

By |2016-12-01T19:32:55-06:00April 1st, 2015|Categories: CASCW at the Capitol|Tags: , , , |

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 [...]

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March 2015

Racial Disparities in Child Welfare & Minnesota Child Welfare Reform

By |2016-12-01T19:32:55-06:00March 31st, 2015|Categories: CASCW at the Capitol|Tags: , , , , |

Figure 6. Children in Out-of-home Care per 1,000 by Race/Ethnicity, 2004–2013. Source: Minnesota's Child Welfare Report 2013, Department of Human Services (p. 10) A few weeks ago, a Star Tribune article raised the issue of child protection reform and its impact on families of color. The short article leaves a lot to be explored. My [...]

House Budget Resolution and Targets Set, HHS Budget Target is $11.62 Billion

By |2016-12-01T19:32:57-06:00March 26th, 2015|Categories: CASCW at the Capitol|Tags: , , , |

Representative Jim Knoblach, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, discusses his proposed budget resolution during the Mar. 24, 2015, committee hearing. Source: Archived video from MNHouseInfo on YouTube On Tuesday night the House Ways and Means Committee set the budget resolution and budget targets for the various finance committees (view the committee hearing [...]

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House Ways and Means To Set Budget Resolution

By |2016-12-01T19:32:57-06:00March 24th, 2015|Categories: CASCW at the Capitol|Tags: , |

Tonight at Last week the committee heard testimony on the house budget resolution. Testimonials urged for investment in services for adults with disabilities, education, and improvement of the state's infrastructure. Bills that we're keeping our eye on include SF 825 and SF 1356. SF 825 covers reimbursement of child welfare agency costs and tribal customary [...]

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