On January 18th, legislators in the MN House and Senate introduced bills (HF 128, HF 130 and SF 60) that propose substantial cuts to Child Welfare funding in the state. State dollars are 15% of child welfare funding in Minnesota, and are mostly allocated through the Children and Community Services Act (CCSA). These bills propose a cut of $19 million to the annual Children and Community Services Act. This is a 30% reduction in the state’s contribution to the Child Protection system. Already, Minnesota is amongst the lowest of all of the states in its funding of child welfare services. (CCSA info below)
You can read about and track the action on S.F. 60 here
You can also use the My Bills tool on the sidebar to these bills, and others impacting children in Minnesota, as the legislative session speeds along.
CASCW will cover bills such as these throughout the legislative session. Our goal is to keep you informed of policy proposals moving through committee, relevant hearings and key votes. Here, you can also find instructions on how to communicate with your legislators and engage in the policy process if you chose to do so. See the sidebar links.
More on the Children and Community Services Act:
The overall goal for CCSA is keeping children safe and improving their well-being. The state dollars contained in the CCSA grants are the only state dollars that go to counties to fund child protection.
CCSA Target population:
Children, adolescents, and adults within each county who experience dependency, abuse, neglect, poverty, disability, and chronic health conditions.