On February 13, the Family Reunification Act was introduced in Minnesota’s Senate as S.F. 422. The Family Reunification Act would allow parents whose parental rights have been terminated to have their rights restored, under certain circumstances. This Act had been introduced last year and was one of the bills we were tracking.
There are two major changes between last year’s bill and the one introduced a couple of weeks ago:

  1. S.F. 422 would permit only the county attorney to file a petition to reestablish the legal relationship, whereas last year’s bill would allow the eligible child, the parent, the guardian ad litem, the tribe, or the responsible social services agency.
  2. Petitions would only be filed for children who are at least 15 years of age. Last year’s bill would have made eligible children who were at least ten years of age, as well as siblings of children who were at least ten years of age.

In addition, there were several smaller changes and omissions. Last year’s bill would have removed “the presumption of palpable unfitness” and eliminated the need to file a CHIPS petition when a parent whose rights had been involuntarily terminated gave birth to another child.This year’s bill makes no mention of this, so it stands to reason that parents whose rights have been reestablished may still be served a CHIPS petition on the birth of another child.
This year’s version also makes final (without the possibility of an appeal) the decision by the county attorney not to file a petition to reestablish the legal parent-child relationship.
Of course, this Act would have no impact on children and youth who have been adopted.
Implications for youth in foster care
The Family Reunification Act has implications particularly for youth aging out of care without a permanency plan in place. Since youth who age out of care have a higher risk of negative outcomes, including homelessness and involvement in the criminal justice system (see our CW360° on this topic), providing a means to reestablish the legal parent-child relationship, under certain circumstances and when it is in the child’s best interest, may be one way to help prevent such negative outcomes for these youth.
What do you think of the Family Reunification Act?