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Child foster care pending reopening status is a voluntary status that a family foster home license holder and licensing agency staff agree to for a specific reason and period.
Child protection case management and foster care licensing staff often requested consults about opportunities to have a trial home visit with a parent in a licensed family foster home. This is often a consideration when a child is placed with a relative foster parent. Many barriers made this difficult; in most situations, foster parents had to close their licenses to offer this possibility to support successful reunification. If a trial home visit was not successful and children re-entered care, foster parents and licensing agency staff had to redo most of the foster care licensing process. Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families staff completed a statutory and policy review and engaged with stakeholders to determine options to address the need. The child foster care pending reopening status was implemented in 2024.
eDocs
Entering Child Foster Care Placement in the Social Service Information System (SSIS) Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) Practice Guide (DHS-8119C)
Legally and Financially Responsible Agency Roles for Children in Foster Care (DHS-3822)
Northstar Care for Children Practice Guide (DHS-7024)
Family foster care training resource: National Training and Development Curriculum
The National Training and Development Curriculum for Foster and Adoptive Parents (NTDC) was funded through a five-year cooperative agreement with the federal Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau. All NTDC materials are available for download on their website via the Facilitator Materials tab. No permission is needed to use NTDC content.
Right-Time e-learning
Foster and adoptive parents can access a variety of curricula tailored to their needs through the Training for Families tab, including “Right-Time” training designed to provide them with ongoing skill development and access to information on specific challenges that families may experience while caring for children.
Topics include:
- Accessing services and supports (1 hour)
- Building children’s resilience (1 hour)
- Building parental resilience (1 hour)
- Common feelings associated with being adopted (1 hour)
- Education (1.5 hours)
- Family dynamics (1.5 hours)
- Life story birth and adoption story (1 hour)
- Managing placement transitions (1 hour)
- Preparing for adulthood (1 hour)
- Preparing for and managing visitation (1 hour)
- Responding to children in crisis (1 hour)
- Sensory integration (1 hour)
- Sexual trauma (1 hour).
Child and Teen Checkups (C&TC) is Minnesota’s Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) program. EPSDT is a federal program required in every state to provide comprehensive health care and dental services for children under the age of 21 who are eligible for Medicaid. Examinations and screenings follow the C&TC Schedule of Age-Related Screening Standards. This schedule is a minimum standard; additional C&TC visits or screenings can be provided and billed for as medically necessary. In addition, children in out-of-home placement or foster care should receive C&TC visits more frequently as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Best practices: navigating complex and residential placements
The Training and Webinars PartnerLink web page provides continuous learning opportunities related to child foster care for Tribal and county staff. The PowerPoint slide decks and/or videos are available on the web page for the previously offered trainings.
Upcoming trainings available on this site include:
- 16, 2025: Qualified Residential Treatment Program (QRTP) placements and requirements
- 23, 2025: Residential placements overview.
Foster Care Community of Practice
The next Foster Care Community of Practice meetings are on Oct. 28 and 30, 2025. These meetings provide a space for Tribal and county workers to share their knowledge and engage in meaningful discussion on child welfare topics. The topic for October is Caseworker Visits with Children in Foster Care. Registration and additional information is available on our Foster Care Community of Practice web page and will also be sent out in a separate GovDelivery email.
Information and resources regarding child foster care are available on PartnerLink.
For foster care policy, including case and permanency planning, relative search and placement, and placement decisions, contact dcyf.csp.fostercare@state.mn.us.
For questions about extended foster care and resources for independent living services, contact dcyf.csp.foster.youth.transitions@state.mn.us.
For permanency policy questions, case consultations, the Northstar eligibility process, training requests, training suggestions and requests for technical assistance, contact northstar.benefits@state.mn.us.
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