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Content submission deadline: Sept. 17, 2020
If you have any topics you would like to see covered in this newsletter, please email: Contracts.Adoption.DHS@state.mn.us
The Permanency Support Unit update is a collaborative effort by Permanency Support Unit staff.
Commitment to anti-racist work and inclusivity
The Permanency Support Unit is continuing to review policies, practices, and laws to determine where and how changes can or should be made to ensure racial equity and inclusivity, and promote better outcomes for children and families who are disproportionately represented in permanency and adoption. We are in the beginning stages of this process.
Cultural consideration of defined relative:
Minnesota Statutes, section 260C.007, subdivision 27, defines relative as: “a person related to the child by blood, marriage, or adoption; the legal parent, guardian, or custodian of the child's siblings; or an individual who is an important friend with whom the child has resided or had significant contact.” Subdivision 26b provides a clarifying definition for relative of an Indian child: “a person who is a member of the Indian child's family as defined in the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, United States Code, title 25, section 1903, paragraphs (2), (6), and (9).” These definitions guide all of the relative search, notification, engagement, and placement consideration requirements for children in Minnesota’s foster care system.
However, who someone defines as a relative, or as family, can vary from person to person, and among cultures and worldviews. While our legal definition of relative in juvenile protection proceedings is broader than the dictionary.com definition (“a person connected by blood or marriage”), it could exclude others considered to be relatives to a child, based on a child’s culture or heritage. While there are legal requirements surrounding relative search, notice, engagement, and consideration, best practice is for agencies to consider who a child and their family include as relatives, and to engage those individuals as allowable. Additionally, these individuals may be resources for children and youth in foster care who need supportive adults in their lives.
Content submissions for the Permanency Support Unit Update
We want to hear from you! As a reminder, we welcome content suggestions and submissions for inclusion in this newsletter. Please send any content suggestions, including requests for more information or clarification on a topic, to our email at Contracts.Adoption.DHS@state.mn.us. Also, please send any organization training or announcements to include in this newsletter.
Find COVID-19 updates from DHS and Children’s Bureau
To find the most up-to-date information for providers, counties, tribes and members of the public, visit the DHS website. View a list of all DHS waivers and modifications under peacetime emergency authority, Executive Order 20-12.
View the federal Children’s Bureau’s COVID-19 resources webpage, which includes resources and updates from Jerry Milner, Associate Commissioner of the Children’s Bureau.
Relevant DHS training opportunities
Northstar Permanency Quality Assurance staff are hosting trainings on topics related to adoption, transfer of permanent legal and physical custody (TPLPC), and Northstar Adoption/Kinship Assistance benefits. The next training is Tuesday, September 8, where staff will provide a broad overview of the kinship process for children in foster care. This training will be held online. If the training format changes, attendees will be notified. Register for this training session here. For more information, email Northstar.Benefits@state.mn.us.
Conferences and events
Registration is open for the St. Louis County Health and Human Service Virtual Conference. See more information here.
Other training opportunities
The MN ADOPT Education Program has many training opportunities for September 2020! Everything is online, so you can access it wherever you are. Don’t miss out on all of these great topics! One to highlight is “Snapshots and tipoffs: Helping your child learn when school is at home” by Nancy Binford, register here.
Children’s Home Society is offering foster care adoption education classes during September. Educational classes have been switched to a 2-day online format. This change allows Children’s Home Society to accommodate more attendees, and they have found the format successful in continuing to provide incoming foster and adoptive families the information they need to move forward in their process. Contact Maddie Hilsabeck with any questions at maddie.hilsabeck@chlss.org.
The Institute for Innovation in Child Welfare is offering free webinars for professionals on family search and engagement during a pandemic. Free webinars are scheduled for September, find more information here.
Talking with prospective relative custodians about permanency
When working with relatives who are interested in becoming a child’s relative custodian via a transfer of permanent legal and physical custody (TPLPC) under Minnesota Statutes, section 260C.515, subdivision 4, it is important to ensure they understand the implications of this role. A TPLPC is an alternative, permanent option to adoption. In accepting a TPLPC of a child in foster care, a relative is legally assuming permanent care, custody, and control of the child, up until the child turns age 18. It is important to provide accurate information to relatives about responsibilities of permanent relative custodians in TPLPCs. Agencies should assess prospective relative custodians’ ability and willingness to be a child’s permanent relative custodian, and ensure they are prepared and aware that this is a permanent, not temporary, arrangement that is intended to last until the child reaches adulthood.
Relative outreach and support in the home study and licensing process
Relatives who respond to a notice may need additional support and engagement to successfully complete licensing and home study requirements. It is important to keep in mind that relatives who are approached by the agency may not have considered becoming a permanency resource, so more assistance may be necessary in comparison to non-relative applicants. Minnesota Statutes, section 260C.221, requires agencies to appropriately involve relatives. This includes an assessment of the assistance a relative may need to complete their process. Diligent search, notification and consideration of fit and willing relatives should be a continuous process. The Public Private Adoption Initiative (PPAI) agencies are available to provide support and outreach to relatives. Review our April newsletter for a full outline of relative PPAI services.
Ensure accuracy for name verifications in SSIS
Prior to submitting verifications to DHS in SSIS, workers should ensure legal names are used and match documentation, including the background checks. It is very important for names to be the same on all documentation and correct prior to submitting the verifications to DHS. If names do not match, it can cause delays in permanency for children in foster care.
MN ADOPT HELP program
MN ADOPT offers a free help line for adoptive, foster and kinship families throughout Minnesota. HELP Specialists provide individualized referrals to adoption-competent mental health professionals in a family’s area, parent consultation, free and low cost educational opportunities and connections to needed community resources. Financial assistance can be explored to access eligible therapeutic services, educational offerings and other supports when financial barriers are present. For more information on the help line, please review the website, contact help@mnadopt.org or 1-855-670-HELP or 612-746-5137.
When and how Northstar Adoption Assistance may be transferred
Northstar Adoption Assistance may be transferred to another individual when a child’s adoptive parent (or parents, if more than one) dies.
Northstar Adoption Assistance may continue for up to six months after the death of a child’s legal parent/s, and possibly longer. To reassign Northstar Adoption Assistance payments, DHS must receive the following:
- a notarized document indicating the individual who has assumed caregiver responsibility of the child
- the new caregiver’s name, social security number, mailing address and phone number
- copy/ies of the death certificate/s.
For Northstar Adoption Assistance to continue beyond six months, DHS must receive a copy of the legal guardianship court order that establishes the individual as the child’s legal guardian.
When Northstar Adoption Assistance is continued under a court-appointed legal guardianship arrangement, a child’s Title IV-E eligibility ends. However, the child may continue to be eligible for Title IV-E in a subsequent adoption.
When and how Northstar Kinship Assistance may be transferred
The federal Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act of 2014 gave states the ability to continue making kinship guardianship payments to a successor relative custodian (successor) upon the death or incapacity of a relative custodian. The relative custodian must have been receiving kinship guardianship benefits as a result of a TPLPC under Minnesota Statutes, section 260C.515, subdivision 4. In Minnesota, this went into effect August 1, 2015.
When a relative custodian dies or is incapacitated, a successor must meet certain criteria to ensure Northstar Kinship Assistance and Title IV-E eligibility and benefits are not affected.
In addition to being named as a successor in a Northstar Kinship Assistance benefit agreement, a successor must also complete the following within one year of a relative custodian’s death or incapacity:
- Meet background study requirements for all required household members
- Renegotiate the benefit agreement, including cooperating with completion of a Minnesota Assessment of Parenting for Children and Youth (MAPCY)
- File a request with the juvenile or tribal court to modify the TPLPC court order under Minnesota Statutes, section 260C.521, or the applicable provision in tribal code, in a modification proceeding to name the successor as the permanent legal and physical relative custodian.
If a successor has made reasonable attempts to satisfy these requirements within one year, but was unsuccessful in meeting the deadline, the commissioner of human services may certify that failure to meet the deadline was not the successor’s fault.
Northstar Kinship Assistance benefits can only be transferred as outlined above. If a custody transfer occurs outside of death or incapacity of a child’s relative custodian/s, Northstar Kinship Assistance benefits will end. If a child’s relative custodian/s wish/es to transfer custody of the child to another individual, without meeting death or incapacity requirements, the individual will need to establish Northstar Kinship Assistance eligibility on their own.
Virtual Metro Task Force meeting
The morning workshop, “COVID: It’s still here! Supporting families and ourselves through unprecedented times,” will be provided by Anne Gearity. Contact MN ADOPT for the code for Metro Task Force attendees. Register here.
The afternoon Metro Task Force meeting, “Signing the APA: An overview of the requirements needed prior to signing an Adoptive Placement Agreement (APA),” will be provided by the DHS permanency quality assurance team. Register here.
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