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Content submission deadline: Nov. 19, 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: MEPA-IEAP and children’s racial identity development needs
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.
A recent article in the Star Tribune featured a transracial adoptive family’s decision to relocate after identifying a need for their children to live and go to school in a more racially and ethnically diverse community. Relocation may not be an identified need or an option for all transracial adoptive families; however, this article is not about relocation. Rather, this article shows how important it is for transracial adoptive families to identify and consider their children’s developmental needs, including their racial identity needs. Positive racial identity development is a need for all children, and adoptive parents play a critical role in helping their transracially adopted children develop a positive racial identity.
As adoption professionals, it can be difficult navigating conversations about children’s racial identity development with prospective adoptive parents, due to legal requirements barring consideration of race, color, and national origin in foster care and adoption. This month’s newsletter reviews these requirements in both Minnesota law and the federal Multiethnic Placement Act and its Interethnic Adoption Provisions (MEPA-IEAP), and includes resources currently available to professionals.
The federal government is also expected to issue updated MEPA-IEAP guidance within the next year, due to a presidential Executive Order on Strengthening the Child Welfare System for America’s Children that was issued on June 24, 2020. This order identifies many areas of focus intended to strengthen the child welfare system; section 4, “Ensuring Equality of Treatment and Access for all Families,” focuses on MEPA-IEAP. In addition to requiring updated guidance, this section also requires the federal government to assess states’ implementation of MEPA-IEAP requirements within one year of the executive order.
Child-placing agencies have a responsibility to comply with MEPA-IEAP requirements. Child-placing agency staff also have a responsibility to ensure children’s racial identity development needs are addressed, without violating MEPA-IEAP. The implementation of MEPA-IEAP is complex, and we acknowledge the need for additional and updated guidance to assist professionals, as well as our responsibility for providing technical assistance and guidance to agencies. We have been reviewing MEPA-IEAP closely within the past year and are committed to providing updated guidance as well as training to professionals.
UPDATE: DHS resumes fingerprint-based background studies
Last month, we announced that DHS was going to resume fingerprint-based background studies beginning at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020. This was delayed until Oct. 21, 2020. Effective 6 a.m. on Oct. 21, 2020, DHS began conducting fingerprint-based background studies that meet all state and federal requirements. Find more information on this return to full compliance here.
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 online 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, Nov. 10, where staff will provide an overview of the permanency process, including differences between Northstar Adoption Assistance and Northstar Kinship Assistance, what happens after submission of an adoption placement agreement, and the process with DHS regarding eligibility determinations and benefit agreements. Registration information can be found here. For more information, email Northstar.Benefits@state.mn.us.
Conferences and events
November is National Adoption Month! Keep an eye out for adoption-focused events and resources for professionals. During November, MN ADOPT is offering their webinars 50% off or free. View and register for their webinars.
The annual Circus of the Heart event will be a virtual event this year. During the first three weeks of November, activities and programming will take place daily, Monday through Friday. Check out Circus Event on how you can participate.
November Metro Adoption Taskforce meeting is tentatively scheduled for the afternoon of Nov.18. Details will be shared via the MN ADOPT email list. If you are not on the MN ADOPT community partner email list, please find more information here.
The Minnesota Association for Children’s Mental Health is hosting a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Research Summit online Dec. 7 and Dec. 8. Find more information and register here.
Other training opportunities
The MN ADOPT Education Program has many training opportunities for November 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 “Supporting identity development of trans and nonbinary youth,” presented by T. Leeper and Alli Willingham. Register here.
The Homework Starts with Home Research Partnership is hosting a virtual conference on Nov. 13 on homelessness among children and youth. Register now for Ending Student Homelessness: Uniting Education and Housing Solutions.
Maryam M. Jernigan-Noesi, PhD, is presenting a webinar for professionals on Nov. 18 called Race, culture, & family: strategies for professionals working with multicultural families. MN ADOPT is hosting this free webinar. Register here.
The Minnesota Association for Children’s Mental Health has online Fidgety Fairytale performances available for families to help discuss mental health with their children. Find more information here.
MEPA-IEAP resources available
The Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA) was signed into law on October 20, 1994; in 1996, it was amended via the Interethnic Adoption Provisions (IEAP). MEPA-IEAP prohibits the delay or denial of foster and adoptive placements, or the opportunity to foster or adopt a child, based on a child’s or foster/adoptive parent’s race, color, or national origin. MEPA-IEAP also requires child-placing agencies to make diligent efforts to recruit prospective foster and adoptive families who reflect the race and ethnicity of children for whom foster and adoptive placements are needed.
Resources are currently available to agencies for assistance and guidance with implementing MEPA-IEAP:
DHS resources:
Spaulding for Children:
AdoptUSKids:
- General resources about diligent recruitment can be found here.
Consideration of race, color, and national origin in foster care and adoption
Under Minnesota law and MEPA-IEAP, child-placing agencies cannot deny a person the opportunity to become a foster or adoptive parent, nor can they delay or deny foster or adoptive placement of a child, based on the race, color, or national origin of the prospective foster or adoptive parent or of the child.
We have identified a few situations that may require clarification to ensure agencies are able to support a child’s racial identity development needs and still be in compliance with MEPA-IEAP. The information provided below is based on the MEPA-IEAP Trainer’s Guide, available on the Spaulding for Children website.
Assessing a child’s racial identity development needs is not the same as considering race. To make a foster care or adoptive placement, agencies must determine whether a prospective family has the capacity to meet a child’s needs, based on an individualized determination of a child’s needs. Agencies can include a child’s racial identity development needs as part of an individualized assessment of a child’s needs. Positive racial identity development is part of a child’s overall developmental needs, which is a best interest factor under Minnesota Statutes, section 260C.212, subdivision 2. See Preparing families for racially and culturally diverse adoptions from the Child Welfare Information Gateway for more information.
Agencies cannot delay placing a child with a prospective foster or adoptive family who is of a different race than the child, but who has the capacity to meet the child’s individualized needs, in order to wait for a same-race prospective foster or adoptive family to be available. On that note, agencies cannot assume prospective families who are the same race as the child will have the capacity to meet the child’s individualized needs. Instead, agencies should consider and assess prospective families to determine whether they have the capacity to meet the child’s individualized needs, regardless of a family’s race, color, or national origin.
In recruitment materials for a child, agencies cannot specify a race, color, or national origin for prospective foster or adoptive families. Birth parents also cannot specify a preferred race, color, or national origin of prospective adoptive families; however, birth parents are able to specify a preferred religious affiliation. There are very few exceptions to this requirement, and those exceptions must pass the highest legal standard in order to be allowed. If you encounter a situation that may qualify for an exception, contact DHS for consultation.
Agencies cannot assume prospective parents of a different race, color, or national origin from a child will not be able to support the child’s racial identity development needs. Screening out prospective families for a child, based on the race, color, or national origin of the child or of the prospective family, is against the law. Agencies should review a prospective family’s home study to determine if they have the capacity to meet the child’s specific, individualized needs, which may include racial identity development needs.
Agencies are not required to place a child with a prospective foster or adoptive family who is unable or unwilling, or who does not have the capacity, to meet the child’s specified and individualized needs. MEPA-IEAP does not require agencies to blindly place children with families who are not able to meet their individual needs. This includes where a family may have expressed prejudice about a specific race, color, or national origin, and the child to be placed is of that specific race, color, or national origin. Rather, MEPA-IEAP works to ensure children are placed with families who are able to meet their needs, regardless of their race, color, or national origin. Therefore, if placing workers have concerns that a family is not able to meet all the child’s needs, then the placement may not be an appropriate match for the child. Agencies should document their reasons for their concerns, as well as the placement decision that was made.
Agencies cannot require additional training or a longer home study process based on the race, color, or national origin of either a prospective family or child, or based on prospective families’ desire to parent transracially. Agencies can identify needs of a particular family and document these needs in the family’s home study, as well as what the most appropriate placement would be for the family. Agencies can also offer resources and training to the family, but home study approval cannot be contingent on a family’s utilization of said resources. It is vital that placing workers thoroughly review a prospective foster/adoptive family’s home study, so they can ensure the family is an appropriate match for the child.
Agencies cannot assess prospective families’ “cultural competence” or ability to parent transracially based on prospective families’ desire to parent transracially or based on the race, color, or national origin of either a prospective family or child. Agencies can offer and recommend resources and training to prospective families on parenting transracially, as long as these resources and trainings are offered to all families, and they are not a requirement only for prospective families who wish to parent transracially or for a specific family to be approved for adoption. Prospective adoptive parents can request any child characteristic they feel they are able to parent, including race, color, and national origin. Agencies are not required to place children of a particular race, color, or national origin with a parent who has indicated they are not able to parent a child of that race, color or national origin.
Again, considering a child’s racial identity development needs when making foster or adoptive placement decisions is not the same as considering a child’s race. As seen in the Star Tribune article mentioned earlier, it is more than possible for transracial adoptive families to support and encourage the positive development of their adopted children’s racial identity.
Reviewing benefit agreements with families
After a child has been determined eligible for Northstar Adoption Assistance or Northstar Kinship Assistance, financially responsible agencies then negotiate a benefit agreement on behalf of an eligible child with a child’s adoptive parent/s or relative custodian/s. This negotiation process allows agencies to discuss the terms of the benefit agreement and ensure families understand the benefits for which their children are eligible. It also allows families to ask questions about benefits and to negotiate their children’s monthly payment.
It is important that financially responsible agencies initiate the negotiation process with children’s adoptive parent/s and relative custodian/s so that families have an opportunity to ask questions and get clarity on the terms of their children’s benefit agreements. In order for the negotiation process to occur, financially responsible agencies should be meeting directly with families about benefit agreements. It is appropriate to mail a benefit agreement to a family in advance of a meeting, so they can review it and be prepared to discuss the benefit agreement with their financially responsible agency. Financially responsible agencies should not mail benefit agreements to families and ask families to reach out if they have questions, as it is not families’ responsibility to initiate the negotiation process with their child’s financially responsible agency.
Child-placing agency requirements for diligent recruitment
Minnesota not only incorporated federal MEPA-IEAP requirements into our statutes, but also expanded requirements and made them applicable to both public and private child placing agencies. Minnesota Statutes, section 259.77, and section 260C.215, subdivision 1, requires authorized child-placing agencies to:
- diligently recruit prospective foster and/or adoptive families who reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of children in Minnesota for whom foster and/or adoptive homes are needed, and
- make special efforts to recruit foster and/or adoptive families from among children’s relatives.
The definition of “authorized child-placing agency” is found in Minnesota Statutes, section 257.065. It includes any agency licensed by DHS, or by a similar entity in Minnesota or across the United States, to place children for foster care or adoption.
Child-placing agencies are required to develop and implement a written diligent recruitment plan, Minnesota Statutes, section 260C.215, subdivision 6, requires the following components be included in agencies’ diligent recruitment plans:
- Strategies for using existing resources in diverse communities
- Use of diverse outreach staff wherever possible
- Use of diverse foster homes for placements after birth and before adoption
- Other techniques as appropriate
This same section of Minnesota Statutes lists other recruitment-related requirements for agencies that are separate from an agency’s diligent recruitment plan. More information is also available in DHS Bulletin #18-68-17, Consideration of culture in placement decisions.
Children’s Home Society of Minnesota pre-adoption education
DHS contracts with Children’s Home Society of Minnesota to provide centralized 16-hour pre-adoption education intended to prepare families who wish to parent a child or children under guardianship of Minnesota. The two-day foster care/adoption classes familiarize prospective foster/adoptive parents with the population of Minnesota’s waiting youth, their needs, and an overview of the foster/adoption process.
Children’s Home Society of Minnesota has been able to adjust the format of these classes to an online format due to COVID-19. The class includes a combination of live webinar components and pre-recorded videos, webinars, and podcasts. During this training, families have the opportunity to listen to experienced adoption staff, a trauma-informed psychologist, multiple adoptive parents, and youth who have experienced out of home placement. Additionally, we are joined by Partnerships for Permanence CEO and Founder, Lola Adebara, for a two-hour section on transracial and transcultural placements, during which families are encouraged to explore their biases and experiences in addition to the experiences of children entering their home, and provided with resources for acknowledging and bridging cultural gaps.
Families interested in attending the training can find more information here. For specific questions contact 651-255-2241 or fcaeducation@chlss.org.
National Adoption Month resources from the Children’s Bureau
The Children’s Bureau has updated resources and outreach tools available to help your organization align your National Adoption Month plans with the Children’s Bureau national campaign. Visit the Children’s Bureau’s National Adoption Month website here.
Join the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) email list
NACAC’s Adoption, Foster, Kinship Connections (AFKC) sends regular emails to parents, caregivers and professionals. Emails include information about AFKC’s support groups as well as information based on a topic. Recent topics have included trauma-focused discipline, how to talk with your children and youth about race, social justice books for youth and adults, distance learning, back-to-school resources, supporting LGBTQ youth and more. To receive emails, contact nickschanilec@nacac.org
Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy employment opportunities
The Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy is now accepting applicants for a research and evaluation supervisor and a curriculum developer. Apply here and follow the Apply Now! Instructions.
Join the MN ADOPT professional and community partner email list
Join MN ADOPT’s professional & community partner email list where they share information and updates more often, and in greater detail, than is possible through the monthly Permanency Support Unit newsletter. As a member of this email list, you’ll receive information about event and ticketing opportunities for families, giveaways, Kid Connection features, coupons for educational trainings, upcoming workshops and general program overviews of all MN ADOPT programs. If you would like to opt in to the email list, please complete this subscription form.
MN ADOPT recruitment opportunities for youth
Recruitment opportunities for youth can be requested via the State Adoption Exchange (SAE) registration form. Print media opportunities include a monthly feature of a child on the State Adoption Exchange, with their public narrative and photo in newspapers throughout the state. Newspapers include the Star Tribune, Duluth News Tribune, Adams Publishing (26 community papers) and the Press Publications (six community papers and one magazine).
This also includes a monthly feature on the Meet the Kids page. Please email Kim Sacay with any questions about recruitment opportunities at ksacay@mnadopt.org.
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