Complete the Essentials quiz at the end of this newsletter to receive one hour towards your annual training credit!
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Local Edina Realty realtor, Cristy Willis, recognized the need for youth in foster care to have a dignified way of transporting their belongings between placements. This motivated her to coordinate a suitcase drive for our youth, raising an impressive amount among community members!
Please register to pick up a brand new suitcase on Thursday, January 15. There will be a variety of suitcase sizes and colors to choose from. Families can request up to four per family. If you are fostering more than four youth, please indicate on the registration form how many you will need. We will close the registration form when we have met capacity.
Register for suitcases by completing this form.
- Thursday, January 15, 2026
- 2 to 5 p.m.
- Northwest Family Service Center, 7051 Brooklyn Boulevard, Suite 200, Brooklyn Center
Drive to the second level parking ramp and enter through the doors on floor 2. Suite 200 is straight ahead.
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New training: Understanding traumatized children
We are excited to announce a three-session "Understanding Traumatized Children: Support & De-escalation" virtual training series in 2026. Each session will be three hours long and held Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon on February 28, March 21, and April 25 via Microsoft Teams.
If you are a licensed foster parent and can commit to attending all three sessions, please contact your licensing worker to attend.
Backless booster car seats available
If you are a relative provider in need of a backless booster seat for a foster child in your care, please let your licensing worker know. The training coordinator has a limited number of backless booster seats available on a first come first served basis. Providers must have completed or scheduled to complete your car seat training to receive a seat.
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End of year training requirements and registration process
Each year after your initial license, all foster parents are required to complete a minimum of 12 training hours that must include the training below:
- 5 hours minimum from the Virtual Training options listed on training calendar
- 1 hour minimum of Mental Health
- 1 hour minimum of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
- Mandated Reporter
Visit the Hennepin County Foster Parents website to learn about the most current training requirements (including requirements for relative foster providers), how to register, and view the training calendar.
Send all your questions and requests for training registration to fostercare@hennepin.us.
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On November 8, 2025, the Hennepin County Permanency Team hosted a joyful celebration at the Ridgedale Library in honor of National Adoption Month. The event brought together families, community partners, and staff to recognize and celebrate the families who adopted incredible youth from Hennepin County foster care this year.
The celebration was filled with fun and meaningful activities for all ages including crafts, face painting, temporary tattoos, sand art, and the ever-popular sensory room — a favorite among attendees of all ages. Guests also enjoyed a variety of food and refreshments throughout the event.
Each youth adopted in 2025 was honored with a personalized gift that they were able to take home. These special gifts were made possible through a generous partnership with a local faith group, reflecting the community’s shared commitment to supporting children and families.
In addition to honoring adoptive families, the event also served to raise awareness about the Hennepin County youth who are still waiting for their forever families. The Permanency Team remains dedicated to finding loving, permanent homes for every child in their care.
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When you are tested, try a "time-in"
Children in foster care often come from hard situations. They may have been hurt, moved around a lot, or lost people they loved. Because of this, they might test their foster parents to see if they are really safe and trustworthy.
Common behaviors to expect
Youth in foster care may:
- Break rules on purpose to see how you react
- Ignore you or give you the “silent treatment”
- Lie or steal, even small things
- Push you away when you try to be kind
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- Act much younger than their age
- Get angry or upset easily
- Refuse to follow directions
- Say hurtful things like, “You’re not my real parent!”
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These behaviors are not about you. They are ways the child is trying to protect themselves or test if you’ll give up on them.
Next time you feel tested, try a “time-in” instead of a “time-out.” A time-in is when you stay close to the child during a meltdown, tantrum, or emotional moment instead of sending them away (like in a traditional time-out). The goal is to help them feel safe, seen, and supported while they calm down.
How to build connection through time-ins
- Stay close and calm: Sit nearby or next to the child. Keep your voice soft and your body relaxed.
- Offer comfort, not control: You might say, “I see you’re really upset. I’m here with you.”
- Don’t try to fix everything right away - just be present.
- Wait for the storm to pass: Let the child cry, yell, or be quiet. When they’re ready, they may come to you or start to calm down.
- Talk after, not during: Once they’re calm, talk about what happened. Help them name their feelings and think of better ways to handle them next time.
The Child and Teen Checkup is a place for you to ask questions like, “What do I do when my child is testing me?” Bring your youth in regularly for their medical appointments to get support and continue to build those positive connections with your child.
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We can help! The Child and Teen Checkups staff are experienced in finding medical and dental clinics. We can help schedule appointments and set up transportation or interpreters when needed.
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Questions? Call or email us today!
- 612-348-5131
- checkups@hennepin.us
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Claiming foster children as dependents for tax purposes
Foster parents and kinship caregivers may be able to claim children in their care as dependents for tax purposes. Foster parents and kinship caregivers should check with their tax advisor in these situations.
A child's social security number (SSN) cannot be released in all circumstances, and a court order may be necessary. If a foster parent or caregiver needs a child's SSN for tax and other legitimate purposes, they should contact the child's county social worker.
Tax resources for caregivers
More information can be found in the following resources:
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We connected with licensed provider, Rita, about her foster care experience over the years. Read more about her connections with the families we serve.
How long have you been fostering?
I initially got licensed in 2017 and took my first placement in early 2018. A week later, Jeremy and I got engaged. Jeremy got licensed too, and we’ve been fostering together ever since.
What inspired you to become a foster provider?
My mom was a foster provider before having biological children and shared many stories of the kids in her care. Later, my older sister started fostering in Georgia and her house was always filled with kids who needed a safe space. We’ve been blessed with a stable income, extra bedrooms, and a big support system, making it easy to say "yes" when we can.
How have you personally handled reunifications with the families/parents? Did you need extra support?
Our first placement was a little girl we got to care for a little more than a year. During this time, we watched her mom work incredibly hard to change their circumstances and reunify. Saying goodbye was heartbreaking and scary, but her mom was gracious enough to thank us for our role in her life and keep in contact with us. Since then, we’ve watched both of them absolutely flourish. Even though they’ve moved states away, we still keep in contact and get to see her grow.
Having this experience for our first placement really solidified the understanding that families belong together and reunification can be a really beautiful thing. We’ve said many goodbyes and had the luck of a large majority of our placements reunifying with parents or family, but some goodbyes have definitely been hard. Having plans for self-care and having a support system of other foster parents who understand the experience has been really helpful.
What is a nice ice breaker that you do when a child is placed in your home?
Most of our kiddos are little, but we like to stay busy with fun/age appropriate activities like playgrounds, the Children’s Museum or the zoo.
How has fostering changed your or changed your family dynamics?
Since getting licensed we’ve gotten married and had 2 biological children. Our kids are getting a unique experience of fostering from a young age - both became “big brothers” around six months old! I hope that the lessons they learn from being a foster family stick with them as they grow.
Do you have any advice for someone considering becoming a foster parent or to newly licensed foster parents?
Connect with other foster parents! Fostering is such a unique experience and such a rollercoaster, it’s nice to have someone to talk to who understands. It also helps to have connections for respite or babysitting.
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As foster parents, you know that most children in foster care return home to their families. Some are adopted by relatives or by their foster parents.
When these options aren’t possible, kids need loving and supportive adoptive families. Many waiting children in Hennepin County are school-age or teens, or part of a sibling group. Help us spread the word and find permanent families for these youth. We are in need of loving families, like yours, who are willing to be a mentor, respite provider, foster family, or adoptive resource for these youth.
David is outgoing and has a great sense of humor! He is known for being respectful and helpful. David is an active teen who enjoys playing sports and working out. Though he enjoys many sports, David's favorite sports are football, basketball, and soccer. In his free time, David can be found playing video games, hunting, exploring, or spending time with his friends. He has an interest in cars. When considering his future, David would like to join the military or study mechanical engineering.
Please reach out to Kellie Syring if you are interested in learning more about David.
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Once you have read Essentials, take the Essentials quiz to earn one hour of training credit. We will forward the completed quiz to your licensing worker once we have received it.
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