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The Office of the Foster Youth Ombudsperson handles complaints from anyone, prioritizing concerns from young people about their rights, care, safety, and placement in Minnesota foster care, including youth in Extended Foster Care and those who have recently aged out of care.
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Navigating the Holidays with Care
For Fosters, the holiday season can bring up different, complex emotions. Maybe you are navigating hard relationships, boundary-setting, feeling isolated, or all of the above. Foster Club has created a guide for surviving the holidays. At OOFY, we wish you the most fulfilling holidays possible. Know that you are important, you matter, and we encourage you to lean on your community when you need it.
OOFY recently published our third Findings and Recommendations report to our website. This report centered around our investigation into efforts to ensure safety and well-being for a foster youth placed in hotel crisis respite. Issues included failures to support sibling contact, insufficient efforts to ensure access to therapeutic services and basic needs such as nutritious food and adequate clothing, and the overuse of emergency response services.
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OOFY is excited to announce our 2026 legislative priorities. This session, we will be working to pass two bills in Minnesota: the Foster Youth Bill of Rights (HF3024/SF3154) and OOFY Statutory Refinement (To be Introduced). OOFY will provide continued updates via our Instagram @oofyminnesota and Newsletter during legislative session.
 To support the Foster Youth Bill of Rights as an individual or organization, please sign our letter of support linked below.
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Last week, two OOFY staff presented at the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council Board meeting to talk about the Foster Youth Bill of Rights that is proposed to be passed this session.
OOFY sends a humble and deep thank you to the MIAC Board for approving a resolution in support of the Foster Bill of Rights.
OOFY also gives heartfelt appreciation to the MIAC Board for taking the time to listen to Misty (Ombudsperson) and Lexi (Foster Youth Outreach and Engagement Specialist) about the Foster Youth Bill of Rights and is excited to continue connecting in the future to ensure that foster youth in Minnesota receive the highest standard of care.
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OOFY staff and board members worked hard to develop our agency values and are proud to share them here and on our website (link below).
We Center Fosters First: Our work begins and ends with Fosters—people who have too often felt unheard in systems meant to support them. Centering Fosters means we start conversations and decisions grounded in what matters most to them.
We Work with Care: Care is the method we bring to all of our work—with Fosters, colleagues, partners, and ourselves. Working with care means balancing urgency with humanity so our impact supports, not harms.
We Say What’s True: We speak with transparency and integrity. Honesty builds confidence, not harm.
We Fix the Root, Not Just the Branches: We use what we learn—from Fosters, partners, data, and our own practice—to guide meaningful change.
We See the Whole Person: When people are seen, included, and valued, belonging is felt and fairness becomes possible—the conditions that allow equity to emerge as an outcome of our daily practice.
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Applications for the OOFY Advisory Board are open! Open seats include:
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Youth Who are Currently in the Foster Care System or Who Were Recently in the Foster Care System (2 seats). (Note: this seat is for people under age 26 who are currently in foster care or who were in foster care recently, during their teens or early 20s. Only people with recent foster care experience should apply for these seats).
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Adults Who Were in the Foster Care System as Youths (1 seat). (Note: this seat is for people age 26 or older, or for people 18 or older who were in foster care as children. People without recent foster care experience should apply for this seat.).
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Nonprofit Professionals Who Work at Nonprofits Serving Foster Youth (1 seat)
Applications can be submitted on the Boards and Commissions website. Applications will be open through March 2026.
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