Relating to human services

ARTICLE 1 - CHILD WELFARE: ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE

Modifying certain child maltreatment reporting requirements; modifying and clarifying the public policy, allowing intervention under certain conditions and providing for family assessments; defining family assessment, investigation and substantial child endangerment and expanding the definition of neglect to growth delay or failure to thrive; expanding mandatory reporting requirements to probation and correctional services; granting agencies responsible for assessing
or investigating reports of child maltreatment certain interviewing authority; specifying and modifying certain family assessment and investigation duties of local welfare and law enforcement agencies upon report receipt, imposing certain time limits and specifying certain documentation requirements; prohibiting administrative reconsideration of family assessments without a maltreatment determination; requiring the preparation of family support and preservation services plans under certain conditions; providing an effective date for a certain provision clarifying the life span and interest rate of foreign judgments; repealing the existing child protection or assessment alternative response programs and certain rules relating to protective services determinations and the classification of reports

ARTICLE 2 - CHILD WELFARE: PERMANENCY

Including tribal courts and social services agencies in certain relative custody assistance provisions; modifying the venue for adoption proceedings in certain cases and the requirement for adoptive parents to provide a set of fingerprints for background check purposes; prohibiting placing agencies from certifying children remaining under the jurisdiction of sending agencies under the interstate compact on the placement of children for state funded adoption assistance and requiring full completion by placing agencies of written agreements relating to responsibilities; eliminating the requirement for a state adoption exchange book; specifying certain commissioner of human services
adoption records maintenance requirements for certain children; restricting eligibility under the postadoption service grants program to adoptive parents not receiving adoption assistance; modifying the duty of the juvenile court to ensure placement prevention and family reunification, redefining reasonable efforts and providing for finalization of permanent plans; modifying certain child protection provisions relating to termination of parental rights, providing for permanent placement; clarifying the definition of compelling reasons not to initiate termination proceedings; modifying certain immediate custody requirements, providing for court orders for emergency protective and foster care; modifying certain detention hearing and court determination requirements, providing for court findings of reasonable efforts by responsible social services agencies to prevent placement and modifying the conditions for holding permanency hearings; eliminating the authority of the court to order continued detention, providing for placement in foster care; modifying certain out of home placement requirements; authorizing the court in finding the need for protection or services or neglected and in foster care to order trial home visits without modifying the transfer of legal custody to the responsible social services agency, duration, specifying certain requirements of the agency; modifying certain placement review requirements, consent to adopt to be irrevocable, exception, authorizing the responsible social services agency to ask the court to vacate an order for long term foster care and order another permanency option under certain conditions or to determine compelling reasons for a child to be in long term foster care upon exhaustive efforts to recruit, identify and place the child in an adoptive home

ARTICLE 3 - CHILD CARE

Authorizing the use of child care addendums to apply for child care assistance and requiring periodic redetermination of eligibility; modifying the basic sliding fee program, providing for reinstatement lists of families with terminated assistance; providing eligibility for child care providers for child care assistance subsidies while engaged in other activities, prohibiting the overlapping of subsidy receipt hours with child care services hours

ARTICLE 4 - CHILD SUPPORT

Clarifying the authority of public authorities responsible for child support to request access to certain information; reducing the consecutive number of months of complete and timely payments of current and back child support for cessation of the accrual of interest and authorizing retroactive resumption

ARTICLE 5 - FAMILY SUPPORTS

Authorizing the commissioner of education to use a certain percentage of
transitional housing program funds for persons needing long term assistance; authorizing supportive housing establishments developed and funded as part of a certain plan to end long term homelessness to register as housing with services establishments; modifying the definition of professional certification for general assistance (GA) eligibility determination purposes; removing the expiration date for reimbursement of food stamp employment and training program services costs; modifying eligibility for group residential housing licensure for registered housing with services establishments and authorizing county agencies to negotiate supplementary service rates for GRH assistance recipients;
defining adjusted caseload factor and modifying the definition of base programs for Minnesota family investment program (MFIP) consolidated fund base allocation purposes, providing performance based funds for certain federally approved tribal TANF (temporary assistance for needy families) programs and expanding certain reporting requirements relating to insufficient or reduced allocations; eliminating the requirement for the commissioner of human services to include county performance relating to certain federal participation requirements in and increasing the frequency requirement for county performance management reports;
modifying the definition of low performing county for state performance measures purposes; repealing certain general assistance program definitions in a certain rule
(Ch. 159, 2005)