1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to children; requiring the commissioner of human services to conduct 
1.3 	an assessment of the placement of children under the guardianship of the 
1.4 	commissioner.
1.5 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.6 	Section 1. PERMANENCY PLANNING; ASSESSMENT.
 1.7 	(a) The commissioner of human services shall conduct an assessment to identify 
1.8 	methods for the department to ensure that youth who are under the guardianship of 
1.9 	the commissioner are placed and maintained in permanent homes. The results of the 
1.10 	assessment must be submitted to the chairs and ranking minority members of the house 
1.11 	of representatives and senate committees with jurisdiction over the department no later 
1.12 	than January 15, 2011. The commissioner's assessment must include, but is not limited to, 
1.13 	the following:
1.14 	(1) the placement costs for the most recent fiscal year for which data is available for 
1.15 	the 100 oldest youth under guardianship of the commissioner who:
1.16 	(i) do not have an adoptive placement agreement in effect;
1.17 	(ii) are not currently in a relative or kinship care placement; and
1.18 	(iii) may be placed in long-term foster care by court order;
1.19 	(2) the county, state, and federal shares of the placement costs in clause (1);
1.20 	(3) the types of residential placements for the youth, including the number of youth 
1.21 	in each type of placement;
1.22 	(4) the average number of changes in placement for the youth during the prior 
1.23 	12 months;
2.1 	(5) the existing department programs responsible for providing permanency services 
2.2 	to children under the guardianship of the commissioner and how these department 
2.3 	programs can be used to ensure their prompt permanent placement; and
2.4 	(6) the areas that need improvement in order to ensure consistency among counties 
2.5 	in the care and permanent placement of youth under the guardianship of the commissioner.
2.6 	(b) Based on the assessment, the commissioner shall submit the following to 
2.7 	the chairs and ranking minority members of the house of representatives and senate 
2.8 	committees with jurisdiction over the department no later than January 15, 2011:
2.9 	(1) proposed legislation that would grant the commissioner greater control over the 
2.10 	permanent placement planning for youth under the guardianship of the commissioner; and
2.11 	(2) recommendations for a cost-neutral pilot project, involving no more than 100 
2.12 	youth who are under the guardianship of the commissioner, that would decrease the time 
2.13 	between termination of parental rights and the placement of the youth in a permanent home 
2.14 	and would include a strategy for addressing county responsibility for placement costs.

2.15 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment.