A bill for an act
relating to human services; establishing the Minnesota African American Family
Preservation Act; establishing the African American Child Welfare Council;
modifying child welfare provisions; requiring reports; appropriating money;
amending Minnesota Statutes 2022, section 260C.329, subdivisions 3, 8; proposing
coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 260.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
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Sections 260.61 to 260.695 may be cited as the "Minnesota African American Family
Preservation Act."
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(a) The purposes of the Minnesota African American Family Preservation Act are to:
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(1) protect the best interests of African American children;
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(2) promote the stability and security of African American children and families by
establishing minimum standards to prevent arbitrary and unnecessary removal of African
American children from their families; and
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(3) improve permanency outcomes, including family reunification, for African American
children.
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(b) Nothing in this legislation is intended to interfere with the protections of the Indian
Child Welfare Act of 1978, United States Code, title 25, sections 1901 to 1963.
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The definitions in this section apply to sections 260.61 to 260.695.
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"Active efforts" means a rigorous and concerted level of effort
that the responsible social services agency must continuously make throughout the time
that the responsible social services agency is involved with an African American child and
the child's family. To provide active efforts to preserve an African American child's family,
the responsible social services agency must continuously involve an African American
family and the African American Welfare Oversight Council in all services for the family,
including case planning and choosing services and providers, and inform the family of the
ability to request a case review by the commissioner under section 260.694. When providing
active efforts, a responsible social services agency must consider an African American
family's social and cultural values at all times while providing services to an African
American child and family. Active efforts includes continuous efforts to preserve an African
American child's family and to prevent the out-of-home placement of an African American
child. If an African American child enters out-of-home placement, the responsible social
services agency must make active efforts to reunify the African American child with the
child's family as soon as possible. Active efforts sets a higher standard for the responsible
social services agency than reasonable efforts to preserve the child's family, prevent the
child's out-of-home placement, and reunify the child with the child's family. Active efforts
includes the provision of reasonable efforts as required by Title IV-E of the Social Security
Act, United States Code, title 42, sections 670 to 679c.
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"Adoptive placement" means the permanent placement
of an African American child made by the responsible social services agency upon a fully
executed adoption placement agreement, including the signatures of the adopting parent,
the responsible social services agency, and the commissioner of human services according
to section 260C.613, subdivision 1.
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"African American child" means a child having
origins in Africa, including a child of two or more races who has at least one parent with
origins in Africa.
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The "best interests of the African
American child" means providing a culturally informed practice lens that acknowledges,
utilizes, and embraces the African American child's community and cultural norms and
allows the child to remain safely at home with the child's family. The best interests of the
African American child supports the child's sense of belonging to the child's family, extended
family, kin, and cultural community.
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(a) "Child placement proceeding" means any
judicial proceeding that could result in:
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(1) an adoptive placement;
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(2) a foster care placement;
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(3) a preadoptive placement; or
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(4) a termination of parental rights.
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(b) Judicial proceedings under this subdivision include a child's placement based upon
a child's juvenile status offense, but do not include a child's placement based upon:
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(1) an act which if committed by an adult would be deemed a crime; or
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(2) an award of child custody in a divorce proceeding to one of the child's parents.
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"Commissioner" means the commissioner of human services
or the commissioner's designee.
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"Custodian" means any person who is under a legal obligation to
provide care and support for an African American child, or who is in fact providing daily
care and support for an African American child. This subdivision does not impose a legal
obligation upon a person who is not otherwise legally obligated to provide a child with
necessary food, clothing, shelter, education, or medical care.
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"Disproportionality" means the overrepresentation of
African American children in the state's child welfare system population as compared to
the number of African American children in the state's total child population.
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"Egregious harm" has the meaning given in section 260E.03,
subdivision 5.
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"Foster care placement" means the court-ordered
removal of an African American child from the child's home with the child's parent or legal
custodian and the temporary placement of the child in a foster home, in shelter care or a
facility, or in the home of a guardian, when the parent or legal custodian cannot have the
child returned upon demand, but the parent's parental rights have not been terminated. A
foster care placement includes an order placing the child under the guardianship of the
commissioner, pursuant to section 260C.325, prior to an adoption being finalized.
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"Responsible social services agency"
has the meaning given in section 260C.007, subdivision 27a.
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"Parent" means the biological parent of an African American child