Foster care

Foster care documents and forms page on PartnerLink.

Children who cannot safely remain with their families may be placed in family foster care or group residential facilities. Foster families provide critical temporary care and nurturing to children in crisis. They come from all walks of life and may be single or married, with or without children, renters or homeowners. Foster parents play a role in recognizing the trauma children may have experienced, and help give them the structure, nurturing and stability they need every day. Those interested in becoming foster parents should contact their county or tribal social service agency. General information is also available on the department's become a foster parent page, which includes information about financial supports and training.

Additional resources for prospective foster parents:

• Information on required background studies
• Minnesota's Adoption and Child Foster Care Application, (DHS-4258A) (PDF)
• Form used to initiate Home Study Assessment, DHS-4258E (PDF)

Northstar Care for Children helps more children grow up in safe and permanent homes by consolidating and simplifying the administration of foster and adoption assistance programs to support families caring for children. More information can be found can be found on the department's Northstar Adoption Assistance Program webpage and the Northstar Care for Children page in PartnerLink.

A bundled service package for children on Minnesota Health Care Programs (MHCP) is available to qualifying children living in a family foster care setting. To be eligible, children must be younger than 21 and meet the following criteria:

• Live in a licensed family foster home (where the license holder lives in the home; this includes licensed pre-adoptive and pre-kinship placements)
• Be a Minnesota Health Care Program recipient
• Have a diagnostic assessment within the past 180 days that documents a mental illness
• Have documentation of medical necessity that intensive treatment is required to treat symptoms and functional impairments within a foster family
• Have a level of care determination that demonstrates intensive intervention without 24-hour medical monitoring.

Because Intensive Treatment in Foster Care for Children in Foster Care was developed looking specifically at the treatment and permanency needs of children in foster care in Minnesota, the program has specific service delivery requirements in order to bill and receive payment from Minnesota Health Care Programs. 

The MAPCY (Minnesota Assessment of Parenting for Children and Youth) is the tool used to determine Northstar Care for Children benefits. Minnesota county and tribal social service agencies use the MAPCY when working with foster, kinship and adoptive families. See more information on the PartnerLink page. 

Children’s Intensive Behavioral Health Services (CIBHS) is a comprehensive mental health service covered by Minnesota Health Care Programs (MHCP). CIBHS establishes policies and practices for certification and coverage of mental health services for children and youth who require intensive levels of intervention.

County and tribal child welfare agencies are required to maintain and employ disaster preparedness plans that meet the needs of children in the care of the child welfare system.

In case of a natural or man-made disaster, all Minnesota counties and tribes must maintain and implement a plan for how state programs funded through Title IV-B, part 2, and Title IV-E would respond to a disaster, including steps to:

• Identify, locate, and continue availability of services for children under state care or supervision who are displaced or adversely affected by a disaster
• Respond, as appropriate, to new child welfare cases in areas adversely affected by a disaster, and provide services in those cases
• Remain in communication with caseworkers and other essential child welfare personnel who are displaced because of a disaster
• Preserve essential program records, and coordinate services and share information with other states. [Section 422 (b)(16) of the Social Security Act]

County and tribal staff should work with contracted providers to identify roles and responsibilities and include these provisions in their contract for services.

Background on this requirement

Across the country, natural disasters, man-made crises, or medical events can affect the routine ways child welfare agencies operate and serve children, youth and families. It is especially important for agencies caring for vulnerable populations, such as abused and neglected children, to prepare for these disasters. Federal statute, under the Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006, now requires states, counties and tribes to develop and maintain plans in preparation for a disaster.

Create a Disaster Plan

• Assess the types of disasters the agency might face.
• Develop a child welfare disaster preparedness plan (coordinate with department-level and statewide disaster plans, assign person responsible, consult with stakeholders, identify expectations for providers, write the plan—how to manage, build critical infrastructure, prioritize).
• Conduct or participate in drills at all levels
• Update the plan regularly. 

Prepare to Manage

• Designate managers in charge and their backups
• Identify essential functions; designate staff and their backups to oversee these functions, provide training; plan for communication
• Assign other critical roles (media, volunteers, liaisons to other states, liaisons to contract agencies, federal partners and courts)
• Stress leadership
• Consider post-disaster workload demands and resources
• Identify locations for operations (prepare buildings, consider generators, determine possible alternative locations)
• Prepare disaster supply kits
• Consider cash flow. 

Enhance Critical Infrastructure

• Coordinate with key partners
• Work with emergency management agencies
• Establish liaisons with other states/counties to coordinate services and share information
• Build collaborations with other relevant county agencies and programs Collaborate with service providers
• Coordinate with courts
• Establish liaisons with state partners
• Identify potential volunteers and their tasks

Develop communication systems:

• Establish toll free numbers
• Establish and use internal communication systems
• Designate Web sites for disaster information
• Arrange for and use communication technology.

Strengthen information systems:

• •Build on existing plans
• Store critical information in statewide automated systems
• Provide access to automated systems
• Protect vital records (e.g., off-site backup, protect computers)
• Protect equipment
• Assess paper records. 

Prepare staff and contractors:

• Encourage staff to develop personal disaster plans and keep them updated; store plan information so it is accessible during a disaster
• Require staff to check in after disasters and provide information on how to do so
• Keep emergency supplies in offices
• Train all staff on agency disaster plan; participate in drills
• Establish support services for staff
• Develop expectations and support for contracted staff. 

Prepare families, providers and youth:

• Require foster families, families in the process of adopting state wards, and providers to develop disaster plans and keep them updated; store plan information so it is accessible during a disaster
• Require families, providers and youth to check in after disasters
• Provide families, providers and youth with information on emergency preparedness
• Prepare birth families and families receiving in-home services
• Collect critical identifying information for birth parents when possible; store contact information so it is accessible during a disaster
• Offer training.

Child Welfare Disaster Preparation Plan: Minimum Criteria

Foster parents, relative caregivers, adoptive families, group homes, residential treatment centers, other facilities serving children in the care of child welfare agencies (e.g., psychiatric hospitals), and all children in the child welfare system, must be included in disaster preparedness planning. They need to know what to do during a disaster, and that the agency needs to locate them. In case of a natural or man-made disaster:

• How will the child welfare agency identify, locate, and continue service availability for children in out-of-home placement who are displaced or adversely affected by a disaster?
• How will the child welfare agency respond to new child welfare cases in areas adversely affected by a disaster, and provide services in those cases?
• How will the agency remain in communication with caseworkers and other essential child welfare personnel who are displaced because of a disaster?
• How will the agency preserve essential program records?
• How will the agency coordinate services and share information with providers and  states/counties? (e.g., children placed out of state, counties who may need to use resources across state/county borders)

Resources

• Disaster Preparedness Resource Guide for Child Welfare Agencies (Annie E. Casey Foundation) (PDF)

Enacted by all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children ensures protection and services for children who are placed across state lines in foster care, adoption, parental, relative or residential placements. It establishes orderly procedures for the interstate placement of children and fixes responsibility for those involved in placing children. For more information, review Minnesota Statutes 260.851, Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children or the American Public Human Services Association website. These documents and PartnerLink webpages also contain helpful information. 

• Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children
• Guide to the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children
• Regulation Number 7 – Expedited Placement Decision
• Recommended Time Lines for Placements
• Placement Type Checklist
• Finding Permanency for Children in Foster Care: Transfer of Permanent Legal and Physical Custody to a Relative DHS-7591 (PDF)

For more information, contact mn.icpc@state.mn.us.

For children under guardianship of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, the department's commissioner has the exclusive right to consent to the medical care plan for the treatment of children who are at imminent risk of death or who have a chronic disease that, in a physician’s judgment, will result in death in the near future, For details, including a  physician's order not to resuscitate or intubate. For more information, see Policy on Allowing Natural Death/Do Not Resuscitate (DND/DNR)

The Minnesota Department of Human Services contracts with agencies to provide services that help families support and care for children and youth who have been adopted or are in foster placements or kinship care. Permanency support services for adoptive, foster and kinship families DHS-4925 (PDF) provides an overview and contact information about these efforts.