Purpose

• The bill aims to reform how Minnesota handles child welfare for African American and other disproportionately represented children. It shifts the standard social services must meet from “active efforts” to “active reasonable efforts,” with stronger requirements to prevent removal when possible, keep families together, and promote timely reunification. It also adds stronger safety planning, visitation, relative placement, and oversight rules, and targets disproportional outcomes with data-driven accountability.

Main Provisions

• Duty to prevent out-of-home placement and promote family reunification (260.64)

  • Agencies must use active reasonable efforts to prevent removal of African American or disproportionately represented children, reduce the need for removal, and reunify the child with family as soon as practicable.
  • Before removing a child, agencies must work with the family to try to keep the child at home and implement a safety plan tailored to the family’s needs.
  • The safety plan should involve engaging the family, holding a family group consultation, connecting supports, assessing disability, and assessing cultural and economic needs.
  • Safety plans should address the specific allegations, include economic supports if neglect is alleged, and involve family and community supports to keep the family intact. Plans can be adjusted as needs change.
  • Safety plans are not required in cases of sexual abuse or egregious harm, when a parent is unwilling to follow the plan, is unavailable, abandons the child, or has chronic substance use disorder that prevents parenting.

• Court findings and protections around placement

  • The court cannot order foster care or permanent out-of-home placement for an African American or disproportionately represented child unless there is clear and convincing evidence the child would be at risk.
  • At every hearing for these children, the court must review the agency’s active reasonable efforts and require documentation showing culturally informed, strength-based, community-involved services.

• Required findings if active reasonable efforts are provided or not

  • When determining whether active reasonable efforts were made to preserve the family, the court must consider whether meaningful services were offered based on the family’s specific needs.
  • If the court finds the agency did not provide appropriate efforts, it must order the agency to immediately provide such efforts to preserve the family.

• Ensuring frequent visitation (260.641)

  • Agencies must promote regular and frequent visitation between the child and parents or custodians, siblings, and relatives.
  • If visitation is infrequent, agencies must actively work to increase its frequency and remove barriers.

• Noncustodial parents, relatives, and placement (260.65)

  • Before removing a child, agencies must identify and notify noncustodial or nonadjudicated parents and relatives, and provide legal resources.
  • Agencies must keep detailed records of these notification efforts.
  • Agencies must assess whether a noncustodial or nonadjudicated parent is able to care for the child before placing the child with that parent. If willing and able, the court should place the child with that parent under existing custody statutes.
  • Relative search, notice, engagement, and placement requirements apply to these cases.

• Termination of parental rights exceptions (260.67 Subd.3)

  • The bill outlines conditions under which parental rights may be terminated for African American or disproportionately represented children, including abandonment, being palpably unfit, and failure to correct conditions leading to out-of-home placement, with specific presumptions based on time out of the home and other factors.
  • Presumptions relate to time out of the home (e.g., 12 months within the last 22 months, or six months for younger children) and whether the parent has maintained regular contact or complied with court orders, among other factors.
  • The goal is to balance permanence for the child with evidence of the parent’s ability to care for the child.

• Case reviews and data on disproportionality (260.68 Subd.2)

  • Agencies must conduct case reviews for African American and other disproportionately represented children, create trend summaries, remediation plans, and report progress annually.
  • First summary report due by October 1, 2029, then annually, to the African American Child Well-Being Advisory Council, the commissioner, and legislative leaders.
  • The case reviews must track numerous data points (rates of maltreatment, removals, reunifications, services provided, placement outcomes, and permanency developments) broken down by race.
  • Reviews must identify barriers to reunification and access to culturally informed, trauma-informed services, and document efforts to engage fathers and other relatives.
  • If disproportionality or disparities are found, the agency must include a remediation plan with measurable outcomes aimed at reducing disparities and improving trauma-informed child wellbeing.

• Repealer

  • The old statutory definition of “Active efforts” (260.63 subd. 2) is repealed, removing that older standard and shifting to the new framework described above.

• Appendix (definition reference)

  • The repeal is accompanied by an Appendix that defines “Active efforts” as a rigorous, ongoing involvement with the child and family through all services, while the bill’s live provisions use “active reasonable efforts” and emphasize culturally informed, trauma-informed practices.

Implementation timeline and context

• Guidance from the commissioner for case reviews will begin November 1, 2028, with annual updates.
• The first comprehensive case review report to track disproportionality and related metrics is due October 1, 2029, with annual updates thereafter.
• The changes apply to how social services agencies operate with African American and other disproportionately represented children, with ongoing reporting and remediation requirements to reduce disparities.

What changes from current law

• Shifts the standard from “active efforts” to “active reasonable efforts” to prevent removal, while expanding safety planning and family support before removal.
• Tightens court review to require evidence of culturally informed, community-based services and to document active efforts.
• Strengthens requirements for frequent visitation, noncustodial relative placement, and notification of noncustodial/relatives before removal.
• Adds explicit termination of parental rights exceptions and presumptions tied to time out of the home.
• Increases data collection, oversight, and remediation planning focused on disproportionality and disparities.

Potential implications

• Could reduce unnecessary out-of-home placements for African American and other disproportionately represented children by emphasizing prevention and family supports.
• May increase family involvement, culturally informed services, and trauma-informed approaches.
• Creates stronger data-driven accountability for agencies and clearer pathways to permanency for children who cannot remain with their families.

Relevant Terms - African American child - disproportionately represented child - out-of-home placement - safety plan - active reasonable efforts - reasonable efforts - family reunification - family preservation - culturally informed services - trauma-informed services - community-based services - strength-based services - family group consultation - visitation - frequent visitation - noncustodial parent - nonadjudicated parent - relatives / relative placement - relative search notice - notice to noncustodial/relatives - noncustodial or nonadjudicated parent assessment - transfer of permanent legal and physical custody - termination of parental rights exceptions - abandonment - palpably unfit - egregious harm - active reasonable efforts findings - case review - disproportionality - disparities remediation - African American Child Well-Being Advisory Council - commissioner - legislative committees - 260C.221 (family resources), 260C.178, 260C.201 (custody and placement references) - 260.64, 260.641, 260.65, 260.67, 260.68 (statutes referenced)