SF4520

Purpose

• To update Minnesota law regarding child placement, foster care, adoption, and related child welfare processes. The bill expands who can apply for licensing as a childplacing agency, tightens background-check procedures across child care and foster settings, strengthens information sharing and kinship/relative placement options, and sets new rules for placement with parents in special treatment scenarios and for ongoing caseworker visits.

Main Provisions

• Childplacing agency licensing for nonprofit entities

  • Allows nonprofit limited liability companies (LLCs) to apply for a license to place children (i.e., operate as a childplacing agency).
  • Adds licensing and oversight requirements for these adoption-related agencies, including a requirement to be incorporated as a nonprofit and to meet bond and financial-tracking obligations.

• Adoption agency requirements

  • Adoption agencies must incorporate as a nonprofit or nonprofit LLC.
  • Must file a disclosure form, maintain a bond to cover record-transfer costs if the agency ceases operation, and submit annual financial reviews.

• Background studies for child care and related providers

  • Expands and clarifies when background studies are required for various licenses and providers (initial licensing, reauthorization, and new affiliations).
  • Requires fingerprinting as part of background checks and uses NETStudy 2.0 to process background studies.
  • Specifies background-study procedures for family child care providers, licensed centers, legal nonlicensed providers, and other related settings.
  • Requires repeat background studies for substitute caregivers in family child care at license renewal and allows exemptions in some scenarios (e.g., substitute caregivers with recent completed studies on or after a certain date).
  • Exempts certain after-school programs from these background-study requirements for employees who already had studies.

• Adoption records and information sharing

  • Adoption agencies must assist adoptive and birth families with information requests, including locating birth relatives, and must complete searches within six months.
  • Requires informing adoptive and birth parents about rights to obtain or restrict access to original birth records and about contact-preference forms.
  • Agencies must provide specific information to birth parents and to adopted persons regarding access to birth records and contact preferences.

• Permanency and kinship emphasis

  • Strengthens the priority of permanency placements with relatives when possible, especially for African American or disproportionately represented children, with guidance on transferring custody when appropriate.
  • Requires the responsible social services agency to inform relatives about Northstar Kinship Assistance benefits and eligibility, and about applying for benefits for the child.

• Placement with a parent in a residential treatment setting

  • Allows colocating a child with a parent who is enrolled in a licensed residential center for substance use disorder treatment for up to 12 months.
  • The agency retains access to necessary information and must continue to provide services to both the parent and child.
  • The agency can terminate the placement with or without a prior court order if the child’s health, safety, or welfare requires it.

• Monthly caseworker visits

  • Requires monthly visits to every child in foster care or on a trial home visit, with most visits in the child’s residence.
  • Defines who can perform these visits (a designated professional staff member), and sets expectations for the visits’ substance and duration to address safety, permanency, well-being, and school enrollment.
  • Allows video visits for youths aged 18 and older with their consent.
  • Specifies circumstances when visits may occur in the presence of others (e.g., parents, foster parents) and requires documentation if visits occur with others present.
  • Excludes certain roles (like guardian ad litem, certain facility staff) from being counted as “another person” for the purposes of these visits.

• Miscellaneous changes

  • Revisions clarify terminology related to foster care (“related” includes a broader definition that can include a child’s important friend who has a significant relationship with the child or their parent, while preserving protections under the Indian Child Welfare Act).
  • Adds clarifications about the roles of physicians and certain health professionals in background-study contexts.

Significant Changes to Existing Law

• Expands who can operate as a childplacing/adoption agency by permitting nonprofit LLCs to apply for licensure.
• Introduces bonding and annual financial-review requirements for adoption-license applicants.
• Broadly updates and enhances background-check processes for child-care and foster-care settings, including fingerprinting, NETStudy 2.0 workflows, and timing for rechecks and reapplications.
• Strengthens adoptee/birth-family information rights and access to birth records, and formalizes contact-preference and information-sharing obligations during adoption processes.
• Prioritizes kinship placements and clarifies procedures for informing relatives about benefits and eligibility (Northstar kinship).
• Allows temporary placement of a child with a parent in a residential substance-use treatment setting, with concomitant case management and ongoing services, and sets criteria for terminating such placement if needed.
• Reformats monthly caseworker-visit requirements to standardize frequency, location, and the role of who can conduct visits, while enabling remote (video) options for older youths.
• Refines the definition of “related” in foster care to include important friends under certain conditions, while upholding ICWA protections.

Impact on Stakeholders

• Children and families: Potentially faster and more flexible placement options through nonprofit adoption agencies; clearer access to records and rights; stronger emphasis on kinship and relative placements; more consistent caseworker oversight.
• Adoptive and birth families: More defined processes for information access, birth records, and contact preferences.
• Agencies and counties: New licensing, bonding, and financial-review requirements; updated background-check workflows and documentation; enhanced duties around case planning and family engagement.

Relevant Terms - childplacing agency - nonprofit LLC (nonprofit limited liability company) - adoption license / licensing - bonding requirement - financial review - background study - fingerprinting - national criminal history record check - NETStudy 2.0 - family child care - substitute caregiver - reauthorization - Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) - Indian Child Welfare Act protections - original birth record - birth record search / contact preference form - Northstar Kinship Assistance - kinship / relative placement - permanency placement - foster care - adoption - colocate / placement with a parent in SUD treatment - residential family-based substance use disorder treatment - monthly caseworker visits - case plan / out-of-home placement plan - guardian ad litem (GAL) - important friend (as defined for foster care)