CWB Update - November 2017

November 27, 2017

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Key Highlights This Month:

Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI) kick-off event was held 10/24 and 25. Over 200 stakeholders attended this event. 8 Action Workgroups have been developed. Looking for county representation on workgroups. See attached QPI document.
QPI is a movement to reorient child welfare around parenting. It is an approach developed by the Youth Law Center to strengthen foster care within communities. There were a number of out-of-state presenters from Nevada, California and Pennsylvania, who shared perspectives of their experience with QPI. QPI MN is being lead at this time from the private foster care agencies and AspireMN. The next steps in the process include the formation of a Steering Committee. This committee will be responsible for implementation of the QPI plan for MN. This will include representation from DHS, Counties, private foster care agencies and other partners. Under the Steering Committee will be action workgroups. At the conclusion of the kick—off event, ten action workgroups were formed. See below for action workgroup topics. The time frame for this is approximately one year for the plan to be developed.

Public Disclosure workgroup nearing completion. The purpose of this workgroup is to develop a process that eases the burden to counties regarding public disclosure requests, create more consistency and uniformity in information provided in response to such requests. See attached “Findings and Information Form-Draft”.
New CFSR process and Public Disclosure Requests will be presented at a MACSSA forum on 12/6/17.
Timeliness of Response on Child Protection Assessments/Investigations-DHS received legal clarification that the time to contact with alleged victims starts when the agency receives the child maltreatment report. This change in interpretation will be effective 1/1/18.

Requested Actions Needed From MACSSA:

Volunteers to participate in the action workgroups. Action Workgroups for QPI MN include:

1. Information Sharing – getting foster parents the info they need as soon as a child is placed
2. Transitions – what should be done before a child moves
3. Communications/Chain of Command – how does the system work, who do you call
4. Language around foster parenting
5. Kinship – how do things specifically apply to kin, what is the basic training they should have at placement
6. Access to community resources
7. Recruitment and Support
8. Birthparent/Foster Parent partnerships
9. QPI Brand
10. Maintaining sibling relationships
Will circulate workgroup information as soon as it is released.

New Trends in This Area:

Issues/Concerns Regarding This Topic:

Need more county representation on QPI workgroups. (There was a very small amount of county representation/participation in the QPI kick-off event.)
Boston Globe public disclosure request regarding child fatalities between 2011-2016.

Legislative Impacts:

MACSSA is requesting Technical Assistance from DHS to research and develop an alternative child maltreatment screening framework. The focus would be establishing response times based on the presenting risk to the child at the time of the report (e.g. access to the offender). This framework may be considered as a MACSSA legislative position.

Supporting Materials:
QPI Kickoff Summary
Public Disclosure Form

Contacts(s): Suzanne Arntson/Brenda Mahoney