Child Wellbeing Update - May 2019

Key Highlights This Month:  

The MACSSA/DHS Child Well Being call took place on May 8, 2019 (click here for minutes).  

Educational Stability Workgroup met on April 25th.  MDE gave an update on year 1 of the pilot.  There was a total of $1.7 million in qualifying expenses that were reimbursed at a rate of 34%.  They had a total of 68 applications, served 397 students with a total number of days served at 25,301.  More information will come out in a report soon.  Regarding year 2, they received 72 applications (58 school districts, 24 counties – some counties have more than one district).  One thing new this coming year, school districts need to upload an agreement for foster care transportation with their Title 1 applications which are due by 9/30/19.  If there is not an agreement in place, there needs to be documentation showing that there is progress made on the agreement.  Legislatively – the Senate budget does include continuing the pilot an additional two years as is.  The House budget does not.  Hoping there will be agreement in conference committee to support this going forward.

Requested Actions Needed From MACSSA:  

Next month, we will be discussing ICWA case reviews and concerns with the current process which includes only looking at SSIS documentation and not hard or electronic file reviews.  In addition, some contracted agencies do not have access to SSIS.  If you have questions and/or concerns you would like brought forward on this subject, please email jodi.heurung@co.sherburne.mn.us or Shillabeer.amy@co.olmsted.mn.us.  

New Trends in This Area:  

Issues/Concerns Regarding This Topic:  

As part of the MACSSA/DHS CWB call, a small workgroup has met a couple of times to brainstorm ways to ensure that FAR grant dollars and CW-TCM dollars are not being accessed for the same activities.  There are discussions about potentially making some brass code changes but options are still are being explored to find solutions to this issue.  More updates to come.  

Legislative Impacts:  

Supporting Materials:  
Facility Investigations Bulletin
Notifying the Court of Placement Changes Bulletin
Resource Family and Caseworker Visit Tool-Bulletin

Contact(s):