Lawmakers Urge Enhanced Child Protection Measures

A bipartisan group of lawmakers released a series of recommendations Thursday, February 4, to improve child protection laws and efforts. The members are part of a legislative task force created to review current protection measures underway and to propose new initiatives that would advance the system.

Among the task force’s proposals, they identified the need to push counties and the Department of Human Services to ensure that child protection coverage is available in all 87 Minnesota Counties and to measure the effectiveness of their efforts. The group also cited the need to review law enforcement’s involvement in removing children from a home and the impact on families of color and the community. Furthermore, the task force called for cooperative efforts between the departments to identify at-risk children and suggested strengthening the role of ombudspersons in protecting the interests of the child in child protection cases.

“I will tell you, and I will stand here and say, you will see us again next year, because we are not going to give up until we make sure that all of our vulnerable children are taken care of…” said Senator Julie Rosen, R-Vernon Center.

Acknowledging that a disproportionate amount of the vulnerable children are from minority populations, Senator Jeff Hayden, DFL-Mpls, said protecting children is a bipartisan, statewide effort. “This is an issue that everyone in the state should be watching,” he said.