Dayton’s budget proposal to extend benefit coverage for young foster kids

Under current law, foster children under age 6 lose half of their state-sponsored benefits when adopted or taken into the permanent care of a relative.

This makes it difficult for families to meet these young children’s’ needs, which can be significant and often connected to abuse and neglect, said Jim Koppel, assistant commissioner for children and family services, during a presentation to the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee Wednesday.

“What we want to do is not have people wait until a child turns 6 to adopt them,” he said.

Funding that would allow foster children under age 6 to keep their full benefits, even after permanent placement, is one of many issues that Gov. Mark Dayton’s $45.8 billion biennial budget proposal aims to address.

Dayton’s proposal includes a $19.6 million appropriation in the 2018-19 biennium and $49.1 million in the 2020-21 biennium to improve child protection and foster care.

In addition to extending benefits from the Northstar Care for Children Act to youth under age 6, to go into effect in February 2018, the $68.7 million in funding is also intended to pilot a response system to meet the needs of older homeless youth.

“The biggest feeder of homeless youth (is) kids aging out of foster care,” Koppel said. “We’re just trying to continue to meet needs of kids who have struggled … and have so much instability in their (lives) that we need to always be there to catch them.”

Other initiatives are intended to:

• increase oversight and support of local, county, and tribal welfare agencies;
• improve the state’s capacity to offer local resources, redesign programs, and support initiatives that would help meet state and federal benchmarks; and
• adopt federally recommended information systems to improve the coordination of care and the promotion of data sharing with other agencies, including the Department of Education and the court system.