Maya’s Law passed last week on the final day of the 2022 Minnesota legislative session.
Introduced by Foster Advocates, the bill requires workers to interview foster children separately from foster parents, keep a record of what was discovered during Family Assessments, and interview alleged maltreatment victims separately from adults if Substantial Child Endangerment or sexual abuse is alleged. (See Omnibus Bill lines 269.10-269.21 and 286.23-287.10).
This latter provision represents limited progress because the severity of maltreatment can’t be assessed reliably just from information received in a phone call. Realistically, separate interviews of children prior to the adults plus fact-finding procedures are always needed. However, as The Imprint reports, even this small improvement was controversial.
Fortunately, the state and counties have agreed to continue discussing these practices. As a result Maya’s Law represents modest but meaningful progress towards improved child safety.
Learn more about the bill, its provisions, and the controversy around it. Join Rich Gehrman for a full discussion and analysis in this week’s podcast, here or wherever you hear your favorite shows.
Read the transcript of the podcast here.