A foster care licensing bill HF1287/SF1558 was approved by all the necessary House and Senate Committees as of last Friday’s legislative deadline. It now must be approved by the finance committees in both chambers before moving to the respective floors for final passage.
This bill was developed by the Center to Transform Child Protection at Mitchell-Hamline Law School with support from many organizations, including Safe Passage. It removes numerous felonies as automatic barriers to becoming a licensed foster parent, substituting instead a consistent statewide process for evaluating prospective caregivers.
These more objective criteria will help address the issue that people of color are arrested and prosecuted for crimes disproportionately to white people. Going forward, applicants for foster care licenses will be evaluated on the same basis, using criteria that are directly related to their current ability to parent a child.
Perhaps these lawsuits will clarify that children are paying for this mistaken strategy with their lives, and prompt officials to modify it.