S.F. No. 716 Summary

• Establishes the Minnesota African American Family Preservation and Child Welfare Disproportionality Act to protect African American and disproportionately represented children by requiring "active efforts" (a higher standard than "reasonable efforts") to prevent unnecessary removal from families and promote family reunification.

• Requires safety planning with families before removal, prohibits out-of-home placement unless court finds clear and convincing evidence of serious emotional or physical damage, and restricts termination of parental rights to cases involving serious crimes or egregious harm.

• Mandates cultural competency training by January 1, 2027, for child welfare workers and makes it available to attorneys and judges; establishes the African American Child Well-Being Advisory Council and Unit to review cases and develop strategies to reduce racial disproportionality.

• Provides $5 million in FY2025 grants to Hennepin and Ramsey Counties ($2.5 million each) for a phase-in program; $1 million for family preservation grants to organizations led by African Americans and disproportionately represented communities; and $2.367 million for implementation statewide by January 1, 2027.

• Creates a public compliance and feedback portal, requires disaggregated data collection on child welfare outcomes, and modifies termination of parental rights procedures to reduce waiting periods from 48 to 24 months in certain cases.