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   From: leroysoetoro@americans-first.com   
      
   https://sahanjournal.com/news-partners/rollout-of-landmark-minnesota-chil   
   d-welfare-reform-ruled-unconstitutional/   
      
   This story was originally published by The Imprint, a national nonprofit   
   news outlet covering child welfare and youth justice. Sign up for The   
   Imprint’s free newslettershere.   
      
   A state district court judge has struck down the early rollout of a   
   landmark child welfare law in Minnesota meant to minimize   
   disproportionality.   
      
   The court said the Minnesota African American Family Preservation and   
   Child Welfare Disproportionality Act’s gradual implementation is   
   unconstitutional because protections are not being granted to all who   
   are eligible.   
      
   The law requires social workers to make “active efforts” to avoid   
   separating children from their families if they are from groups   
   overrepresented in foster care due to their “race, culture, ethnicity,   
   disability status, or low-income socioeconomic status.”   
      
   The act, passed in May 2024, is set to take effect statewide on Jan. 1,   
   2027. But two large counties, Hennepin and Ramsey, began rolling out the   
   new provision this January as part of a “phase-in” plan developed by the   
   state Legislature. Under the local pilot programs, the new standards   
   initially applied to 30% of eligible cases, with those percentages   
   increasing gradually over time.   
      
   The new court ruling, issued Dec. 3 in a U.S. District Court in Hennepin   
   County, states that this aspect of the law violated the 14th Amendment’s   
   right to equal protection, “treating some families as test cases, while   
   excluding others from the services and protections.”   
      
   “The Phase-In is decidedly underinclusive. It excludes a significant   
   percentage of the population the statute is designed to benefit,”   
   District Court Judge Matthew Frank wrote. “It discriminates on the basis   
   of race and the randomness of geography and timing.”   
      
   Frank’s order bars the law’s two-year implementation from continuing as   
   envisioned by lawmakers. As a result, unless the Legislature creates a   
   new phase-in approach that does not violate Constitutional rights, the   
   law will take effect statewide on Jan. 1, 2027 — and apply to all   
   eligible children at once.   
      
   Follow-up responses have been swift.   
      
   State Rep. Esther Agbaje, who authored the African American Family   
   Preservation and Child Welfare Disproportionality Act, told The Imprint   
   Thursday “there are plans” to update the legislation in the 2026   
   session.   
      
   “This ruling provides additional guidance that will augment the insights   
   gained through Ramsey and Hennepin counties’ implementation,” she wrote   
   in an email. “We know this legislation is essential for supporting Black   
   children who are overrepresented in Minnesota’s welfare system. We will   
   continue working closely with the Minnesota Department of Children,   
   Youth, and Families to protect and enhance the systems meant to shield   
   these children from greater harm.”   
      
   A spokesperson for Ramsey County said the implications are still being   
   assessed, but that the county is staying the course for now.   
      
   “At this time, Ramsey County is not changing our approach to the   
   identified Phase In program,” Casper Hill told The Imprint.   
      
   A spokesperson for Hennepin County’s Department of Human Services also   
   responded to inquiries, but said the impact of Frank’s ruling is not yet   
   clear.   
      
   “We are evaluating how to move forward, in consultation with our legal   
   counsel, the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families and   
   Ramsey County,” Maria Elena Baca, spokesperson for the county’s   
   Department of Human Services, wrote in an email. “We have a history of   
   strong work in this area — our work to launch the act is another   
   powerful step toward our goal of eliminating disparities in the child   
   welfare system.”   
      
   Baca added that Hennepin County supports the “phase-in process” and “is   
   committed to disparity elimination and to the specialized needs of each   
   family in our child welfare system. We stand firm in our support for the   
   Minnesota African American Family Preservation and Child Welfare   
   Disproportionality Act.”   
      
   Already, Baca added, “positive impacts” have been shown “in the need for   
   case management, out-of-home placement and court involvement.”   
      
   ‘Extremely disappointing’ for African Americans   
   Members of the Minnesota Legislature tried for years to pass various   
   versions of the law, to increase protections for Black families facing   
   child welfare investigations and separated by foster care removals.   
      
   At the time the first bill was introduced in 2017, Black children were   
   three times as likely to be removed from their homes as white children.   
   More recently, state data shows that in 2023, both Black and Hispanic   
   youth were around twice as likely to be in out-of-home care, while   
   Native American youth were 16 times more likely.   
      
   Given those dire statistics, family advocates such as Kelis Houston,   
   founder of the nonprofit Village Arms, fought hard for reforms that   
   would reduce the child welfare system’s disparate treatment of Black   
   families. But reached Thursday, she said she was unsurprised by the   
   ruling.   
      
   “From the beginning, we have been clear that phasing in the law is   
   problematic. We’ve voiced that concern time and time again,” Houston   
   said.   
      
   She argued that the law’s “should apply to all qualifying families, not   
   just those who are cherry-picked by county staff. Selective application   
   undermines both the spirit and the purpose of this legislation.”   
      
   In addition to only applying the heightened protections to a portion of   
   eligible families during the rollout phase, the two counties also   
   excluded many of the groups covered by the law, court filings show. Only   
   youth who are Black, mixed race or Indigenous but not subject to the   
   Indian Child Welfare Act have been included so far.   
      
   Prior to the passage of the African American Family Preservation and   
   Child Welfare Disproportionality Act, only children who are members of   
   Native American tribes or eligible for tribal membership have been   
   afforded active efforts. All others had been held to a lower standard of   
   “reasonable efforts” — referring to the actions social workers must take   
   to try to keep families intact or place children with kin before they   
   can be removed from home or parents’ rights are terminated.   
      
   But challenges to the law were expected in some legal and child welfare   
   circles — including among Native American legal scholars who pointed out   
   that active efforts for tribal children and families was granted by   
   Congress in 1978 not due to their race, but their sovereignty as   
   citizens of tribal nations subjected to a legacy of child removal.   
      
   Extending those protections based on race to include African Americans   
   could face constitutionality questions, they warned. Critics of earlier,   
      
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