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Bill would bar screening families into child protection when lack of services prevents safe home placement; committee forwards measure after amendment
Summary
Representative Kraft’s bill would codify a 2023 policy excluding families who are actively seeking care but cannot safely bring a child home because of lack of services; mental‑health advocates and parents gave emotional testimony and the committee adopted an amendment and referred the bill to Judiciary, Finance and Civil Law.
Representative Ryan Kraft said House File 16,14 would move a Department of Human Services policy into statute to prevent families from being screened into child‑protection based solely on a lack of available children’s mental‑health services.
Why it matters: Testimony from NAMI Minnesota, the state ombudsman for mental health and developmental disabilities, parents and legal guardians described repeated instances in which hospitals threatened to report or actually reported parents to county child protection after caregivers refused an unsafe discharge for children with acute or violent mental‑health symptoms. Advocates…
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