Pine County HHS warns new child‑welfare law will raise costs, staffing and data demands

Pine County Health and Human Services Director Becky Fossman told the County Board on May 20 that the department spent well under its 2024 out‑of‑home placement budget but faces a new, unfunded state law that will significantly increase workload and costs by 2027.

Fossman said Pine County budgeted slightly more than $1.3 million for 2024 placement expenses across child protection, probation and children’s mental health and spent under $1 million, leaving the county about $500,000 under budget. "For 2024, we budgeted a little over $1,300,000," she said. "We were under budget by over $500,000 in those 3 line 3 3 big areas."

The reason the county may need new staff and spending, Fossman said, is the African American Family Preservation and Child Welfare Disproportionality Act — which she referred to in the meeting as the ACT or MASPA and said is spelled out in "Minnesota Statutes 260" — and the law’s requirement that counties perform "active efforts" and extensive case reviews for disproportionately represented children. "Active efforts is a very high bar, and truthfully, it's an expensive bar," Fossman said, listing transportation, rental assistance and hotel costs the county has paid in recent active‑efforts cases.

Why it matters: the law requires detailed, annually reported case data and establishes remediation planning if reviews indicate noncompliance. Fossman warned Pine County’s existing case‑management software (SSIS) cannot readily produce the required data and said the county will likely need a data specialist to prepare mandated reports. "SSIS doesn't support what it's asking for in the law," she said. "It's gonna take a lot of manpower, human power to get through that."

Key details from the presentation: - Placement spending trends: Fossman said child protection and probation placement costs have trended downward since 2019, and the county’s children's mental‑health placement spending — historically a source of large, unpredictable costs — was lower in 2024 than in some previous years. - Tenure and workload: Fossman cited longer staff tenure in Pine County than the state average (about 8–10 years locally versus roughly 2½ years statewide), crediting that stability with better outcomes and lower placement costs. - Active efforts examples: Fossman described cases where the county paid $1,000 to transport a parent for court‑ordered visits, provided six months of rental assistance, and paid for short‑term hotel and food to preserve family visits — examples she said illustrate why the active‑efforts standard is expensive. - Tribal cases and ICWA: Fossman and County Attorney staff explained that many Native American children in placement are under tribal jurisdiction or tribal court processes; those cases commonly remain in placement much longer because tribes emphasize reunification and often do not pursue termination of parental rights. That difference skews point‑in‑time placement counts, Fossman said, and is not fully captured by SSIS.

Board briefing and next steps: Fossman said Hennepin and Ramsey counties are already subject to the law’s phased implementation and that Pine County must prepare to start reporting in 2028 and be fully compliant by Jan. 1, 2027. She said county leaders should expect additional cost‑shift proposals at the state level affecting home‑ and community‑based services and behavioral health. Fossman recommended the board and residents contact state legislators and said she will present an earlier preliminary budget to the board in late May to reflect the anticipated fiscal impacts.

No formal county action to implement or fund the state requirements was taken during the meeting. Commissioners asked clarifying questions, and Fossman repeatedly urged outreach to legislators about the county’s fiscal exposure.

Fossman closed by asking commissioners to note the difference between point‑in‑time placement counts and placement rates, and she urged the board to consider staffing and data needs to meet the law’s reporting and remediation demands.