Benton County officials warn of heavy county workload and unclear definitions under new state child-welfare law

Will Chu, a human-services official, briefed Benton County commissioners on implementation requirements for the state law often cited in the meeting as the Minnesota African American Family Preservation and Child Welfare Disproportionality Act, which the county must implement by Jan. 1, 2027.

Chu said the law's intent is to reduce out-of-home placements and emphasize family preservation by requiring "active efforts" to identify relatives and provide culturally appropriate services. "The state has not defined what disproportionately represented means at this time," Chu said, and that lack of definition makes it hard to estimate who the law will cover.

Chu said two counties (Hennepin and Ramsey) piloted the approach beginning Jan. 1, 2025, but local staff found the pilot required substantial additional documentation and supervisory time. He warned that counties outside the pilot will have to complete case reviews on all active child-protection cases and create annual trend reports, work not previously tracked at county level. "This is not something that a county level has ever been required to do," he said.

County staff identified three practical barriers: data systems that cannot capture the new fields the law requires (SSIS cannot currently record some items the statute requires), a shortage of culturally specific provider capacity in Greater Minnesota, and an uncertain funding picture. Chu cited $45 million the legislature set aside for technology modernization and smaller appropriations for pilots, but said it's unclear how much of that has been spent on systems counties must use. "There is 0 funding attached to this, but a lot more implementation requirements from the state," Chu told the board.

Commissioners pressed for clarity on operational impacts. Chu offered sample workload math: Benton County averages roughly 168 child-protection cases annually; he estimated active-efforts cases could add on the order of 40 to 50 additional worker-hours per case, and that those hours could translate into the equivalent of several full-time staff for the county.

Several commissioners said they planned to elevate the issue with the Association of Minnesota Counties and state legislators; the board scheduled further attention at regional meetings and said it would press for definition, implementation guidance and funding.

Provenance: Will Chu presentation and Q&A (topic introduced SEG 1210; discussion ends SEG 1704).