Watching the Watchers: An Examination of the Minnesota Office of Ombudsperson for Families and Recommended Reforms to Expand Ombudsperson Services for Minnesota Foster Youth

Abstract

Our team of four graduate students from the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs, in partnership with Foster Advocates of Minnesota, evaluated the current capacity of the Minnesota Office of Ombudsperson for Families (OBFF) to serve foster youth. Foster children and youth in Minnesota are vulnerable to cracks in the child welfare system, and are disproportionately at risk of homelessness, disruption to education, poor mental health, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Through our research of states with both children and family ombudspeople, as well as foster youth ombudspersons, we found that foster youth in Minnesota currently lack access to the OBFF, and may benefit from having an ombudsperson equipped to investigate their specific complaints and to advocate for systems change on their behalf. This project sought to answer the following questions: (1) To what extent are foster youth being protected in an equitable and effective manner by the Minnesota Office of Ombudsman (OBFF) for Families? (2) What is the capacity of the current Minnesota OBFF to expand youth focused services? (3) What are other states doing to protect foster youth and maintain accountability in their child welfare systems? (4) To what extent would Minnesota benefit from instituting a Foster Youth Ombudsperson? (5) What steps must be taken to make the Minnesota OBFF a more accessible and effective service for foster youth?