Àlex Pérez

Sep 30, 2024 | sahanjournal.com | Alex Perez |Àlex Pérez |Nancy Spears |Trisha Collopy

This story is being co-published with The Imprint, a national nonprofit news outlet covering child welfare and youth justice. Amid drums, smudging and chants to “bring our children home,” supporters of the Indian Child Welfare Act gathered early this morning outside the Minnesota Capitol building, as the state’s highest court considered the latest legal threat to the bedrock 1978 law. The rally outside the Supreme Court today was deeply personal for Korina Barry, of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.

Sep 5, 2024 | sahanjournal.com | Alex Perez |Àlex Pérez |Trisha Collopy

This story is being co-published withThe Imprint, a national nonprofit news outlet covering child welfare and youth justice. Last week, Minnesota’s state Supreme Court announced the launch of its first Council for Child Protection and Maltreatment Prevention. The 26-member group of experts will spend the next year recommending policies and laws to improve outcomes for kids and families in the child welfare system and those at risk of abuse and neglect.

Jul 10, 2024 | sahanjournal.com | Alex Perez |Àlex Pérez |Trisha Collopy

This story is being co-published withThe Imprint, a national nonprofit news outlet covering child welfare and youth justice. At a ceremonial signing today in the governor’s chambers, Minnesota child welfare advocates, lawmakers and officials heralded passage of a new law that better protects families disproportionately represented in the foster care system. “This is the way governments should work,” said Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a citizen of the White Earth Nation.

May 18, 2024 | sahanjournal.com | Alex Perez |Àlex Pérez |Michael FitzGerald |Michael Fitzgerald |Trisha Collopy

After six years of failing to meet approval in the Minnesota statehouse, legislation that would greatly increase protections for almost all families facing separation through the foster care system has achieved resounding approval from Democrats and Republicans, in what could become a significant national precedent. Following a final vote today, the Minnesota African American Family Preservation and Child Welfare Disproportionality Act is now headed to Gov.

Apr 4, 2024 | newsbreak.com | Alex Perez |Àlex Pérez

"The pain is real and palpable here," said Representative Esther Agbaje, author of the African American Family Preservation Act. She's seen in 2020 in north Minneapolis. Credit: Jaida Grey Eagle | Sahan JournalThis story is being co-published with The Imprint, a national nonprofit news outlet covering child welfare and youth justice.