Kelis Houston is back at the Minnesota Capitol for another year advocating for a bill to address racial disparities in the foster care system, specifically the disproportionate number of Black children who encounter the system. It’s legislation she started fighting for in 2017.

“We have to keep putting pressure on the system to change things,” Houston said. “I’m happy with the progress we’ve had this session. It feels a lot different.”

Houston is the executive director of Village Arms and the chair of the NAACP Child Protection Committee. Her passion for the Minnesota African American Family Preservation Act, now called the Layla Jackson Law, is rooted in experience. She previously served as guardian ad litem and spent years working at St. Joseph’s Home for Children with kids who’d been removed from their families.

“It was there that I saw the trauma that children experience when they were separated from their families,” said Houston. “At any given time 100% of the kids on the emergency shelter unit would be African American kids.”

The most recent Minnesota Department of Human Services Out-of-Home Care and Permanency legislative report from 2021 shows African American children were twice as likely as white children to be placed in out-of-home care, and children who identified as two or more races were seven times more likely. Care also lasted longer and was less likely to end in reunification for those children.

“This is something we need to address, we need to fix,” said Rep. Esther Agbaje, DFL-Minneapolis, who authored the House version of the bill. “We know when a child stays in their kinship circle, they tend to do better.”

The House version is 27 pages long, and it addresses multiple areas of the system. It includes requiring families to be connected with resources to address issues of poverty, limits when parental rights can be terminated and requires social services agencies to reach out to noncustodial parents and relatives as alternatives to foster care.

“Making sure the child protective system is not penalizing parents because they might be poor, making sure kids — if they can’t stay with a parent — are staying with a relative then also ensuring our county workers and social workers have that cultural competency training,” Agbaje explained.

It also creates an African American Child Well-Being Advisory Council, which will review reports, cases and data, among other responsibilities. In addition, it would codify the existing African American Child Well-Being Unit.

“This bill is not going to be a one-and-done,” Agbaje said. “It’s a complicated and convoluted system, so we’re just trying to get at it bit by bit.”

She added, “What we’re hopeful of is if we can get some new policies in place, we can come back and look at how they’ve been implemented and then also begin to work at what does enforcement look like?”

The bill is currently moving through the committee process.

“It’s high time for us to do something about this issue,” Houston said.

A DHS spokesperson sent 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the following statement:

“DHS is providing technical assistance on the Minnesota African American Family Preservation Act, now named the Layla Jackson Act, to ensure if enacted it can be implemented effectively by local child welfare agencies, and is aligned with federal laws governing foster care and permanency. Until we’ve had the chance to review a final version of the bill, it’s hard to say how long it will take to implement proposed changes, or how significant those changes would be.

“DHS remains deeply concerned about the pattern of disproportionate placements for African American children in Minnesota and supports efforts to eliminate those disparities. Our recently established African American Child Well-being Unit is and has been working directly with communities to hear recommendations from those with lived experience and expertise as we seek equitable services in all areas of child welfare. We are working with system stakeholders to identify additional strategies to include in our upcoming federal Minnesota’s Children and Family Services Plan as we continue addressing this concern.

“We still have considerable work ahead. Our vision for child and family well-being means reducing racial disparities so all Minnesota families can thrive.“

Minnesota Department of Human Services