This webinar is intended to provide an overview of Minnesota’s Child Foster Care Licensing Guidelines. This webinar will highlight the steps of the home study assessment and licensing process and the importance of collaboration between licensing and placing agencies to better serve children in foster care.

The Child Foster Care Licensing Guidelines apply to homes licensed by Minnesota counties and private licensing agencies.  These guidelines do not apply to homes licensed by a Tribe unless the Tribe has chosen to be licensed under the DHS licensing structure.

April Grissom is the Child Foster Care Lead Licensing Consultant with the Department of Human Services, Licensing Division.  April has over 18 years of experience as a child foster care licensing worker with three different licensing agencies. April holds a Bachelor of Science from Minnesota State University, Mankato, and is a licensed social worker with the Minnesota Board of Social Work.

Michelle Chalmers is the Policy Specialist in the Permanency Support unit at the Minnesota Department of Human Services.  Michelle has worked in child welfare since 1989 and has held a variety of roles in foster care and permanency, including co-founding and serving as executive director of a non-profit that provides permanency services to older youth and families who face barriers to equity in child welfare.  She has been a foster and host home parent to six teens, now aged 29 to 43, and she herself aged out of care in Colorado.  Michelle holds a Bachelor of Arts from Colorado College and a Master of Social Work from Augsburg College (now Augsburg University).