Resource Roadmap Agencies
The Adoption Medicine Clinic provides comprehensive child well-being assessments for youth who have experienced foster care, adoption, and/or kinship care. A team of specialists—usually consisting of an occupational therapist, medical provider, and psychologist—work together to identify the emotional, medical, and physical needs of each youth and how to address them. This multi-faceted approach, where multiple adoption competent and trauma-responsive specialists work together to develop a comprehensive assessment of each youth, is unique to the Adoption Medicine Clinic and is a valuable service available to the foster, adoptive, and kinship communities in Minnesota.
For more information, visit their website at https://adoption.umn.edu, call 612-365-7777, or email iac@umn.edu
Ampersand Families provides permanency and adoption services to older youth and families facing barriers to equity in child welfare and works to provide a sense of belonging, dignity, and hope to the youth they serve. Their services include child-specific recruitment; licensing, home studies, matching and placement, and pre- and post-permanency education and support for families; relative and kinship support; the Minnesota Heart Gallery, and Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics Developmental Trauma Assessments. Ampersand Families also offers a variety of programming for youth and families including MYVoice (Minnesota Youth Voice), the Buddy Family Program, and family retreats.
To learn more, visit https://ampersandfamilies.org or contact Ampersand Families at 612-605-1904 or info@ampersandfamilies.org.
Children’s Home Society of Minnesota is an organization that works in partnership with Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota (CHLSS) to provide statewide services to families interested in becoming a foster or adoptive resource to children waiting in foster care and provides child-specific recruitment for youth in need of permanency. CHLSS facilitates 16-hour pre-adoption education sessions for families interested in providing permanency for a child or teen in Minnesota foster care. CHLSS operates under the principles of best practice, being child-centered, understanding adoption is a lifelong journey, and respecting all voices represented throughout the process—that are foundational to the support provided to families and youth throughout the recruitment, home study, matching, and placement processes and post-finalization.
Visit https://chlss.org, call 651-646-7771 or 800-952-9302, or email welcome@chlss.org to learn more.
Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota (LSS) is an organization that provides therapeutic foster care and works with adoptive, foster, and kinship families in Greater Minnesota. The LSS Therapeutic Foster Care Teams are currently based in Moorhead, Duluth, Alexandria, Willmar, St. Cloud, Brainerd, Mankato, Rochester, and in the Metro area. Additionally, LSS also facilitates free in-person community-based trainings (virtual during COVID) that focus on resources and supports available to families locally.
If you are interested in learning more, visit https://www.lssmn.org, call 800-582-5260, or email fostercare@lssmn.org.
Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center (MIWRC) is a nonprofit social and mental health services organization committed to traditional ways of being and support of Native women and their families. The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) Kinship Program at MIWRC provides individualized support to ICWA adoptive, foster, and kinship families—as well as families caring for relatives through “informal” care (relative caregivers). ICWA Kinship workers visit with families and offer permanency support through barrier identification, compliance assistance, cultural support, case management, advocacy, and more. Additional services provided include bi-weekly groups for adoptive, foster, kinship families, and relative caregivers; education and training; and annual family activities and events.
Visit https://www.miwrc.org/ or call 612-728-2000 to learn more.
MN ADOPT
MN ADOPT is an organization committed to providing adoption competent and trauma responsive education, resources, and support to adoptive, foster, kinship, and birth families throughout the state, as well as the professionals that serve them. Programs for families and professionals include training and education; the HELP Program, which provides families with referrals to local adoption-competent mental health professionals; the HELP Post-Adoption Navigator Program, which connects with families who have recently finalized their adoptions from MN foster care and provides them with post-finalization supports and resources available to them; and Post-Adoption Search, a service focused on removing barriers and providing support to adoptees searching for information about their birth families and their adoption.
For more information, visit https://fosteradoptmn.org, call 612-861-7115, or email info@mnadopt.org.
Nexus Family Healing
Nexus-Kindred Family Healing is a statewide organization with offices in the Metro, Central, North East, North West, and Southern regions of the state. The organization provides culturally-sensitive and trauma responsive services and resources specific to Minnesota Waiting Children and adoptive, foster, and kinship families. Among the services provided are adoption training and education, home studies/home study updates, relative adoption, child-specific recruitment, child placement, and post-adoption services.
To learn more, visit https://www.nexusfamilyhealing.org, call 763-551-8640, or email lgratke@nexuskindred.org.
North American Council on Adoptable Children/Adoptive Foster Kinship Connections
The North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) is an organization that provides advocacy, training and education, and support to adoptive, foster, and kinship families; youth who have experienced foster and/or adoption; and professionals throughout the United States and Canada. NACAC’s MN-based program, Adoptive Foster Kinship Connections (AFKC), is a statewide peer supportive network for adoptive, foster, and kinship families in Minnesota. AFKC offers in-person topic and regional-specific support groups (virtual during COVID), a large Facebook group, one-on-one support, retreats, and programming for children and teens. AFKC understands how vital connections are for adoptive, foster, and kinship families and the need for support from families with similar lived experiences. The support and opportunities provided by Adoptive Foster Kinship Connections can help families feel less alone and isolated.
If you are interested in learning more, visit https://www.nacac.org, call 651-644-3036, or email connections@nacac.org.
North Homes Children and Family Services
North Homes Children and Family Services is an organization located in Northern Minnesota—with offices in Duluth, Grand Rapids, and Bemidji—that provides services and support to children in foster care and adoptive, foster, and kinship families. The services provided by North Homes include child-specific recruitment, home studies, licensing, placement support, support groups (in-person and virtual), trainings, family activities, and post-adoption support. North Homes’ post-adoption supports focus on helping families connect, problem-solve, find resources in the community, learn about upcoming trainings, and developing their supportive networks.
For more information, visit https://www.northhomes.org or call 218-327-3000.
PACT for Families Collaborative
PACT for Families Collaborative is a child’s mental health and family services collaborative organized through a Joint Powers agreement with Kandiyohi, Meeker, McLeod, Renville, and Yellow Medicine counties. PACT provides support and services to families who reside in the 5-county area, as well as adoptive, foster, and kinship families whose children and teens have experienced foster care in the 5-county region, but reside elsewhere in the state. PACT has Family Liaisons with lived experience who provide one-on-one support through weekly meetings (in-person, phone, or virtual) in which they help the family set goals, learn how to advocate for themselves, share resources, and simply provide a listening ear. PACT also facilitates monthly support groups and organizes family activities to give families an opportunity to have fun and connect.
If you would like to learn more, visit https://www.pactforfamilies.org/families-forever, call 320-231-7030, or email Jessica.erickson@pactforfamilies.org.
The Reel Hope Project
The Reel Hope Project is an organization that creates videos of children and teens in the Minnesota foster care system who are in need of permanency. Each video is professionally created and highlights the best qualities of each child and teen—the videos are then provided to the child or teen and are used in a variety of efforts to find families for them. Reel Hope also has a new initiative focused on bringing awareness to the need for services that focus on family preservation—either by providing support and resources to families on the front end to help them avoid system involvement, or through family reunification—when safe and possible to do so.
To learn more, visit https://www.thereelhopeproject.org, call 612-888-0494, or email info@thereelhopeproject.org.
UMOJA
UMOJA MN, Swahili for “unity”, is a camp for foster, adoptive, and kinship families with African American children. UMOJA offers three camps per year that focus on helping children and teens develop and shape their identities through opportunities to learn about African American history and culture. Parents are provided with training and resources on supporting and instilling racial and cultural pride in their children, and understanding the importance of community connections for their children and family as a whole.
For more information, visit https://evolveservices.org/umoja-mn/, call 651-439-2446, or email jjohnson@evolveservices.org.