Committee approves $300,000 grant program to help foster youth obtain identity documents

The Minnesota Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee voted to recommend Senate File 4337, a bill to appropriate $300,000 to the Department of Public Safety for a competitive grant program that would help foster youth and unaccompanied immigrant children obtain essential identity documents.

Senator Amanda Hemmingsen Yeager said the funding would ease a persistent resource gap for county social services, estimating assistance could reach about 200 youths. "Documents can include birth certificates and permanent residence cards, for example," she said, noting counties are statutorily required to help youth aging out of foster care obtain these documents but often lack the capacity.

Madeline Lohman, advocacy and outreach director at Advocates for Human Rights, told the committee the program would reduce barriers for unaccompanied and immigrant children and allow legal service providers and counties to coordinate more effectively; she cited the group's open cases and statewide need.

Members pressed about public reporting, grant transparency and the phrase "good standing" in the eligibility language. Committee counsel and witnesses said grantee awards and amounts would be public but that the bill must protect child-identifying data. Counsel drafted and the committee adopted an oral amendment that narrows confidentiality language: data that identifies a child and relates to services provided to that child by a grantee who is a responsible social services agency will be classified as private data under Minnesota statutes, with an explicit carve-out for attorney-governed materials under Minn. Stat. § 13.393.

Senator Clark moved that SF 4337, as amended, be recommended to pass and be re-referred to the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services; the motion carried by voice vote.