[ST. PAUL, MN] – Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan today announced that they have selected Misty Coonce to serve as the Ombudsperson for the Office of Foster Youth. As ombudsperson, Coonce will stand up the new office to investigate decisions, acts, and other matters related to the health, safety, and welfare of youth in foster care. Coonce was selected by the Governor and Lieutenant Governor following an open, competitive application process and multiple rounds of panel interviews.

“I am pleased to select Misty Coonce as the first ombudsperson for the Office of Foster Youth,” said Governor Walz. “Misty has firsthand experience providing adoption services and advocating for youth in foster care. She is well prepared to take on this role as an advocate and champion for children in Minnesota’s foster care system. I look forward to seeing Misty apply her expertise to her work as Ombudsperson.”

“As the new ombudsperson for the Office of Foster Youth, Misty Coonce will bring her powerful story and lived experience to this role serving and protecting Minnesota’s youth in foster care,” said Lieutenant Governor Flanagan. “I’m grateful for her commitment to centering equity and advancing dignity in this critical work. I know her work will move us closer to making Minnesota the best state in the country for kids.”

About Misty Coonce
Misty Coonce is a senior program director at Ampersand Families, an agency whose mission is to provide permanency and adoption services to older youth and families who face barriers to equity in child welfare and champion systemic changes that advance belonging, dignity, and hope. She brings personal experience as an adoptee from the Minnesota foster care system whose family also provided kinship care to various relatives while she was growing up. Coonce earned her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a Licensed Independent Social Worker in the state of Minnesota.

About the Office of Foster Youth Ombudsperson
Created by the Legislature in 2022, the Office of the Foster Youth Ombudsperson may investigate decisions, acts, and other matters related to the health, safety, and welfare of youth in foster care to promote the highest attainable standards of competence, efficiency, and justice for youth who are in the care of the state.