Get Involved
OBFF Community Advisory Boards
The Boards play a critical advisory and governance role with OBFF. Their duties include:
- Assisting the Ombudsperson in identifying priority issues and selecting matters for attention;
- Helping develop policies, plans, and programs that support the Ombudsperson’s functions;
- Establishing culturally grounded protocols for engaging with communities of color;
- Advising on procedures for the Ombudsperson’s statutory subpoena power to compel testimony or evidence;
- Providing reports and recommendations aimed at improving competence, efficiency, justice, and the protection of families’ rights.
See current board openings. Interested candidates can apply online with the Office of the Secretary of State:
- African American Families Community Board
- Asian Pacific Islander Families Community Board
- Spanish Speaking and Hispanic/Latino Families Community Board
Citizen Review Panels
Chisago, Hennepin, and Ramsey Counties are seeking volunteer citizens to join the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) Citizen Review Panels. Established under federal law and state statute, Citizen Review Panels are an important way community members can improve our child welfare system. In partnership with local counties and DCYF, panel members examine child welfare policies, practices and procedures, then make recommendations for positive systems change. Members may include foster care alumni (21+ years of age), parents, attorneys, law enforcement, school personnel, Tribal workers, business representatives, folks with lived experience as a survivor of child abuse or neglect, faith community leaders, child welfare professionals, etc. Applicants should live or work in the county of the Citizen Review Panel. Members are unpaid for their time at meetings but per diem stipends are available.
Panel members help improve child welfare practices and policies by:
- Examining specific child welfare cases, including active or closed cases, maltreatment reconsiderations, child fatality and near fatality cases; and providing independent insight for improvement
- Providing feedback to key leaders on the internal workings of the child protection system
- Participating in educational events, including a national conference for Citizen Review Panel members
- Receiving ongoing support, training and organizational updates from county and state staff.
For more information, contact Laura Gapske at laura.gapske@state.mn.us or visit the DCYF website.
Minnesota Children's Justice Act Task Force
The Minnesota Children's Justice Act Task Force (CJATF) serves a dual role as both a Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) citizen review panel and a multi-disciplinary task force on children's justice. It is also charged with the review and evaluation of the investigative, administrative and judicial handling of child maltreatment-related cases and with making policy and training recommendations for improvement. Its membership is composed of professionals with knowledge and experience relating to the criminal justice system and the issues of child physical abuse, child neglect, child sexual abuse and exploitation, and child maltreatment-related fatalities.
Per diem stipends are available for members unpaid for their time at meetings. The task force also provides technical support in the administration of the Children's Justice Act grant, including funding recommendations and administrative oversight to promote CJA grant-supported activities/projects that:
- Reform State systems and improve the process by which states respond to cases of abuse and neglect
- Monitor implementation of task force recommendations and supporting inter-agency collaboration
- Focus on front-end investigative, administrative and judicial handling of cases of child abuse and neglect.