Minnesota Promise:
A Grounding Vision for the Foster Movement in MN
Co-created with those with lived expertise in out-of-home foster care, this report clearly shows the ways our current child welfare system is failing Fosters, and declares a bold truth: the predictable injustices Fosters face are not inevitable, and they are preventable. Collectively, Minnesotans have a responsibility to fulfill our promise to Minnesota Fosters, and the MN Promise Report highlights bold ideas and action steps that every Minnesotan can take to support the growing Foster Movement!
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It’s here! Foster Advocates proudly releases the MN Promise Report.
We need your help to bring this report to print!
Help us meet our goal and show Minnesota Fosters that a Movement is truly behind them!
Every Minnesotan has a role to play in the Foster Movement.
We will be diving into community organizing later this year, building relationships across the state and hosting events to dive into the details and actions laid out in the report. In the meantime, we want to give YOU time to think about how you can be a part of this movement. Can you set aside time in to dive into this action excerpt and the full report? What do you need to bring up the action steps in here at your place of work? Can you talk about MN Promise with THREE people who should know about the report? What can you do to support the broader Foster movement?
“As Foster leaders, we welcome you to the table to be a part of that change. Throughout the report you’ll see lots of ways you can engage, and being a part of the movement will look different for everyone. No one has to do everything, but everyone can do something.”
— 2025 MN Promise Committee
When you think of the promise Minnesota makes to Fosters, what does that mean to you?
Collectively, as Minnesotans we give the state the power to remove children from their families of origin, which is a trauma even when it is the ‘right’ thing to do. For some, giving this power to the state means promising Fosters they will be safer in state care. For others, it means the state promises to step in as a parent, nurturing a young person through independence and beyond. Whatever your perspective, the reality is that the promise is not being met, by any measure, for many Fosters across Minnesota.
How do we address these challenges? To achieve a shift in imagination and outcomes, we must listen to Fosters.
MN Promise by the numbers:
Sessions held: 13
Counties represented: 50+
Fosters engaged: 120+
Giant Poster Sheets: 200+
Community Partners contacted: 280+
Words in session transcripts: 250,000+
From 2022-2024, we traveled the state hosting listening and design sessions with Fosters to gather their BOLD ideas for systems change. We’ve spent the summer and fall analyzing all this data, reviewing drafts with our Foster leaders, and preparing for the next stage of our MN Promise campaign.
Interested in supporting the next stage of MN Promise?
We’d love to partner with you for event and network sponsorship opportunities! Reach out to elena@fosteradvocates.org for more information.
A big thank you to:
2025 Launch and Movement Building Sponsors: John and Denise Graves Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Sauer Family Foundation
Listening Session Sponsors: American Indian Community Specific Board, Duluth-Superior Area Community Foundation, Initiative Foundation, Ordean Foundation, Ramsey County Social Services , Sauer Family Foundation, Women’s Foundation of Minnesota
Listening Session Hosts: 180 Degrees, American Indian Community Housing Organization , Cultivate Mankato, Headwaters Music and Arts, Indigenous Roots, Metro State University, Quarry Hill Nature Center, Minnesota State University Moorhead, St. Cloud State University, University YMCA