Foster youth advocates in Minnesota have announced the naming of the state’s first ombudsperson overseeing issues and concerns of young people growing up in the state’s foster care system.
The appointment of Misty Coonce, whose most recent position was program director at the nonprofit Ampersand Families, could not be confirmed with state officials late Thursday. But an email blast sent late in the day by Foster Advocates — the state’s leading advocacy group for children and youth in the system — states that “that the Governor’s Office has officially appointed Misty Coonce to oversee this critical Office.”
The agency Coonce has worked for focuses on adoption from the foster care system. Her bio on the group’s website states she has served as program director there since 2016, following six years’ employment at another adoption and foster care agency. Coonce has experience supporting survivors of domestic violence and providing children’s mental health wraparound services, as well as a personal experience with the system she will soon oversee.
“In all facets of her work, Misty holds hope for people’s inherent ability to heal and grow from the challenges and trials life has brought,” the website states. “She views our role in this work to come alongside youth and families to address barriers in the path, through critical questioning of systems and processes and proactively building in supports so families can thrive.”
Coonce is a licensed social worker and earned a master’s degree in social work in 2010 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From her two children, she states that she’s had the opportunity to discover “the (many) joys, challenges and growth opportunities that come with parenthood.”
Ampersand Families describes Coonce’s personal connection with the child welfare system as well, stating that she is an adoptee from the foster care system, and grew up in a home with biological and adoptive siblings.
The legislation that created the new Office of the Foster Youth Ombudsperson was signed last year by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz. The state watchdog office aims to increase oversight of the child protection system and serve as a resource for foster youth. Coonce’s new office is charged with investigating individual complaints and identifying systemic problems. It will deliver regular reports to the governor.
Roughly 40 states have created independent statewide offices to respond to concerns from those living in foster care or serving such children, according to the National Council of State Legislatures.
Some states, including California and Colorado, have had ombudsperson offices for decades, allowing children and youth to report abuse by foster parents, concerns about social workers, or any other troubles that arise while in government custody. Other states, such as Louisiana, Ohio and West Virginia, have installed a similar watchdog office within the past few years.
Since 1991, Minnesota has had an Office of Ombudsperson for Families. But that office’s mission is to ensure that children and families of color are protected by law in proceedings involving public and private agencies. In the state and nationwide, Native American and Black families are significantly overrepresented in the child welfare system at all stages — from CPS investigations to terminations of parental rights.
Youth advocates in Minnesota — in recent years led by the St.Paul-based Foster Advocates nonprofit — have long argued that foster youth need their own ombudsperson.
Thus the creation of the new office in Minnesota has been heralded by those closest to the system.
“Our voices are finally being heard,” former foster youth Ada Smith testified before the Legislature last March. “Our parents are finally trying to do their job because the state is our parent. It just seems like a brighter future.”
Jeremy Loudenback contributed to this report.
