NAACP files civil rights complaint over Minnesota's child welfare practices

March 4 (UPI) -- The state of Minnesota and its two largest counties have engaged in systematic discrimination against Black families in their child welfare policies, according to a complaint filed Monday.

The Minneapolis branch of the NAACP and the legal advocacy group Children's Rights claim in the complaint that the Minnesota Department of Human Services, the Hennepin County Department of Human Services and the Ramsey County Department . of Social Services have "relentlessly targeted and terrorized" Black families for the removal of children "under the guise of child protection."

The complaint was submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights under the provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as other statutes, and urges Biden administration officials to investigate the state and counties.

The groups allege the child welfare system, as operated overseen by the state and operated within its two largest cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, violated civil rights laws "in ways that discriminate against, and are having a disparate and harmful impact on, Black children and families."

"Our children are the future, and we must protect them," NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement. "The NAACP is proud to stand with our Minneapolis branch and Children's Rights in advocating for Black families across Minnesota who have been relentlessly targeted and terrorized."

The state of Minnesota, he says, has for years "discriminatorily surveilled and separated Black families," resulting in what the complaint calls "significant adverse and discriminatory effects on the basis of race that are without any legitimate justification."

Children's Rights Executive Director Sandy Santana added: ."The federal government acknowledges the racially discriminatory and harmful impact of child welfare systems on Black children and families, propped up by decades-old laws rooted in racism and the legacy of slavery."

"The impact has been devastating for children in Minnesota and across the country and we must use every tool to address it. In this moment we join with our NAACP partners in urging the Biden Administration to take action," she said.

UPI has reached out to the office of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for comment on the complaint.

It alleges that despite recent scrutiny over the removal of Black children from their families, the "disproportionate percentage" of Black families who have been investigated and have had children removed has remained "relatively unchanged" in during the last three years.

Minnesota's use of federal funds to "discriminatorily surveil and separate Black families" in Hennepin and Ramsey counties "warrant investigation into the violations of Title VI and its implementing regulations," the advocates claimed.