DHS Program Resources Children's Mental Health Liaison Directory DCYF Liaison Directory

Department of Children Youth and Families (DCYF) - CMH Liaison Directory

Department of Children Youth and Families (DCYF)

Partners and Providers | Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families

Below are the administrations within this agency and program areas that directly or indirectly relate to Children’s Mental Health.

DCYF Administrations

• Family Wellbeing: Child Support, MFIP, SNAP, Sun Bucks, Summer EBT
• Child Safety and Permanency: Foster Care, Extended Foster Care, Voluntary Foster Care, Title IV-E, Child Safety, Family Preservation, American Indian Wellbeing, African American Child and Family Wellbeing, Qualified Residential Treatment Programs
• Early Childhood: Early Learning, Child Care, Help Me Connect, Parent Aware, Head Start, Help Me Grow, School Readiness
• Economic Opportunity and Youth Services: Restorative Practices, Youth Services, Juvenile Justice, Health & Resiliency, Ethnic & Racial Disparities, Poverty Programs, Nutrition Programs, Emergency Food Programs

DCYF Liaison Directory

Family and Children’s Programs Team - Office of Transformation

Children’s Mental Health and Disabilities

Liaisons

• Katharine Alsop – Children’s Mental Health Program Manager
• Leah Wilson – Children’s Disability Services Program Manager

Shared Email: transformationoffice.dcyf@state.mn.us

Public URL/Referral Link: Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families

Scope / Notes: The Family and Children’s Programs Team serves as the primary liaison group within DCYF, connecting constituents, professionals, and programs to resources and collaborators in Children’s Mental Health and Children’s Disabilities. Positioned within the Office of Transformation—rather than any specific DCYF administration—this team facilitates collaboration across DCYF’s various administrations and programs, as well as with other state agencies, local government, community organizations, and stakeholders statewide. They specialize in liaising for programs and services in the DCYF Administrations: Early Childhood, Child Safety and Permanency, Economic Opportunity & Youth Justice, and Family Well Being.

Questions This Group Can Answer:

• What programs and services are available within each DCYF administration, including Early Childhood, Child Safety and Permanency, Economic Opportunity & Youth Justice, and Family Well Being?
• Who are the key contacts or teams responsible for policy and program guidance within these administrations?
• How to navigate connections between programs across different DCYF administrations to support comprehensive approaches for children’s mental health and disabilities.
• Guidance on access points, referral pathways, and collaboration opportunities between DCYF administrations and with external partners.
• Information on policy interpretation, program eligibility criteria, and service delivery requirements within various DCYF children’s mental health and disability programs.
• How foster care status interacts with treatment in facilities, navigating required mental health services or documentation for child welfare involved children and families, how funding sources for different services may interact with child welfare

Questions This Group CANNOT Answer:

• Locating or arranging specific residential placements, treatment options, or clinical/service decisions for individual children or families.
• Providing clinical recommendations or determining best course of treatment for individual children or families.
• Urgent, case-specific child welfare questions that require immediate consultation or decision-making; these are better directed to Rapid Child Welfare Consultation services or appropriate caseworkers.