Personal Belongings Engagement

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The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) wants to engage individuals and communities on the process of handling adoption personal belongings. The purpose of this engagement project is to seek feedback from community members about access and handling of personal belongings. The department will be speaking with adopted individuals, adoptive parents and kinship caregivers, birth parents, other relatives and interested individuals through quarterly engagement sessions and smaller work groups.

What is an adoption personal belonging?

A personal belonging, sometimes referred to as a personal effect, is an item that was given to the child-placing agency for the adoptee

The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) wants to engage individuals and communities on the process of handling adoption personal belongings. The purpose of this engagement project is to seek feedback from community members about access and handling of personal belongings. The department will be speaking with adopted individuals, adoptive parents and kinship caregivers, birth parents, other relatives and interested individuals through quarterly engagement sessions and smaller work groups.

What is an adoption personal belonging?

A personal belonging, sometimes referred to as a personal effect, is an item that was given to the child-placing agency for the adoptee or birth parent; it is not a form or document related to the adoption. Examples include photographs, letters, family heirlooms, keepsakes and/or documents unrelated to the adoption.

How did the Department of Children, Youth, and Families and child-placing agencies come to possess these items?

  • Contact and reunion services. DCYF has had many roles in the placement of children for adoption; some of the items may have been given directly to DCYF from adoptees, birth parents, social workers or other relatives.
  • Other items may have come to DCYF from private agencies that closed.

About privacy on this site

Please do not share full names, or other information that would make people or agencies identifiable in your public comments. If you have feedback you want to provide that contains your name or names a county, Tribe or agency, please email us privately at Crystal.Graves@state.mn.us or Betsy.Hodek@state.mn.us.

Feedback or Questions on Personal Effects

Once you've had the opportunity to become familiar with the Personal Belonging site, you may share questions or feedback here. If you share private information about yourself or others in your question, we will respond privately to you. Whether or not you share private information, if you would like a private response, please indicate that in your question.  We will publicly post the answers to common questions.

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  • Share Hello, I am trying to register for the second event and it says I need to make an account. Where would I do that? Can I come in-person on the 16th of July and then register on site? on Facebook Share Hello, I am trying to register for the second event and it says I need to make an account. Where would I do that? Can I come in-person on the 16th of July and then register on site? on Twitter Share Hello, I am trying to register for the second event and it says I need to make an account. Where would I do that? Can I come in-person on the 16th of July and then register on site? on Linkedin Email Hello, I am trying to register for the second event and it says I need to make an account. Where would I do that? Can I come in-person on the 16th of July and then register on site? link

    Hello, I am trying to register for the second event and it says I need to make an account. Where would I do that? Can I come in-person on the 16th of July and then register on site?

    Grace R asked about 2 months ago

    Hi Grace, 

    We sent out an email with the link to register for the Personal Belongings Engagement Session scheduled for Wednesday, July 16th from noon - 1:30pm that includes a light lunch. Please note that registration was requested only for in-person attendance for the lunch count. The link to register for the in-person event + lunch on 7/16/25 is provided below. 

    Please REGISTER by 7/9/25 to be included in the lunch count.   

    Are you on our Personal Belongings Engagement contact mailing list? If you would like to be added to the mailing list, you can send your email directly to me at: Betsy.Hodek@state.mn.us and I will add you to it.

    Thank you for your inquiry!

Page last updated: 07 Jul 2025, 12:19 PM