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I’m here because every child deserves a home and to feel safe.
Gina, Social Worker at Nexus-Kindred
Our Approach to Fostering

When family systems break down or a crisis occurs, we’re here to help. We work tirelessly to make sure every child is cared for in a safe and secure home—whether they need short-term care while a family is in transition or a permanent place to call their own.

Learn more about our approach.

Our Foster Care Services

TRADITIONAL FOSTER CARE

We make sure youth with unique needs (from birth through age 21) have a safe place to live in a family setting. Read more about our approach to foster care at the link above.

EMERGENCY FOSTER CARE

When kids need immediate placement in a safe and nurturing environment—usually in situations of abuse, neglect, or unsafe living conditions—we provide 24/7 emergency short-term foster care.

SHORT-TERM FOSTER CARE

When our foster families need a period of planned relief (30 days or less), we line up licensed providers to fill in as needed.

WHOLE FAMILY FOSTER CARE

Ideally, families should be together. That’s why we provide intensive support and collaborative services to parents who are at-risk of losing their children. Through this program, an entire family will live with a skilled, licensed foster care provider who can model healthy parenting techniques, set good examples, and help educate the parents on how to keep their kids safe and well cared for.

SUPERVISED VISITATION

We provide opportunities for foster kids to spend time with their families and/or receive therapeutic support in a supervised setting. These visits can take place in our Nexus-Kindred offices, in the family’s home, or in other community settings.

FOSTER YOUTH SUPPORT

We provide more than just a home for the kids we serve—we also make sure their most critical needs are met. We develop an individualized care plan for each youth, based on a careful assessment of their needs and strengths—using the CANS assessment tool [Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths]—and, using that info, we match each child with the foster home that fits them best. We also provide special medical care for kids with complex conditions who might otherwise require hospitalization or institutional care. And we provide support services to youth ages 14 and older who are transitioning out of foster care and into independent living.

FOSTER PARENT SUPPORT

Our foster parents are incredibly important to us, and we’re here to provide ongoing training, 24/7 crisis support, and respite care along the way.

Our Adoption Services

As a licensed adoption agency, we work hard to help bring kids and parents together in permanent family settings. Our services are provided free of charge and include:

  • Adoption home studies and home study updates 
  • Parent training and education
  • Child-specific recruitment services
  • Child placement services
  • Relative adoption services
  • Post adoption services

Become An Adoptive Parent

Kinship Support Program

Nexus-Kindred’s Kinship Support Program serves any family system who is caring for a relative or kin child. The program provides support, referrals, and education to caregivers in hopes to stabilize family systems and set everyone up for success.

Kinship Home Study Services

The kinship home study service allows any relative family or assumed kin currently caring for a youth to pursue foster care licensing with Nexus-Kindred. Nexus-Kindred provides assistance in completing the home study, including scheduling appointments that work around the family’s schedule, accessing needed education, and collaborating to overcome obstacles.

Intensive Family Support

Intensive Family Support provides support to relative and kinship caregivers being served by the county or tribal foster care system. Nexus-Kindred provides intensive in-home and ongoing support including referrals for community resources, and assistance working through challenges caring for relative youth.

Intensive Licensing Support

Nexus-Kindred offers in-home assistance to relative and kinship caregivers as they undergo the licensing process with their local county or tribe to become a foster care provider. This would include ongoing communication with the licensing workers and assisting the family to overcome any barriers and obstacles.

Kinship Engagement Services

Kinship Engagement Services support relative and kinship families not being served by the county who could benefit from in-home, regular support. Nexus-Kindred assists relatives and kin to cope with challenges presented by caring for relative youth, demands of external systems, and stress on the caregivers through completing resource eligibility applications and offering referrals and advocacy.

Minnesota Kinship Navigation Tool

This Kinship Navigation Tool is a collaborative effort on behalf of the Kinship Working Group from AspireMN. This tool offers free, unlimited access to information and answers to some of the most frequently asked questions for kinship caregivers.

Access Kinship Navigation Tool

Our Locations

Nexus-Kindred Family Healing Administrative Office

505 Highway 169 North, Suite 500 Plymouth, MN 55441
763-551-8640

Nexus-Kindred Family Healing Bemidji/Fergus Falls Office

220 W Washington Ave. #B3 Fergus Falls, MN 56537
218-739-3074

Nexus-Kindred Family Healing Brainerd Office

715 NW 7th St Brainerd, MN 56401
320-529-0862

Nexus-Kindred Family Healing Cloquet Office

1302 Cloquet Ave. Cloquet, MN 55720
218-722-6106

Nexus-Kindred Family Healing Mankato Office

Southern Minnesota Mankato, MN 56001
507-401-7850

Nexus-Kindred Family Healing Rochester Office

1700 North Broadway #160 Rochester, MN 55906
507-923-4030

Nexus-Kindred Family Healing Shoreview Office

5985 Rice Creek Parkway, #202 Shoreview, MN 55126
612-331-4429

Nexus-Kindred Family Healing St. Cloud Office

412 Great Oak Dr. Waite Park, MN 56387
320-529-0862

Nexus-Kindred Family Healing Windom Office

Southern Minnesota Windom, MN 56101
507-735-2369

Nexus-Kindred Family Healing

505 Highway 169 North, Suite 500
Plymouth, MN 55441
763-551-8640
Contact Us
Admissions Information
Nexus-Kindred Family Healing
Marissa Muenzberg
Know a youth who needs a home? Submit a referral form today.

Licensing & Accreditations

  • Accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA)
  • Licensed by the State of Minnesota
  • Member of Foster Family-based Treatment Association
  • Aspire member