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1) Make sure you are qualified to send the email request. You must be a parent or guardian of a child born on or after July 1, 1997. All children born on or after July 1, 1997 have had their DNA warehoused at the MN Dept. of Health—and claimed as State government property.
2) Use our sample letter below or create your own. Send one email per child to: lynn.belgea@state.mn.us DO NOT FORWARD THIS EMAIL. Copy and paste it into a new email. Type or print all the information clearly. Please refrain from making additional comments or opinions about the action of MDH in the lawsuit. Lynn Belgea is MDH's data compliance officer and designated by the Commissioner to handle data requests.
3) Send a separate email to CCHC with the letter you sent to the Department so we can monitor the response to this critical project.
4) Once you receive a written response to your request, provide CCHC with the information you receive (including any comment about delays, lost records, denial of access, etc). Please KEEP A RECORD of EVERYTHING and then email or send it to CCHC.
MN Law Allows You to Request & Receive Data: Under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, you have the legal right to request and receive this data. See the MDH data practices document (note pages 5, 7 and 10 specifically) and the state administrative rules.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SAMPLE LETTER
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Commissioner Sanne Magnan, M.D., Ph.D. Minnesota Department of Health Freeman Building 625 Robert Street North P.O. Box 64975 Saint Paul, MN 55164-0975
Dear Commissioner Magnan,
I am making a data practices request under the authority of the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. I am requesting a comprehensive accounting of the data and blood spots of my child that were collected through the Minnesota newborn screening program. Specifically, I am requesting a comprehensive accounting of the collection, storage, use and dissemination of my child's newborn blood spots, my child's newborn screening laboratory test results, and any information (including parent information) associated with my child's newborn blood spots and my child's newborn screening test results.
Such accounting must include, but is not limited to, internal uses by the Minnesota Department of Health, all Department contracts and/or data sharing agreements which include the sharing and/or use of my child's blood spots and data with government or outside entities, all internal and/or external research, public health studies, newborn studies, other studies, other testing, test development using my child's blood spots and/or data, all linkages to my child's data and blood spots within and outside the Minnesota Department of Health, storage of the data and/or blood spots in databases or repositories in and outside the Minnesota Department of Health, all research findings in which my child's data or blood spots were stored, used, and/or disseminated, and any other collection, storage, use and/or dissemination of my child's data or blood spots.
My child's complete name is ___________ My child's birth data is __________ My child was born at _____________ (institution) The mother's name at the time of the birth was _____________
Thank you for your assistance with my request. Please let me know when I can expect to receive this information.
Sincerely,
Parent Name (Print Full Name)_____________________________________________ Address________________________________________________________________ City, State, Zip___________________________________________________________ Phone Number__________________________________________ Email Address_______________________________________________________
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IMHO, an automatic DNA match between the baby, mother and (suspected) father should be required at every birth. There are a significant number of men, who are lied to, and are ‘tricked’ into raising a child that they did not father.
If a man decides to take on the role of ‘father’ to a child; this should be done with knowledge that he is, or is not, the biological father. This is one means of doing that.