2023 CASCW Annual Spring Conference

Before being appointed to the bench, Judge Kappelhoff was an Associate Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School, where he Directed the Criminal Justice Clinic. He also served as the Director of the Minnesota Law Public Interest Residency Program and taught a seminar course on Human Trafficking, which he continues to teach as an Adjunct Professor.

Judge Kappelhoff spent nearly two decades as a federal prosecutor in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he served in a number of senior leadership positions, including Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Chief of the Criminal Section. In these positions, he prosecuted cases involving police misconduct, human trafficking, and hate crimes. Among his responsibilities, he oversaw the Department’s criminal and civil investigations in Ferguson Missouri, Baltimore, Maryland, and other police departments around the country. He also played an instrumental role in the Department’s efforts to secure passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, co-chaired the Attorney General’s Advisory Group on racial disparities in federal sentencing, and created the Civil Rights Division’s groundbreaking Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.

Judge Kappelhoff received a number of honors for his work as a federal prosecutor, including the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service — the Department’s highest award for employees — for his work on the Ferguson Police Department investigation. He also received the Presidential Rank Award — the highest award for federal government career senior executive service professionals.

Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Judge Kappelhoff was an Assistant Public Defender in Montgomery County, Maryland. He also has served as an adjunct law professor at the University of Maryland School of Law, Georgetown University Law Center, and American University, Washington College of Law.

A graduate of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., Judge Kappelhoff received his J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law.

Prior to a recent promotion and return to Investigations in fall of 2022, she spent the last four years working exclusively in licensing and development of child foster care resources. She was the corporate child foster care licensor for St. Louis County and developed/licensed The St. Louis County Emergency Family Foster Care Program, an innovative response to providing emergency care to children outside of a traditional shelter setting. In this work, she has collaborated extensively with 245D (Home and Community Based Service Providers), case managers providing Rule 185 Case Management, and MN Choice Assessors and Waiver Case Managers. She is part of a rapid consult team here in St. Louis County which pulls together workers in both Children and Adult Services to expedite disability services for children in crisis.

Hannah is passionate and committed to serving children and families in her community. She believes that early connection to specialized services and resources can be a proactive way to provide safety and ensure family preservation.

Gayle’s involvement with HCBS and Disability Services started in the early 2000’s. Gayle was approached by St. Louis County to expand her services/care and was one of the first child corporate foster care providers in the county. Years later, she is now one of the largest providers in this area and operates four corporate CFC programs and her own family program. Gayle supports children 0-18 years of age on ID/DD Waivers and CADI Waivers. Between the five homes she has seventeen waivered beds. She has supported youth all over including children from outside of St. Louis County.

Char has her master’s degree in clinical social work, is licensed as a LICSW with the MN Board of Social Work and has certificates in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health and Permanency and Adoption. Char has worked in various roles over her career, previously working as a Guardian ad Litem, a child protection worker, an adoption worker, and in-home therapist with foster children, and coordinating statewide early intervention programming for young children and families focused on preventing child maltreatment at DHS.

Char currently works full-time at the MN Department of Health focusing on continuous quality improvement efforts for family home visiting and part-time as the Clinical Manager and therapist at Main Street Family Services. Over her career, Char has been a representative for Minnesota’s Governor’s Interagency Coordinating Council, been an active member of Minnesota’s Interagency Development Screening Task Force, previously sat on the advisory board for the Minnesota Association of Children’s Mental Health, and currently remains on the planning team for MN’s Help Me Connect. Char is passionate about interagency and systems collaboration, specifically as it relates to young children and families and ensuring services are streamlined to support children with mental health and disabilities.