The Minnesota Department of Human Services helps people meet their basic needs so they can live in dignity and achieve their highest potential. Consumers include: seniors who need help paying for hospital and nursing home bills or who need home-delivered meals, families with children who need help during a financial crisis, parents who need child support enforcement or child care money, and people with physical or developmental disabilities who need assistance to live as independently as possible.

DHS programs include Medical Assistance (MA), General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC), MinnesotaCare, Minnesota Family Investment Program (Minnesota's version of the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program), General Assistance (GA), child protection, child support enforcement, child welfare services, and services for people who are mentally ill, chemically dependent or have physical or developmental disabilities.