2025 Legislative Session Begins: What You Need to Know
The Mississippi State Legislature began its new session on January 7, 2025. The session lasts 90 days and ends (or adjourns) on April 6 (also known as sine die). Monday, January 20, is…
AAP Advocacy Guide on Paid Family Caregiving
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently released a guide on how its chapters can advocate for families to be paid to care for their children and youth with special…
CMS Issues New Guidance for Medicaid-funded Children’s Services
On September 26, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency that oversees Medicaid, sent a letter to all state Medicaid directors titled "Best Practices for…
Families as Allies’ Public Comments on Proposed Mental Health Standards
Last week, we shared with you that the Mississippi Department of Mental Health (DMH) had published its proposed certification standards changes for public comment. We thank the DMH for opening…
Joy Hogge Appointed to Mississippi Medicaid Advisory Committee
On August 28, Drew Snyder, executive director of the Mississippi Division of Medicaid, appointed Joy Hogge, executive director of Families as Allies, to the Medicaid Advisory Committee (MAC) as a…
Families as Allies Offers Feedback at K-12 Mental Health Task Force Roundtable
Below are the highlights of the written feedback Families as Allies submitted to the K-12 Mental Health Task Force in conjunction with Executive Director Joy Hogge's verbal feedback in the…
Mental Health Task Force Holds Third Set of Meetings
The Mississippi K-12 Mental Health Task Force held its third set of meetings on Wednesday, August 7, and Thursday, August 8. You can watch the livestream of the meetings on the Senate YouTube channel.…
Results from Families as Allies Surveys in 2024
Our core values at Families as Allies are every child and family, excellence, partnership and accountability. We want to hold the systems that work with our children accountable for these values. We…
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Our Discussion of The U.S. Senate Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities Hearing
On June 12, the United States Senate Committee on Finance held a hearing about youth psychiatric residential treatment facilities (PRTFs). The hearing coincided with the release of this report: Warehouses Of Neglect:…
Department of Mental Health Standards Open for Public Comment
The proposed revisions to the 2020 Mississippi Department of Mental Health (DMH) Operational Standards are now available for public comment. The DMH requires community mental health centers and other community…