Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann established a committee to study the needs of women, children and families in November 2022. Senator Nicole Boyd chairs the committee. Chairman Boyd held eight hours of hearings on October 2 and October 3. Several people spoke at these hearings, including Judge Staci Bevill, Judge Staci O’Neal, Child Protection Services (CPS) Commissioner Andrea Sanders, Attorney General Lynn Fitch, Mississippi Department of Mental Health Director Wendy Bailey, Communicare Mental Health Center Director Dr. Melody Madaris and several outside experts and consultants.
These are the themes that stood out to us at Families as Allies as we listened to the hearings:
- The number of children in CPS custody has increased in the past two years. This increase may be related to the increased use of substances, the increased use of drug testing, or a combination of both. There are also some children going into custody simply because their families are homeless.
- Officials frequently use CPS as a placement agency instead of a protection agency. Facilities refuse to take some children, and parents are sometimes afraid of their children’s behavior. So, children end up in placement (including hotel rooms under the supervision of CPS workers) and institutional settings simply due to safety concerns rather than the need for treatment.
- The various child-serving systems seem to have differing viewpoints on how providers should treat children with behavior problems and who is responsible for their treatment.
- CPS plans to develop more evidence-based services for family preservation, including Healthy Families America, Home Builders, Intercept and Motivational Interviewing.
- Some youth court judges have to spend excessive time seeking placement for youth.
- Most judges and others involved with youth court agree that there needs to be a more uniform youth court system, but different models all have strengths and weaknesses to consider
- The mental health system has beds at Mississippi State Hospital and Specialized Treatment Facility. It is adding beds at Canopy Children’s Solutions because “there is not level of care between acute care and psychiatric residential treatment facilities.” There are additional beds for substance use treatments at Sunflower Landing.
- The mental health centers assist with screening for substance use, consistent with CAPTA (Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act).
- The mental health system provides some child and adolescent services, such as intensive community support, Navigate, day treatment, crisis intervention and trauma-informed approaches. Speakers mentioned the Wraparound and MAP teams.
- Many speakers agreed the social determinants of health are important.
- National policy consultants emphasized rethinking the removal of children and using wraparound.
These are our initial recommendations to support the issues the committee identified:
- Review this article and related congressional report: Wyden Investigation Exposes Systemic Taxpayer-Funded Child Abuse and Neglect in Youth Residential Treatment Facilities regarding the harm children routinely experience when systems and courts place them in residential care. We call attention to this recommendation in particular, “ACF should increase awareness for judges on the risks of improper placements in RTFs, the full continuum of care, and clinical best practices for treating children with behavioral health needs, particularly for children in foster care.”
- Youth court judges and CPS are in an untenable position because the right kind of care for children with significant needs is not available, and no system is held accountable for ensuring that care exists. The legislature must address this lack of accountability and ensure that children are placed in institutional care as rarely as possible. We know of no evidence that institutional care helps children, and there is ample evidence that it can harm them.
- State law already mandates that MAP teams serve as the single point of entry and re-entry into the system of care for children’s mental health. We suggest the committee get feedback from the MAP teams about whether and how they do this and what support they need to do this. Also, ask state systems what support they currently give MAP teams to do this to establish a baseline.
- The Interagency Coordinating Council for Children and Youth (ICCCY) is already mandated in state law to oversee the MAP teams and the system of care. The ICCCY is not currently functioning. We recommend the committee meet with the ICCCY to explore what the ICCCY needs, including any funding or infrastructure, to function and decrease institutional placements.
- State law already mandates wraparound as the care coordination model for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances who are at risk for institutional placement. We recommend that the committee ask the Mississippi Wraparound Institute to present and share how they can support the needs identified in these hearings and share the barriers they’ve experienced with the committee. Consider consulting with the National Wraparound Implementation Center as well.
- Investigate if the state government can employ unused Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) funds to help families who are losing custody of their children simply due to being homeless.
- Explore how other states have used therapeutic foster care to support families without taking children out of their parent’s custody.
