Adoption numbers up this year as changes continue at Mississippi Child Protection Services

Mississippi is only about halfway through fiscal year 2023, yet adoption numbers from the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services are already nearing the total they hit last year, said MDCPS Commissioner Andrea Sanders during a legislative hearing Tuesday.

Sanders told the House Appropriations Committee there were 644 adoptions last fiscal year, and there have already been 600 in this year, which began July 1, 2022.

She attributes the increase to a "big push over the holidays" and to a change in attitude toward the way things were done in the past. Sanders, who took over the department in November 2020, said there was a prevailing belief at the time that adoptions were being held up due to docket space in the court system. She has found that not to be the case.

"It's not an issue of docket space," Sanders told the committee. "It's an issue of us, legally, having representation, having someone who understands the courts and will not take no for an answer."

Sanders said when she sits down with judges and asks them to hold five or six adoption hearings at a time, letting them pick a day that works best for the court, "they've done it every time." She also said her department has been working to determine and resolve the causes behind cases that have been sitting in legal limbo for extended periods of time.

"Waiting for a child to age out of custody at 18, to me that's unacceptable," Sanders said.

The need for adoptions, while already high, may soon increase even further. In a Senate hearing in October, State Health Officer Daniel Edney said that by conservative estimates 5,000 more babies will be born in Mississippi following the overturn of Roe v. Wade and near total elimination of abortion in the state.

It was not all positive news at the hearing though. While significant progress has been made under her tenure, the department is unlikely to meet its goals on cases met by the end of January. As part of a settlement reached with plaintiffs in a nearly two-decade-old lawsuit that alleged a failure to properly care for children in custody, MDCPS has set a goal of getting to 75% of the cases met by the end of January. Right now, that number sits at 62%.

"I don't think we'll hit 75 by the end of January, but I think I have the data to show that we've been making progress, and I'm keeping the plaintiffs updated every step of the way," Sanders said.

Sanders said the department has recovered from a dip that saw cases-met numbers drop below 50% during the pandemic, particularly after she ordered a return to in-person-work. She said those working in the field could not effectively do their jobs virtually, and she felt if she was asking them to work in person, she and her staff in the office should do the same.

"A lot of people quit, and we knew that would happen," Sanders said.

Staff also left after changes were made to previous department policies.

"We're not doing things the same way, and some people aren't happy with that," Sanders said.

That said, staffing has largely recovered following pay-raises for the lowest paid social workers. The ultimate goal, as outlined in the settlement, is a ratio of one worker for every 14 children.

There has also been further setbacks in the department's plans to move to a new case management system. Funds were first appropriated by the legislature for the project six years ago, Sanders said, but it "never got off the ground."

"Optimistically, it will be ready in 14 months," Sanders said, while acknowledging it is more likely to be fully launched in a year and a half.

Another issue facing the department is inflation. Sanders said MDCPS made its budget estimates based on an expectation of roughly 4% inflation figures, but the state economist has informed them that number is likely to be around 8%.

Sanders said her department is committed to transparency and to answering legislators' questions, going so far as to reading out her cell phone number.

"I think this is how we get the state out of the position it's in with this lawsuit," she said.

In general, Sanders said her goal is to reduce the amount of time children spend in state custody by streamlining the process of finding them a safe home.

"We really need to get kids out of state custody. That is not a good place for them to hang out," Sanders said.

In the coming weeks, the appropriations committee will consider funding levels for the department both from state-funds and from the American Rescue Plan Act, which continues to fund a number of projects within MDCPS.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services adoptions up