Harrison County's Blue Ribbon Committee voted Thursday to ask the county and state lawmakers to create a local "Baby DJ" alert system and to press Child Protection Services (CPS), hospitals and youth court officials for clearer procedures when newborns test positive for illicit drugs.

The committee approved a motion asking county officials to begin local-and-private legislation that would allow an alert — shared with law enforcement, media and social media — when CPS cannot locate a child whose report indicates serious abuse or risk. Members also voted to request a copy of the youth court "standing order" safety-plan template by public-records request, and to convene a small panel of medical, education and court professionals to draft narrowly focused policy recommendations before presenting them to the Board of Supervisors.

Why it matters: Committee members said current local practice has left drug-positive newborns vulnerable. Several speakers, including youth court members and hospital nurses, described infants who required intensive inpatient care for withdrawal and whose cases, in the committee's view, were not escalated promptly to law enforcement or to the youth court for custody decisions. The panel framed the local-and-private legislative option as a targeted first step to create an immediate-alert mechanism while other, broader statutory changes are pursued.

Committee members described the proposal as limited to Harrison County initially and as dependent on cooperation from the Harrison County attorney's office and a sponsoring state senator. "We want to create a Baby DJ law through local and private legislation... and that we will work with the Harrison County attorney, Tim Holloman, to help draft that legislation," a committee member summarized during the meeting.

During a lengthy discussion, Judge Alfonso — identified in the meeting as a youth court judge — described a pending request to the Mississippi attorney general for a legal opinion about how state statute should be interpreted when a newborn tests positive for drugs. "Some youth court judges take the position that the statute says that if a baby is born positive for marijuana, you cannot take that child into custody," Judge Alfonso said. "I think it's gonna be really important that... when a baby is born positive for methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl, ... that that statute is not a barrier to take a child into custody."

Committee members stressed that the proposed "Baby DJ" alert would not be intended to prompt immediate arrests or to publish confidential medical details; instead, it would be a public-safety tool to locate a child quickly when CPS cannot find the child after a serious-allegation report. One participant told the committee that if such an alert had been issued in the Baby DJ case, "that baby DJ would be alive," reflecting the urgency members attached to rapid public notification and search.

Members also pressed for clarity on existing youth-court and CPS procedures. The committee reported receiving a written response from Robert Jones, attorney for CPS, pointing the group to Mississippi statute (the transcript cites Mississippi Code 43.21.261 and other sections) that the attorney said constrains disclosure of report updates to nonprofessional reporters. Committee members noted confusion about who qualifies for updates, how hospitals are included in safety plans, and which offices control access to the court interface systems called "MyKids" and a new CPS reporting application identified in the meeting as "Pathways."

Cindy, identified in the meeting as Memorial Hospital staff, reported that Memorial had filed 11 CPS case reports in May and 13 in April for a January–May total of 76 reports, and that hospital–CPS relations had improved since the committee formed: "we have a weekly call with them... we're seeing CPS show up at the hospital on cases... more timely situations." Still, hospital staff and nurses at the meeting said safety-plan templates and the process for incorporating hospitals into discharge safety plans remain unclear; the committee voted to pursue a public-records request for the standing-order safety-plan template used by youth court.

The meeting included multiple suggestions for next steps: seek a narrowly written local resolution to authorize a Baby DJ alert and encourage the Harrison County Board of Supervisors to pass it; ask the county attorney to draft language; assemble a small expert panel (medical, educational, and court professionals) to prepare a simple, narrowly focused policy package to present to county and state officials; and pursue the attorney general opinion to resolve whether a newborn's positive drug test alone prevents custody removal under current statute.

Votes at a glance:
- Motion to appoint Magholland to the Blue Ribbon Committee to fill a vacancy: approved by voice vote (no roll-call tally recorded). Note: appointment still requires Board of Supervisors confirmation at their July meeting per committee procedure.
- Motion to request local-and-private legislation establishing a Baby DJ alert and to request drafting assistance from Harrison County attorney Tim Holloman and sponsorship from state Sen. Michael Thompson: approved by voice vote.
- Motion to file a public-records request to obtain a copy of the youth court "standing order" safety-plan template: approved by voice vote.
- Motion to convene professionals (medical, education, court) to draft narrowly focused policy recommendations and to present the draft to the county attorney and the Board of Supervisors: approved by voice vote.

What the committee did not decide: The group did not adopt a change in state law and did not claim to have resolved outstanding statutory interpretations. Members repeatedly said they had asked the attorney general's office for a clarifying legal opinion and were still awaiting a response. They also did not receive a copy of the youth court's standing-order template during the meeting; the youth court judge had reportedly denied the committee's request for the document and cited the relevant statutory confidentiality provision.

The committee scheduled follow-up work: staff will file the public-records request, the panel will seek volunteers from the medical and education community to help draft policy, and the group plans to present any recommended language to the Harrison County Board of Supervisors. The Blue Ribbon Committee's next meeting was listed as July 18; members were advised to watch the Harrison County website for location details because county budget hearings may occupy the usual meeting room.

Sources and attribution: direct quotes and attributions in this article come from speakers at the June 20, 2025 Blue Ribbon Committee meeting, including Judge Alfonso (youth court judge), Robert Jones (attorney for CPS), Andrea Sanders (identified by the committee as the director who emailed the meeting), Memorial Hospital staff (Cindy), and committee members (identified in the transcript as Jeanne and others).