Harrison County committee backs local 'Baby DJ' alert, presses CPS, hospitals and judges on drug-positive newborns

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…