Harrison County Blue Ribbon Committee schedules May workshop with state director to review CPS data, safety-plan sharing

Harrison County Blue Ribbon Committee members scheduled a working session with Director Andrea Sanders in May to review child protection data, hospital safety-plan sharing and cross‑jurisdiction information gaps raised by members.

“For our discussions, number 1 under our discussion is the workshop with Director Andrea Sanders. It's scheduled for May,” the Committee chair said, announcing the session and that the working session will run in the morning followed by the committee’s regular meeting in the afternoon.

The committee said it will use the working session to ask Sanders a list of specific questions developed by members, including how many children with a history involving Child Protective Services (CPS) have died in the past three years and whether CPS can provide records that show prior involvement even if a case was closed at the time of death. Committee members also asked whether the committee can request data on cases that were substantiated or had recent CPS involvement, not only cases that were open at the time of death.

Robert Jones, a committee member who has been drafting a proposed standing order for sharing safety plans with hospitals, reported that he provided a draft to Judge Dickinson and that the judge “was good with it.” Jones said the judge returned revisions and the draft is circulating for additional review.

Committee members discussed the limits of interstate information sharing about children with foster-care histories. One member described a foster child who had been placed in multiple homes across states and said that obtaining case records from other states had been difficult. The group identified the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) as distinct from requests for case information and noted there is no single national database practitioners can log into to retrieve cross‑state CPS history.

Members also discussed child death review processes. A representative of the infant/child death review process explained local review teams typically examine a small number of cases monthly and that state child-death review work may lag, sometimes reviewing cases from earlier years. The committee directed that its questions for Sanders should seek both current CPS involvement and prior CPS history within a set timeframe (members suggested three years) so the working session can clarify what data is available and in what format.

Hospital safety-plan sharing was another focus. Jones said hospitals that request the committee’s safety plans have been receiving them and that Judge Dickinson’s comfort with the proposal has enabled sharing without an executed standing order in all cases. Committee members discussed sending a letter to Gulf Coast hospitals, especially Memorial Hospital, to remind them they can request safety plans. Cindy, the committee’s Memorial Hospital reporter, was asked to confirm whether she will continue to attend meetings and to provide the March numeric report on discharges and CPS referrals.

The committee confirmed it will invite the press to the May public meeting (not the closed working session) and that Harrison County’s public information officer, Valerie Dematus, would prepare a press release for the day. The group also tentatively scheduled follow‑up outreach: a report at the county Board of Supervisors’ June meeting and a meeting with youth court judges after the Sanders workshop.

The committee approved routine business at the start of the meeting. A motion to accept the minutes from the March 21 meeting and to waive reading was moved and seconded; members voted in favor and the motion carried. The meeting closed after members set the May workshop date and assigned follow‑up tasks.

Ending: The committee will bring the compiled questions and requested data to the May working session with Director Andrea Sanders and will seek clarification at that time about what CPS and child-death review data the state can provide, how recently reviewed cases are handled, and what hospital or judicial approvals are required to share safety plans.