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Harrison County Blue Ribbon Committee presses for clarity on kinship, newborn drug policy and CPS reporting
Summary
At a Blue Ribbon Committee meeting, members reviewed state removal statutes, discussed a proposed 'Baby DJ' alert, raised inconsistent county practices for newborns testing positive for drugs, and asked the board or attorney general for a legal opinion; the committee also accepted a resignation and voted to consider an executive session.
Harrison County’s Blue Ribbon Committee on child protection discussed gaps in statewide practice for newborns who test positive for controlled substances, the implementation of a kinship-care statute, and technical problems with the child-protection reporting system during its meeting.
The committee’s facilitator read statutory language and noted mandatory-reporting responsibilities under state law, stressing that every person in the room is a mandated reporter. “All are mandated reporters for abuse and neglect… I’m glad to know that that we’re all in this room mandatory reporters,” the facilitator said.
Members focused heavily on how local courts and agencies interpret Mississippi statutes governing removal of children and the evidentiary “nexus” required when a newborn tests positive for drugs other than marijuana. The committee asked the board of supervisors and the county attorney to pursue a formal legal opinion after members described different practices across…
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