Bill Text: MS SB2130 | 2019 | Regular Session | Engrossed
Bill Title: Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services; change statutory references.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2019-03-05 - Died In Committee [SB2130 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2019-SB2130-Engrossed.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2019 Regular Session
To: Public Health and Welfare
By: Senator(s) Fillingane
Senate Bill 2130
(As Passed the Senate)
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 1-1-11, 7-9-41, 7-9-43, 11-46-1, 11-46-8, 25-65-5, 25-65-7, 37-23-69, 37-23-77, 37-106-69, 37-115-43, 41-3-18, 41-7-173, 41-21-67, 41-67-12, 41-87-5, 43-1-11, 43-1-12, 43-1-63, 43-14-1, 43-14-5, 43-15-3, 43-15-5, 43-15-6, 43-15-7, 43-15-11, 43-15-15, 43-15-17, 43-15-19, 43-15-21, 43-15-23, 43-15-51, 43-15-103, 43-15-105, 43-15-107, 43-15-109, 43-15-113, 43-15-115, 43-15-117, 43-15-119, 43-15-121, 43-15-125, 43-15-201, 43-15-203, 43-15-207, 43-16-3, 43-16-21, 43-18-3, 43-18-5, 43-20-8, 43-21-105, 43-21-303, 43-21-315, 43-21-351, 43-21-353, 43-21-354, 43-21-357, 43-21-405, 43-21-603, 43-21-613, 43-27-101, 43-27-103, 43-27-109, 43-27-113, 43-27-115, 43-27-117, 57-39-43, 93-5-23, 93-17-3, 93-17-5, 93-17-8, 93-17-11, 93-17-12, 93-17-53, 93-17-57, 93-17-59, 93-17-61, 93-17-63, 93-17-65, 93-17-67, 93-17-69, 93-17-101, 93-17-103, 93-17-107, 93-17-109, 93-17-203, 93-21-307, 93-21-311, 93-31-3, 97-3-54.1, 97-5-24, 97-5-39, 97-5-51 AND 97-29-49, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE STATUTORY REFERENCES TO THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF CHILD PROTECTION SERVICES IN CONFORMITY TO EXISTING LAW; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 1-1-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
1-1-11. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, the Joint Committee on Compilation, Revision and Publication of Legislation shall distribute or provide for the distribution of the sets of the compilation of the Mississippi Code of 1972 purchased by the state as follows:
Fifty-seven (57) sets to the Mississippi House of Representatives and forty (40) sets to the Mississippi Senate for the use of the Legislative Reference Bureau, Legislative Services Offices, staffs and committees thereof.
Ten (10) sets to the Governor's Office; nine (9) sets to the Secretary of State; and twenty (20) sets to the Auditor's Office.
One (1) set to each of the following: the Lieutenant Governor; each member of the Legislature; the Treasurer; each district attorney; each county attorney; each judge of the Court of Appeals and each judge of the Supreme, circuit, chancery, county, family, justice and municipal courts; each Mississippi Senator and Mississippi Representative in Congress; State Superintendent of Education; Director of the Department of Finance and Administration; six (6) sets to the Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) Committee; three (3) sets to the Director of the Legislative Budget Office; the Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce; each Mississippi Transportation Commissioner; six (6) sets to the Department of Corrections; the Insurance Commissioner; the Clerk of the Supreme Court; the State Board of Health; each circuit clerk; each chancery clerk in the state for the use of the chancery clerk and the board of supervisors; each sheriff in the state for the use of his office and the county officers; and each county for the county library (and an additional set shall be given to each circuit clerk, chancery clerk, sheriff and county library in counties having two (2) judicial districts).
Two (2) sets to the Department of Archives and History; two (2) sets to the State Soil and Water Conservation Commission; sixty-eight (68) sets to the Attorney General's office; six (6) sets to the Public Service Commission; four (4) sets to the Public Utilities Staff; thirty-five (35) sets to the Department of Revenue; one (1) set to the Board of Tax Appeals; two (2) sets to the State Personnel Board; six (6) sets to the State Law Library; one (1) set to the Library of Congress; ten (10) sets to the University of Mississippi Law School; one (1) set each to the Mississippi School for the Deaf and the Mississippi School for the Blind; one (1) set each to the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, Mississippi University for Women, University of Southern Mississippi, Delta State University, Alcorn State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi Valley State University, and the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning; and one (1) set to the Supreme Court judges' conference room. In furtherance of the State Library's reciprocal program of code exchange with libraries of the several states, the joint committee shall, at the direction and only upon the written request of the State Librarian, distribute or provide for the distribution of sets of the code to such libraries.
One (1) set to each state junior or community college; three (3) sets to the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks; two (2) sets to the Department of Environmental Quality; two (2) sets to the Department of Marine Resources; two (2) sets to the Mississippi Ethics Commission; six (6) sets to the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission; four (4) sets to the State Department of Rehabilitation Services; and seven (7) sets to the Department of Human Services. One (1) set to each of the following: State Textbook Procurement Commission; University Medical Center; State Library Commission; Department of Agriculture and Commerce; Forestry Commission; and seventeen (17) sets to the Department of Public Safety. Also, one (1) set to each of the following: Adjutant General, Mississippi Development Authority, Department of Banking and Consumer Finance, Bureau of Building, Grounds and Real Property Management, the State Educational Finance Commission, the Mississippi Board of Vocational and Technical Education, Division of Medicaid, State Board of Mental Health, and Department of Youth Services.
The joint committee is authorized to distribute or provide for the distribution of additional sets of the Mississippi Code, not to exceed three (3) sets, to the office of each district attorney for the use of his assistants.
The joint committee shall provide to the Mississippi House of Representatives and the Mississippi Senate the annual supplements to the Mississippi Code of 1972 for each set of the code maintained by the House and Senate.
The set of the Mississippi Code of 1972 to be provided to each member of the Legislature shall be provided unless specifically waived by such legislator in writing.
An elected or appointed officeholder in the State of Mississippi, except for a member of the Legislature, shall deliver to his successor in office, or to the joint committee if there is no successor, the set of the Mississippi Code of 1972 provided the officeholder under this section.
Before the joint committee delivers or provides for delivery of a copy of the Mississippi Code of 1972 to an individual officeholder, the joint committee shall prepare and submit a written agreement to the officeholder. The agreement shall, among other provisions, state that the code is the property of the State of Mississippi, that it shall be transferred to the officeholder's successor in office, that the officeholder has an obligation to make such transfer and that the officeholder shall be responsible for the failure to deliver the code and for any damage or destruction to the code, normal wear and tear excepted. The joint committee shall execute the agreement and forward it to the officeholder for execution. The joint committee shall not deliver or provide for delivery of the code to the officeholder until the executed agreement is received by the committee. The joint committee may include in the agreement such other provisions as it may deem reasonable and necessary. In addition to damages or any other remedy for not transferring a set of the code to his successor, an officeholder who does not transfer his set of the code shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction, pay a fine of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00). Upon request of the joint committee, the Attorney General shall assist the joint committee in taking such actions as necessary to require an officeholder to transfer the set of code provided under this section to his successor, or to the joint committee if there is no successor, and to recover reimbursement or damages from any officeholder for the loss of or damage or destruction to any volumes of the set of the code provided under this section, other than normal wear and tear.
Replacement of missing, damaged or destroyed sets or volumes of the code provided by this chapter may be obtained from the code publisher through the joint committee at the established state cost, the cost to be borne by the recipient.
No more than one (1) set of the Mississippi Code of 1972 shall be furnished to any one (1) individual, regardless of the office or offices he may hold.
(2) (a) The joint committee, in its discretion, may determine whether electronic access to the Mississippi Code of 1972 is available and a sufficient substitute for actual bound volumes of the code and, if so, may omit furnishing any one or more sets otherwise required by this section.
(b) Each elected state official, elected state district official and member of the Legislature shall receive a CD-ROM version of the Mississippi Code of 1972 in lieu of bound volumes of the Mississippi Code of 1972 unless the official or member of the Legislature makes a request in writing to the Joint Committee on Compilation, Revision and Publication of Legislation that he receive bound volumes of the Mississippi Code of 1972.
SECTION 2. Section 7-9-41, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
7-9-41. (1) All support and maintenance funds appropriated for the operating expenses of all departments, institutions, agencies, boards and commissions, supported wholly or in part by the state, shall be drawn from the State Treasury only upon the issuance of individual warrants by the State Fiscal Officer in direct payment for goods sold or services performed, except where specifically provided otherwise in these statutes. The said State Fiscal Officer shall issue his warrants only upon requisitions signed by the proper person, officer or officers.
(2) In the case of the state institutions of higher learning, meeting with the written approval of the State Fiscal Officer, such funds may be drawn from the Treasury in the manner prescribed hereinbelow, and when such system of withdrawal is approved by the State Fiscal Officer, it shall not be changed except on the approval of both said parties.
The executive heads, together with the secretary or other person in charge of the books and accounts, of the state institutions of higher learning, if they receive such written approval, shall make up, in the form prescribed by the State Fiscal Officer and the State Treasurer, checklists of all salaries, accounts, bills, contracts and claims which shall have accrued during the month. Based upon such statement and in company with it, the state institutions of higher learning, through their proper officers, shall make requisition upon the State Fiscal Officer for only so much money as shall then be needed to pay salaries, accounts, bills, contracts and claims which may then be due, together with a reasonable amount for contingent expenses.
Such requisitions may be drawn upon the State Fiscal Officer's accounts, who shall draw its warrants on the Treasurer from time to time as required, payable to the official depository provided in Section 7-9-43. In the case of special appropriations made for buildings and permanent improvements, repairs, furniture, fixtures, and special supplies, and in all cases where it is not practicable to furnish a detailed statement, such funds may be drawn in installments at such times and in such amounts as necessity may require, and the requisitions for same must be accompanied by a general statement of the proposed purchases and expenditures.
In all cases where such lump-sum payments are authorized and paid as provided in this section, the proper officer or officers of the state institutions of higher learning shall make such additional reports to the State Fiscal Officer in the manner and at such times as he may require. Such reports shall also include other funds coming into the possession of or for the use and benefit of the state institutions of higher learning, whether such funds are regularly handled through the State Treasury or not.
(3) In the case of the
State Department of * * * Human Services and the Department of Child
Protection Services, lump-sum withdrawals may only be made as provided for
in subsection (2) of this section for payments to recipients of services
provided by the department.
SECTION 3. Section 7-9-43, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
7-9-43. The state
institutions of higher learning * * *, the Department of Human Services and
the Department of Child Protection Services, after receiving the written
approval of the State Fiscal Officer as provided in Section 7-9-41, shall
select and make a contract with some bank to serve as a depository for funds of
the same. Said bank so selected shall qualify to receive said fund and secure
the same as required of state depositories under Section 27-105-5 before
receiving any funds, except as herein noted in the case of private hospitals.
The life of said contract with a depository shall be for five (5) years. Each
bank shall enter into a written contract, the terms of which shall be to
perform faithfully all acts and duties required of it by this and other laws of
the state. As such depository, it shall receive and keep account of all funds
and pay out same on the check of the secretary or business manager,
countersigned by the president or chairman of the board or institution. Such
bank shall receive, keep, disburse and account for all funds of the Department
of Human Services, the Department of Child Protection Services, and such
state institution of higher learning for which it shall be a depository, and
turn over all funds and accounts to its legal successor, provided all private
hospitals shall be exempted from providing depositories.
All books, accounts and reports made thereon for any funds shall conform to the requirements of the General Accounting Office, and shall be filed with the said General Accounting Office.
SECTION 4. Section 11-46-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
11-46-1. As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed unless the context otherwise requires:
(a) "Claim" means any demand to recover damages from a governmental entity as compensation for injuries.
(b) "Claimant" means any person seeking compensation under the provisions of this chapter, whether by administrative remedy or through the courts.
(c) "Board" means the Mississippi Tort Claims Board.
(d) "Department" means the Department of Finance and Administration.
(e) "Director" means the executive director of the department who is also the executive director of the board.
(f) "Employee" means any officer, employee or servant of the State of Mississippi or a political subdivision of the state, including elected or appointed officials and persons acting on behalf of the state or a political subdivision in any official capacity, temporarily or permanently, in the service of the state or a political subdivision whether with or without compensation, including firefighters who are members of a volunteer fire department that is a political subdivision. The term "employee" shall not mean a person or other legal entity while acting in the capacity of an independent contractor under contract to the state or a political subdivision; and
(i) For purposes of the limits of liability provided for in Section 11-46-15, the term "employee" shall include:
1. Physicians under contract to provide health services with the State Board of Health, the State Board of Mental Health or any county or municipal jail facility while rendering services under the contract;
2. Any physician, dentist or other health care practitioner employed by the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) and its departmental practice plans who is a faculty member and provides health care services only for patients at UMMC or its affiliated practice sites, including any physician or other health care practitioner employed by UMMC under an arrangement with a public or private health-related organization;
3. Any physician, dentist or other health care practitioner employed by any university under the control of the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning who practices only on the campus of any university under the control of the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning;
4. Any physician, dentist or other health care practitioner employed by the State Veterans Affairs Board and who provides health care services for patients for the State Veterans Affairs Board;
(ii) The term
"employee" shall also include Mississippi Department of * * * Child Protection Services
licensed foster parents for the limited purposes of coverage under the Tort
Claims Act as provided in Section 11-46-8; and
(iii) The term "employee" also shall include any employee or member of the governing board of a charter school but shall not include any person or entity acting in the capacity of an independent contractor to provide goods or services under a contract with a charter school.
(g) "Governmental entity" means the state and political subdivisions.
(h) "Injury" means death, injury to a person, damage to or loss of property or any other injury that a person may suffer that is actionable at law or in equity.
(i) "Political subdivision" means any body politic or body corporate other than the state responsible for governmental activities only in geographic areas smaller than that of the state, including, but not limited to, any county, municipality, school district, charter school, volunteer fire department that is a chartered nonprofit corporation providing emergency services under contract with a county or municipality, community hospital as defined in Section 41-13-10, airport authority, or other instrumentality of the state, whether or not the body or instrumentality has the authority to levy taxes or to sue or be sued in its own name.
(j) "State" means the State of Mississippi and any office, department, agency, division, bureau, commission, board, institution, hospital, college, university, airport authority or other instrumentality thereof, whether or not the body or instrumentality has the authority to levy taxes or to sue or be sued in its own name.
(k) "Law" means all species of law, including, but not limited to, any and all constitutions, statutes, case law, common law, customary law, court order, court rule, court decision, court opinion, court judgment or mandate, administrative rule or regulation, executive order, or principle or rule of equity.
SECTION 5. Section 11-46-8, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
11-46-8. Mississippi
Department of * * * Child Protection Services licensed foster parents
shall be covered under this chapter for claims made by parties other than the
foster child which are based on inadequate supervision or inadequate care of
the foster child on the part of the foster parent.
SECTION 6. Section 25-65-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
25-65-5. The following words and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed herein, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(a) "University" means and includes Alcorn State University, Delta State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State University Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station, Mississippi State University Cooperative Extension Service, Mississippi State University Forest and Wildlife Research Center, Mississippi State University State Chemical Laboratory, Mississippi University for Women, Mississippi Valley State University, the University of Mississippi, University of Mississippi Medical Center and the University of Southern Mississippi.
(b) "Community/Junior college" means and includes Coahoma Community College, Copiah-Lincoln Community College, East Central Community College, East Mississippi Community College, Hinds Community College, Holmes Community College, Itawamba Community College, Jones County Junior College, Meridian Community College, Mississippi Delta Community College, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Northeast Mississippi Community College, Northwest Mississippi Community College, Pearl River Community College and Southwest Mississippi Community College.
(c) "State
agency" means and includes the Department of Finance and Administration,
the * * * Department of Revenue, the Department of
Education, the State Department of Health, the Department of Mental Health, the
Department of Agriculture and Commerce, the Mississippi Development Authority,
the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries
and Parks, the Department of Corrections, the Division of Medicaid, the
Department of Rehabilitation Services, the Department of Public Safety, the
Mississippi Employment Security Commission, the Mississippi Department of
Information Technology Services, the Public Employees Retirement System, the
Mississippi Department of Transportation, the Mississippi Gaming Commission and
the Mississippi Department of Human Services.
(d) "Agency head" means an elected official who heads an agency, an executive director or a governing board or commission responsible for heading an agency or a president or chancellor of a university or a president of a community/junior college.
(e) "Agency internal audit director" means the person appointed by the agency head to direct the internal audit function for the state agency. Where consistent with responsibilities described in this chapter, the term agency internal audit director may also be referred to as inspector general, audit director, chief auditor or similar internal audit administrator descriptions.
(f) "Audit committee" means a standing committee external to organization management that collectively has the expertise to provide effective guidance regarding the acquisition and provision of internal audit services and to provide guidance in the provision of those services.
SECTION 7. Section 25-65-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
25-65-7. The provisions of
this chapter shall only apply (a) to the following universities: (i) Alcorn
State University, (ii) Delta State University, (iii) Jackson State University,
(iv) Mississippi State University, (v) Mississippi State University Agriculture
and Forestry Experiment Station, (vi) Mississippi State University Cooperative
Extension Service, (vii) Mississippi State University Forest and Wildlife
Research Center, (viii) Mississippi State University State Chemical Laboratory,
(ix) Mississippi University for Women, (x) Mississippi Valley State University,
(xi) The University of Mississippi, (xii) University of Mississippi Medical
Center, and * * *
(xiii) The University of Southern Mississippi; (b) to the following
community/junior colleges: (i) Coahoma Community College, (ii) Copiah-Lincoln
Community College, (iii) East Central Community College, (iv) East Mississippi
Community College, (v) Hinds Community College, (vi) Holmes Community College,
(vii) Itawamba Community College, (viii) Jones County Junior College, (ix)
Meridian Community College, (x) Mississippi Delta Community College, (xi)
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, (xii) Northeast Mississippi Community
College, (xiii) Northwest Mississippi Community College, (xiv) Pearl River
Community College and (xv) Southwest Mississippi Community College; and (c) to
the following agencies: (i) the Department of Finance and Administration, (ii)
the * * * Department of Revenue, (iii) the Department of
Education, (iv) the State Department of Health, (v) the Department of Mental
Health, (vi) the Department of Agriculture and Commerce, (vii) the Mississippi
Development Authority, (viii) the Department of Environmental Quality, (ix) the
Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, (x) the Department of Corrections,
(xi) the Division of Medicaid, (xii) the Department of Rehabilitation Services,
(xiii) the Department of Public Safety, (xiv) the Mississippi Department of
Employment Security * * *, (xv) the Mississippi Department of Information Technology
Services, (xvi) the Public Employees Retirement System, (xvii) the Mississippi
Department of Transportation, (xviii) the Mississippi Gaming Commission,
and (xix) the Mississippi Department of Human Services.
SECTION 8. Section 37-23-69, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-23-69. The State Department of Education may determine and pay the amount of the financial assistance to be made available to each applicant, and see that all applicants and the programs for them meet the requirements of the program for exceptional children. No financial assistance shall exceed the obligation actually incurred by the applicant for educational costs, which shall include special education and related services as defined by the Mississippi Department of Education Policies and Procedures Regarding Children with Disabilities under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Within the amount of available state funds appropriated for that purpose, each such applicant may receive assistance according to the following allowances:
(a) If the applicant chooses to attend a private school, a parochial school or a speech, hearing and/or language clinic having an appropriate program for the applicant, and if the school or clinic meets federal and state regulations, then the educational costs reimbursement will be one hundred percent (100%) of the first Six Hundred Dollars ($600.00) in educational costs charged by the school or clinic; or, if the applicant is under six (6) years of age, and no program appropriate for the child exists in the public schools of his domicile, then the reimbursement shall be one hundred percent (100%) of the first Six Hundred Dollars ($600.00) in educational costs charged by the school or clinic, and fifty percent (50%) of the next Eight Hundred Dollars ($800.00) in educational costs charged by the school or clinic;
(b) A public school district shall be reimbursed for the educational costs of an applicant up to an annual maximum based on a multiple of the base student cost as determined under the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) or other cost factor as determined by the State Board of Education if the following conditions are met: (i) an applicant in the age range six (6) through twenty (20) requests the public school district where he resides to provide an education for him and the nature of the applicant's educational problem is such that, according to best educational practices, it cannot be met in the public school district where the child resides; (ii) the public school district decides to provide the applicant a free appropriate education by placing him in a private school, a parochial school or a speech, hearing and/or language clinic having an appropriate program for the applicant; (iii) the program meets federal and state regulations; and (iv) the applicant is approved for financial assistance by a State Level Review Board established by the State Board of Education. The Review Board will act on financial assistance requests within five (5) working days of receipt. Nothing in this paragraph shall prevent two (2) or more public school districts from forming a cooperative to meet the needs of low incidence exceptional children, nor shall the public school be relieved of its responsibility to provide an education for all children. If state monies are not sufficient to fund all applicants, there will be a ratable reduction for all recipients receiving state funds under this section. School districts may pay additional educational costs from available federal, state and local funds.
If an exceptional child, as defined in Section 37-23-3, is placed in a therapeutic or other group home licensed or approved by the state that has no educational program associated with it, the local school district in which the home is located shall offer an appropriate educational program to that child.
At any time that the
Individualized Education Program (IEP) Committee in the district where the home
is located determines that an exceptional child, as defined in Section 37-23-3,
residing in that home can no longer be provided a free appropriate public
education in that school district, and the State Department of Education agrees
with that decision, then the State Department of Education shall recommend to
the Department of * * * Child Protection Services placement of the
child by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services,
which shall take appropriate action. The placement of the exceptional child in
the facility shall be at no cost to the local school district. Funds available
under Sections 37-23-61 through 37-23-77, as well as any available federal
funds, may be used to provide the educational costs of the placement. If the
exceptional child is under the guardianship of the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
or another state agency, the State Department of Education shall pay only for
the educational costs of that placement, and the other agency shall be
responsible for the room, board and any other costs. The special education and
related services provided to the child shall be in compliance with State
Department of Education and any related federal regulations. The State Board
of Education may promulgate regulations that are necessary to implement this
section; and
(c) If an appropriate
local or regional system of care, including a free appropriate public
education, is available for exceptional children who are currently being served
in out-of-district or Department of * * * Child Protection Services
placements under Section 37-23-69(b) or 37-23-77, then the state funds from the
State Department of Education that would have been used for those placements
may be paid into a pool of funds with funds from other state agencies to be
used for the implementation of the individualized plans of care for those
children. If there are sufficient funds to serve additional exceptional
children because of cost savings as a result of serving these students at home
and/or matching the pooled funds with federal dollars, the funds may be used to
implement individualized plans of care for those additional exceptional
children. Each local or regional provider of services included in the
individualized plans of care shall comply with all appropriate state and
federal regulations. The State Board of Education may promulgate regulations
that are necessary to implement this section.
The State Department of Education may also provide for the payment of that financial assistance in installments and for proration of that financial assistance in the case of children attending a school or clinic for less than a full school session and, if available funds are insufficient, may allocate the available funds among the qualified applicants and local school districts by reducing the maximum assistance provided for in this section.
Any monies provided an applicant under Sections 37-23-61 through 37-23-75 shall be applied by the receiving educational institution as a reduction in the amount of the educational costs paid by the applicant, and the total educational costs paid by the applicant shall not exceed the total educational costs paid by any other child in similar circumstances enrolled in the same program in that institution. However, this limitation shall not prohibit the waiving of all or part of the educational costs for a limited number of children based upon demonstrated financial need, and the State Department of Education may adopt and enforce reasonable rules and regulations to carry out the intent of these provisions.
SECTION 9. Section 37-23-77, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-23-77. If a child, as
defined in Sections 37-23-61 and 37-23-63, is under the legal guardianship of
the * * * Mississippi Department of Child Protection
Services, or any other state agency, and for whom no foster parents are
available and no state-funded institution placement is available, funds
available under Section 37-23-1 et seq. may be used to provide for the
education of the child in an institution approved by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
and the State Department of Education. However, if the educational services
needed by the child are available in a state funded institution, these funds
shall not be used to pay for educational services at that institution. At any
such time a child is taken out of a school setting and placed under the custody
of the Department of * * * Child Protection Services, the department
shall immediately notify the State Department of Education and apply for funds
for the child's educational services under Section 37-23-1 et seq. and the
State Department of Education shall respond to the application within ten (10)
working days. The special education and related services provided for this
child shall be provided in compliance with State Department of Education
regulations. The State Department of Education shall promulgate such
regulations as are necessary to implement this section.
The State Department of Education shall require that the special education and related services provided for the children under this section be designed to provide individualized appropriate special education and related services that enable a child to reach his or her appropriate and uniquely designed goals for success.
SECTION 10. Section 37-106-69, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-106-69. (1) There is
established a forgivable loan program to encourage family protection workers
employed by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
to obtain the college education necessary to become licensed as a social
worker, master social worker or certified social worker and become a family
protection specialist for the department.
(2) Any person who is
employed as a family protection worker for the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
shall be eligible for a forgivable loan from the board which shall be used to
pay the costs of the person's education at a state institution of higher
learning in Mississippi to obtain a college degree that is necessary to become
licensed as a social worker, master social worker or certified social worker
and become a family protection specialist for the department. The annual
amount of a forgivable loan award under the program shall be equal to the total
cost of tuition and fees at the college or university in which the student is
enrolled, not to exceed an amount equal to the highest total cost of tuition
and fees assessed by a state institution of higher learning during that school
year.
(3) Forgivable loans made under the program shall be available to both full-time and part-time students. Students enrolling on a full-time basis may receive a maximum of two (2) annual awards. The maximum number of forgivable loans that may be made to students attending school on a part-time basis, and the maximum time period for part-time students to complete the number of academic hours necessary to obtain the necessary degree, shall be established by rules and regulations of the board. Forgivable loans made under the program shall not be based upon an applicant's financial need. A student must maintain a "C" average or higher in his or her college coursework in order to continue receiving the forgivable loan.
(4) Repayment and conversion terms shall be the same as those outlined in Section 37-106-53, except for the following:
(a) After a person who
received a forgivable loan under the program has obtained a college degree that
is necessary to become licensed as a social worker, master social worker or
certified social worker and has received such a license from the Board of
Examiners for Social Workers and Marriage and Family Therapists, the person
shall render service as a Family Protection Specialist for the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
for a period of not less than three (3) years from the date that the person
became a family protection specialist;
(b) Any person who
fails to complete his or her service obligation as a Family Protection
Specialist for the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
for not less than three (3) years, as required under * * * paragraph (a) of this subsection,
shall become liable immediately to the board for the sum of all forgivable loan
awards made to that person, plus interest accruing at the current Stafford Loan
rate at the time the person discontinues his or her service.
(5) It is the intent of the
Legislature that the pursuit of necessary college education by family
protection workers through the forgivable loan program shall not interfere with
the duties of the family protection workers with the Department of * * * Child Protection Services.
The department shall promulgate regulations regarding family protection workers
who participate in the forgivable loan program to ensure that such
participation does not interfere with their duties with the department.
(6) The board shall promulgate rules and regulations necessary for the proper administration of the forgivable loan program established under this section. The board shall be the administering agency of the program.
(7) The total amount of state funds that may be expended for this program shall not exceed Three Hundred Twenty Thousand Dollars ($320,000.00) in any fiscal year.
SECTION 11. Section 37-115-43, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-115-43. (1) The
University of Mississippi Medical Center, in collaboration with the Mississippi
Department of * * * Child Protection Services and the Office of the
Attorney General, is authorized and empowered to establish a Center of
Excellence (Center) * * *
to provide care for abused and neglected children at the Blair E. Batson Hospital
for Children located in Jackson, Mississippi, where suspected victims of child
maltreatment referred by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
or law enforcement will receive comprehensive physical examinations conducted
by medical professionals who specialize in child maltreatment. The University
of Mississippi Medical Center shall promulgate such policies as may be
necessary and desirable to carry out the programs of the Center. The Center
shall serve as a resource for the assessment, investigation and prosecution of
child maltreatment. The Center shall work in collaboration with the Office of
the Attorney General, the Mississippi Department of * * * Child Protection Services,
and other such state agencies and entities that provide services to children * * * to ensure that CARE Clinic services are
provided in a uniform fashion throughout the state.
(2) The Department of Pediatrics may use the Center for educational and outreach programs, telemedicine consultations, to develop satellite clinics in other locations in the state in cooperation with the local community or private hospital when applicable, and to conduct major research initiatives in child maltreatment.
(3) The Center of
Excellence shall provide services to maltreated children and comply with
national certification standards as necessary to provide services to the
Department of * * * Child Protection Services, the youth courts, state
child advocacy centers, district attorney's offices and law enforcement
agencies.
(4) There is created in the State Treasury a special fund to be known as the Children's Safe Center Fund. The University of Mississippi Medical Center shall expend funds pursuant to appropriation therefor by the Legislature for the support and maintenance of the Children's Safe Center. The University of Mississippi Medical Center is authorized to accept any and all grants, donations or matching funds from private, public or federal sources in order to add to, improve and enlarge the physical facilities of the Center and to expend any such funds for the support and maintenance of the Center. Assessments from Section 99-19-73 designated for the Children's Safe Center Fund shall be deposited into the fund. Monies remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund, and any interest earned from the investment of monies in the fund shall be deposited to the credit of the fund.
SECTION 12. Section 41-3-18, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-3-18. (1) The board shall assess fees in the following amounts and for the following purposes:
(a) Food establishment annual permit fee, based on the assessment factors of the establishment as follows:
Assessment Category 1................................... $ 30.00
Assessment Category 2................................... 100.00
Assessment Category 3................................... 150.00
Assessment Category 4................................... 200.00
(b) Private water supply approval fee........ $ 10.00
The board may develop such reasonable standards, rules and regulations to clearly define each assessment category. Assessment categories shall be based upon the factors to the public health implications of the category and type of food preparation being utilized by the food establishment, utilizing the model Food Code of 1995, or as may be amended by the federal Food and Drug Administration.
Any increase in the fees charged by the board under this subsection shall be in accordance with the provisions of Section 41-3-65.
(2) The fee authorized under subsection (1)(a) of this section shall not be assessed for:
(a) Food establishments operated by public schools, public junior and community colleges, or state agencies or institutions, including, without limitation, the state institutions of higher learning and the State Penitentiary; and
(b) Persons who make infrequent casual sales of honey and who pack or sell less than five hundred (500) gallons of honey per year, and those persons shall not be inspected by the State Department of Health unless requested by the producer.
(3) The fee authorized
under subsection (1)(b) of this section shall not be assessed for private water
supplies used by foster homes licensed by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services.
SECTION 13. Section 41-7-173, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-7-173. For the purposes of Section 41-7-171 et seq., the following words shall have the meanings ascribed herein, unless the context otherwise requires:
(a) "Affected person" means (i) the applicant; (ii) a person residing within the geographic area to be served by the applicant's proposal; (iii) a person who regularly uses health care facilities or HMOs located in the geographic area of the proposal which provide similar service to that which is proposed; (iv) health care facilities and HMOs which have, prior to receipt of the application under review, formally indicated an intention to provide service similar to that of the proposal being considered at a future date; (v) third-party payers who reimburse health care facilities located in the geographical area of the proposal; or (vi) any agency that establishes rates for health care services or HMOs located in the geographic area of the proposal.
(b) "Certificate of need" means a written order of the State Department of Health setting forth the affirmative finding that a proposal in prescribed application form, sufficiently satisfies the plans, standards and criteria prescribed for such service or other project by Section 41-7-171 et seq., and by rules and regulations promulgated thereunder by the State Department of Health.
(c) (i) "Capital expenditure," when pertaining to defined major medical equipment, shall mean an expenditure which, under generally accepted accounting principles consistently applied, is not properly chargeable as an expense of operation and maintenance and which exceeds One Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($1,500,000.00).
(ii) "Capital
expenditure," when pertaining to other than major medical equipment, shall
mean any expenditure which under generally accepted accounting principles
consistently applied is not properly chargeable as an expense of operation and
maintenance and which exceeds, for clinical health services, as defined in * * * paragraph (k) below, Five
Million Dollars ($5,000,000.00), adjusted for inflation as published by the
State Department of Health or which exceeds, for nonclinical health services,
as defined in * * * paragraph (k) below, Ten Million Dollars
($10,000,000.00), adjusted for inflation as published by the State Department
of Health.
(iii) A "capital expenditure" shall include the acquisition, whether by lease, sufferance, gift, devise, legacy, settlement of a trust or other means, of any facility or part thereof, or equipment for a facility, the expenditure for which would have been considered a capital expenditure if acquired by purchase. Transactions which are separated in time but are planned to be undertaken within twelve (12) months of each other and are components of an overall plan for meeting patient care objectives shall, for purposes of this definition, be viewed in their entirety without regard to their timing.
(iv) In those instances where a health care facility or other provider of health services proposes to provide a service in which the capital expenditure for major medical equipment or other than major medical equipment or a combination of the two (2) may have been split between separate parties, the total capital expenditure required to provide the proposed service shall be considered in determining the necessity of certificate of need review and in determining the appropriate certificate of need review fee to be paid. The capital expenditure associated with facilities and equipment to provide services in Mississippi shall be considered regardless of where the capital expenditure was made, in state or out of state, and regardless of the domicile of the party making the capital expenditure, in state or out of state.
(d) "Change of ownership" includes, but is not limited to, inter vivos gifts, purchases, transfers, lease arrangements, cash and/or stock transactions or other comparable arrangements whenever any person or entity acquires or controls a majority interest of an existing health care facility, and/or the change of ownership of major medical equipment, a health service, or an institutional health service. Changes of ownership from partnerships, single proprietorships or corporations to another form of ownership are specifically included. However, "change of ownership" shall not include any inherited interest acquired as a result of a testamentary instrument or under the laws of descent and distribution of the State of Mississippi.
(e) "Commencement of construction" means that all of the following have been completed with respect to a proposal or project proposing construction, renovating, remodeling or alteration:
(i) A legally binding written contract has been consummated by the proponent and a lawfully licensed contractor to construct and/or complete the intent of the proposal within a specified period of time in accordance with final architectural plans which have been approved by the licensing authority of the State Department of Health;
(ii) Any and all permits and/or approvals deemed lawfully necessary by all authorities with responsibility for such have been secured; and
(iii) Actual bona fide undertaking of the subject proposal has commenced, and a progress payment of at least one percent (1%) of the total cost price of the contract has been paid to the contractor by the proponent, and the requirements of this paragraph (e) have been certified to in writing by the State Department of Health.
Force account expenditures, such as deposits, securities, bonds, et cetera, may, in the discretion of the State Department of Health, be excluded from any or all of the provisions of defined commencement of construction.
(f) "Consumer" means an individual who is not a provider of health care as defined in paragraph (q) of this section.
(g) "Develop," when used in connection with health services, means to undertake those activities which, on their completion, will result in the offering of a new institutional health service or the incurring of a financial obligation as defined under applicable state law in relation to the offering of such services.
(h) "Health care facility" includes hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, chemical dependency hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, end-stage renal disease (ESRD) facilities, including freestanding hemodialysis units, intermediate care facilities, ambulatory surgical facilities, intermediate care facilities for the mentally retarded, home health agencies, psychiatric residential treatment facilities, pediatric skilled nursing facilities, long-term care hospitals, comprehensive medical rehabilitation facilities, including facilities owned or operated by the state or a political subdivision or instrumentality of the state, but does not include Christian Science sanatoriums operated or listed and certified by the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, Massachusetts. This definition shall not apply to facilities for the private practice, either independently or by incorporated medical groups, of physicians, dentists or health care professionals except where such facilities are an integral part of an institutional health service. The various health care facilities listed in this paragraph shall be defined as follows:
(i) "Hospital" means an institution which is primarily engaged in providing to inpatients, by or under the supervision of physicians, diagnostic services and therapeutic services for medical diagnosis, treatment and care of injured, disabled or sick persons, or rehabilitation services for the rehabilitation of injured, disabled or sick persons. Such term does not include psychiatric hospitals.
(ii) "Psychiatric hospital" means an institution which is primarily engaged in providing to inpatients, by or under the supervision of a physician, psychiatric services for the diagnosis and treatment of persons with mental illness.
(iii) "Chemical dependency hospital" means an institution which is primarily engaged in providing to inpatients, by or under the supervision of a physician, medical and related services for the diagnosis and treatment of chemical dependency such as alcohol and drug abuse.
(iv) "Skilled nursing facility" means an institution or a distinct part of an institution which is primarily engaged in providing to inpatients skilled nursing care and related services for patients who require medical or nursing care or rehabilitation services for the rehabilitation of injured, disabled or sick persons.
(v) "End-stage renal disease (ESRD) facilities" means kidney disease treatment centers, which includes freestanding hemodialysis units and limited care facilities. The term "limited care facility" generally refers to an off-hospital-premises facility, regardless of whether it is provider or nonprovider operated, which is engaged primarily in furnishing maintenance hemodialysis services to stabilized patients.
(vi) "Intermediate care facility" means an institution which provides, on a regular basis, health-related care and services to individuals who do not require the degree of care and treatment which a hospital or skilled nursing facility is designed to provide, but who, because of their mental or physical condition, require health-related care and services (above the level of room and board).
(vii) "Ambulatory surgical facility" means a facility primarily organized or established for the purpose of performing surgery for outpatients and is a separate identifiable legal entity from any other health care facility. Such term does not include the offices of private physicians or dentists, whether for individual or group practice, and does not include any abortion facility as defined in Section 41-75-1(f).
(viii) "Intermediate care facility for the mentally retarded" means an intermediate care facility that provides health or rehabilitative services in a planned program of activities to persons with an intellectual disability, also including, but not limited to, cerebral palsy and other conditions covered by the Federal Developmentally Disabled Assistance and Bill of Rights Act, Public Law 94-103.
(ix) "Home health agency" means a public or privately owned agency or organization, or a subdivision of such an agency or organization, properly authorized to conduct business in Mississippi, which is primarily engaged in providing to individuals at the written direction of a licensed physician, in the individual's place of residence, skilled nursing services provided by or under the supervision of a registered nurse licensed to practice in Mississippi, and one or more of the following services or items:
1. Physical, occupational or speech therapy;
2. Medical social services;
3. Part-time or intermittent services of a home health aide;
4. Other services as approved by the licensing agency for home health agencies;
5. Medical supplies, other than drugs and biologicals, and the use of medical appliances; or
6. Medical services provided by an intern or resident-in-training at a hospital under a teaching program of such hospital.
Further, all skilled nursing services and those services listed in items 1 through 4 of this subparagraph (ix) must be provided directly by the licensed home health agency. For purposes of this subparagraph, "directly" means either through an agency employee or by an arrangement with another individual not defined as a health care facility.
This subparagraph (ix) shall not apply to health care facilities which had contracts for the above services with a home health agency on January 1, 1990.
(x)
"Psychiatric residential treatment facility" means any nonhospital
establishment with permanent licensed facilities which provides a twenty-four-hour
program of care by qualified therapists, including, but not limited to, duly
licensed mental health professionals, psychiatrists, psychologists,
psychotherapists and licensed certified social workers, for emotionally
disturbed children and adolescents referred to such facility by a court, local
school district or by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services,
who are not in an acute phase of illness requiring the services of a psychiatric
hospital, and are in need of such restorative treatment services. For purposes
of this subparagraph, the term "emotionally disturbed" means a
condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long
period of time and to a marked degree, which adversely affects educational
performance:
1. An inability to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory or health factors;
2. An inability to build or maintain satisfactory relationships with peers and teachers;
3. Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances;
4. A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or
5. A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. An establishment furnishing primarily domiciliary care is not within this definition.
(xi) "Pediatric skilled nursing facility" means an institution or a distinct part of an institution that is primarily engaged in providing to inpatients skilled nursing care and related services for persons under twenty-one (21) years of age who require medical or nursing care or rehabilitation services for the rehabilitation of injured, disabled or sick persons.
(xii) "Long-term care hospital" means a freestanding, Medicare-certified hospital that has an average length of inpatient stay greater than twenty-five (25) days, which is primarily engaged in providing chronic or long-term medical care to patients who do not require more than three (3) hours of rehabilitation or comprehensive rehabilitation per day, and has a transfer agreement with an acute care medical center and a comprehensive medical rehabilitation facility. Long-term care hospitals shall not use rehabilitation, comprehensive medical rehabilitation, medical rehabilitation, sub-acute rehabilitation, nursing home, skilled nursing facility or sub-acute care facility in association with its name.
(xiii) "Comprehensive medical rehabilitation facility" means a hospital or hospital unit that is licensed and/or certified as a comprehensive medical rehabilitation facility which provides specialized programs that are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities and supervised by a physician board certified or board eligible in physiatry or other doctor of medicine or osteopathy with at least two (2) years of training in the medical direction of a comprehensive rehabilitation program that:
1. Includes evaluation and treatment of individuals with physical disabilities;
2. Emphasizes education and training of individuals with disabilities;
3. Incorporates at least the following core disciplines:
* * *a. Physical Therapy;
* * *b. Occupational Therapy;
* * *c. Speech and Language Therapy;
* * *d. Rehabilitation Nursing; and
4. Incorporates at least three (3) of the following disciplines:
* * *a. Psychology;
* * *b. Audiology;
* * *c. Respiratory Therapy;
* * *d. Therapeutic Recreation;
* * *e. Orthotics;
* * *f. Prosthetics;
* * *g. Special Education;
* * *h. Vocational Rehabilitation;
* * *i. Psychotherapy;
* * *j. Social Work;
* * *k. Rehabilitation Engineering.
These specialized programs include, but are not limited to: spinal cord injury programs, head injury programs and infant and early childhood development programs.
(i) "Health maintenance organization" or "HMO" means a public or private organization organized under the laws of this state or the federal government which:
(i) Provides or otherwise makes available to enrolled participants health care services, including substantially the following basic health care services: usual physician services, hospitalization, laboratory, x-ray, emergency and preventive services, and out-of-area coverage;
(ii) Is compensated (except for copayments) for the provision of the basic health care services listed in subparagraph (i) of this paragraph to enrolled participants on a predetermined basis; and
(iii) Provides physician services primarily:
1. Directly through physicians who are either employees or partners of such organization; or
2. Through arrangements with individual physicians or one or more groups of physicians (organized on a group practice or individual practice basis).
(j) "Health service area" means a geographic area of the state designated in the State Health Plan as the area to be used in planning for specified health facilities and services and to be used when considering certificate of need applications to provide health facilities and services.
(k) "Health services" means clinically related (i.e., diagnostic, treatment or rehabilitative) services and includes alcohol, drug abuse, mental health and home health care services. "Clinical health services" shall only include those activities which contemplate any change in the existing bed complement of any health care facility through the addition or conversion of any beds, under Section 41-7-191(1)(c) or propose to offer any health services if those services have not been provided on a regular basis by the proposed provider of such services within the period of twelve (12) months prior to the time such services would be offered, under Section 41-7-191(1)(d). "Nonclinical health services" shall be all other services which do not involve any change in the existing bed complement or offering health services as described above.
(l) "Institutional health services" shall mean health services provided in or through health care facilities and shall include the entities in or through which such services are provided.
(m) "Major medical equipment" means medical equipment designed for providing medical or any health-related service which costs in excess of One Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($1,500,000.00). However, this definition shall not be applicable to clinical laboratories if they are determined by the State Department of Health to be independent of any physician's office, hospital or other health care facility or otherwise not so defined by federal or state law, or rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.
(n) "State Department of Health" or "department" shall mean the state agency created under Section 41-3-15, which shall be considered to be the State Health Planning and Development Agency, as defined in paragraph (u) of this section.
(o) "Offer," when used in connection with health services, means that it has been determined by the State Department of Health that the health care facility is capable of providing specified health services.
(p) "Person" means an individual, a trust or estate, partnership, corporation (including associations, joint-stock companies and insurance companies), the state or a political subdivision or instrumentality of the state.
(q) "Provider" shall mean any person who is a provider or representative of a provider of health care services requiring a certificate of need under Section 41-7-171 et seq., or who has any financial or indirect interest in any provider of services.
(r) "Radiation therapy services" means the treatment of cancer and other diseases using ionizing radiation of either high energy photons (x-rays or gamma rays) or charged particles (electrons, protons or heavy nuclei). However, for purposes of a certificate of need, radiation therapy services shall not include low energy, superficial, external beam x-ray treatment of superficial skin lesions.
(s) "Secretary" means the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and any officer or employee of the Department of Health and Human Services to whom the authority involved has been delegated.
(t) "State Health Plan" means the sole and official statewide health plan for Mississippi which identifies priority state health needs and establishes standards and criteria for health-related activities which require certificate of need review in compliance with Section 41-7-191.
(u) "State Health Planning and Development Agency" means the agency of state government designated to perform health planning and resource development programs for the State of Mississippi.
SECTION 14. Section 41-21-67, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-21-67. (1) Whenever the affidavit provided for in Section 41-21-65 is filed with the chancery clerk, the clerk, upon direction of the chancellor of the court, shall issue a writ directed to the sheriff of the proper county to take into custody the person alleged to be in need of treatment and to bring the person before the clerk or chancellor, who shall order pre-evaluation screening and treatment by the appropriate community mental health center established under Section 41-19-31. The community mental health center will be designated as the first point of entry for screening and treatment. If the community mental health center is unavailable, any reputable licensed physician, psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant, as allowed in the discretion of the court, may conduct the pre-evaluation screening and examination as set forth in Section 41-21-69. The order may provide where the person shall be held before the appearance before the clerk or chancellor. However, when the affidavit fails to set forth factual allegations and witnesses sufficient to support the need for treatment, the chancellor shall refuse to direct issuance of the writ. Reapplication may be made to the chancellor. If a pauper's affidavit is filed by a guardian for commitment of the ward of the guardian, the court shall determine if the ward is a pauper and if the ward is determined to be a pauper, the county of the residence of the respondent shall bear the costs of commitment, unless funds for those purposes are made available by the state.
In any county in which a Crisis Intervention Team has been established under the provisions of Sections 41-21-131 through 41-21-143, the clerk, upon the direction of the chancellor, may require that the person be referred to the Crisis Intervention Team for appropriate psychiatric or other medical services before the issuance of the writ.
(2) Upon issuance of the writ, the chancellor shall immediately appoint and summon two (2) reputable, licensed physicians or one (1) reputable, licensed physician and either one (1) psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant to conduct a physical and mental examination of the person at a place to be designated by the clerk or chancellor and to report their findings to the clerk or chancellor. However, any nurse practitioner or physician assistant conducting the examination shall be independent from, and not under the supervision of, the other physician conducting the examination. In all counties in which there is a county health officer, the county health officer, if available, may be one (1) of the physicians so appointed. Neither of the physicians nor the psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant selected shall be related to that person in any way, nor have any direct or indirect interest in the estate of that person nor shall any full-time staff of residential treatment facilities operated directly by the State Department of Mental Health serve as examiner.
(3) The clerk shall ascertain whether the respondent is represented by an attorney, and if it is determined that the respondent does not have an attorney, the clerk shall immediately notify the chancellor of that fact. If the chancellor determines that the respondent for any reason does not have the services of an attorney, the chancellor shall immediately appoint an attorney for the respondent at the time the examiners are appointed.
(4) If the chancellor determines that there is probable cause to believe that the respondent is mentally ill and that there is no reasonable alternative to detention, the chancellor may order that the respondent be retained as an emergency patient at any licensed medical facility for evaluation by a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant and that a peace officer transport the respondent to the specified facility. If the community mental health center serving the county has partnered with Crisis Intervention Teams under the provisions of Sections 41-21-131 through 41-21-143, the order may specify that the licensed medical facility be a designated single point of entry within the county or within an adjacent county served by the community mental health center. If the person evaluating the respondent finds that the respondent is mentally ill and in need of treatment, the chancellor may order that the respondent be retained at the licensed medical facility or any other available suitable location as the court may so designate pending an admission hearing. If necessary, the chancellor may order a peace officer or other person to transport the respondent to that facility or suitable location. Any respondent so retained may be given such treatment as is indicated by standard medical practice. However, the respondent shall not be held in a hospital operated directly by the State Department of Mental Health, and shall not be held in jail unless the court finds that there is no reasonable alternative.
(5) (a) Whenever a licensed psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant who is certified to complete examinations for the purpose of commitment or a licensed physician has reason to believe that a person poses an immediate substantial likelihood of physical harm to himself or others or is gravely disabled and unable to care for himself by virtue of mental illness, as defined in Section 41-21-61(e), then the physician, psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant may hold the person or may admit the person to and treat the person in a licensed medical facility, without a civil order or warrant for a period not to exceed seventy-two (72) hours. However, if the seventy-two-hour period begins or ends when the chancery clerk's office is closed, or within three (3) hours of closing, and the chancery clerk's office will be continuously closed for a time that exceeds seventy-two (72) hours, then the seventy-two-hour period is extended until the end of the next business day that the chancery clerk's office is open. The person may be held and treated as an emergency patient at any licensed medical facility, available regional mental health facility, or crisis intervention center. The physician or psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant who holds the person shall certify in writing the reasons for the need for holding.
If a person is being held and treated in a licensed medical facility, and that person decides to continue treatment by voluntarily signing consent for admission and treatment, the seventy-two-hour hold may be discontinued without filing an affidavit for commitment. Any respondent so held may be given such treatment as indicated by standard medical practice. Persons acting in good faith in connection with the detention and reporting of a person believed to be mentally ill shall incur no liability, civil or criminal, for those acts.
(b) Whenever an
individual is held for purposes of receiving treatment as prescribed under
paragraph (a) of this subsection, and it is communicated to the mental health
professional holding the individual that the individual resides or has
visitation rights with a minor child, and if the individual is considered to be
a danger to the minor child, the mental health professional shall notify the
Department of * * * Child Protection Services prior to discharge if the
threat of harm continues to exist, as is required under Section 43-21-353.
This paragraph shall be known and may be cited as the "Andrew Lloyd Law."
SECTION 15. Section 41-67-12, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-67-12. (1) The department shall assess fees in the following amounts for the following purposes:
(a) A fee of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) shall be levied for soil and site evaluation and recommendation of individual on-site wastewater disposal systems. The department may increase the amount of the fee authorized in this paragraph (a) not more than two (2) times during the period from July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2020, with the percentage of each increase being not more than five percent (5%) of the amount of the fee in effect at the time of the increase.
(b) A fee of One Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150.00) shall be levied once every three (3) years for the certification of installers and pumpers.
(c) A fee of Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00) shall be levied once every three (3) years for the registration of manufacturers.
Any increase in the fee charged by the department under paragraph (b) or (c) of this subsection shall be in accordance with the provisions of Section 41-3-65.
(2) In the discretion of the board, a person shall be liable for a penalty equal to one and one-half (1-1/2) times the amount of the fee due and payable for failure to pay the fee on or before the date due, plus any amount necessary to reimburse the cost of collection.
(3) No fee
authorized under this section shall be assessed by the department for state
agencies or institutions, including, without limitation, foster homes licensed
by the Mississippi Department of * * * Child Protection Services.
SECTION 16. Section 41-87-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-87-5. Unless the context requires otherwise, the following definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter:
(a) "Eligible infants and toddlers" or "eligible children" means children from birth through thirty-six (36) months of age who need early intervention services because they:
(i) Are experiencing developmental delays as measured by appropriate diagnostic instruments and procedures in one or more of the following areas:
(A) Cognitive development;
(B) Physical development, including vision or hearing;
(C) Communication development;
(D) Social or emotional development;
(E) Adaptive development;
(ii) Have a diagnosed physical or mental condition, as defined in state policy, that has a high probability of resulting in developmental delay;
(iii) Are at risk of having substantial developmental delays if early intervention services are not provided due to conditions as defined in state policy. (This category may be served at the discretion of the lead agency contingent upon available resources.)
(b) "Early intervention services" are developmental services that:
(i) Are provided under public supervision;
(ii) Are provided at no cost except where federal or state law provides for a system of payments by families, including a schedule of sliding fees;
(iii) Are designed to meet the developmental needs of an infant or toddler with a disability in any one or more of the following areas:
(A) Physical development;
(B) Cognitive development;
(C) Communication development;
(D) Social or emotional development; or
(E) Adaptive development;
(iv) Meet the requirements of Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the early intervention standards of the State of Mississippi;
(v) Include, but are not limited to, the following services:
(A) Assistive technology devices and assistive technology services;
(B) Audiology;
(C) Family training, counseling and home visits;
(D) Health services necessary to enable a child to benefit from other early intervention services;
(E) Medical services only for diagnostic or evaluation purposes;
(F) Nutrition services;
(G) Occupational therapy;
(H) Physical therapy;
(I) Psychological services;
(J) Service coordination (case management);
(K) Social work services;
(L) Special instruction;
(M) Speech-language pathology;
(N) Transportation and related costs that are necessary to enable an infant or toddler and her/his family to receive early intervention services; and
(O) Vision services;
(vi) Are provided by qualified personnel as determined by the state's personnel standards, including:
(A) Audiologists;
(B) Family therapists;
(C) Nurses;
(D) Nutritionists;
(E) Occupational therapists;
(F) Orientation and mobility specialists;
(G) Pediatricians and other physicians;
(H) Physical therapists;
(I) Psychologists;
(J) Social workers;
(K) Special educators;
(L) Speech and language pathologists;
(vii) Are provided, to the maximum extent appropriate, in natural environments, including the home, and community settings in which children without disabilities would participate;
(viii) Are provided in conformity with an individualized family service plan.
(c) "Council" means the State Interagency Coordinating Council established under Section 41-87-7.
(d) "Lead agency" means the State Department of Health.
(e) "Participating agencies" includes, but is not limited to, the State Department of Education, the Department of Human Services, the State Department of Health, the Division of Medicaid, the State Department of Mental Health, the University Medical Center, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning and the Mississippi Community College Board.
(f) "Local community" means a county either jointly, severally, or a portion thereof, participating in the provision of early intervention services.
(g) "Primary service agency" means the agency, whether a state agency, local agency, local interagency council or service provider which is designated by the lead agency to serve as the fiscal and contracting agent for a local community.
(h) "Multidisciplinary team" means a group comprised of the parent(s) or legal guardian and the service providers, as appropriate, described in paragraph (b) of this section, who are assembled for the purposes of:
(i) Assessing the developmental needs of an infant or toddler;
(ii) Developing the individualized family service plan; and
(iii) Providing the infant or toddler and his or her family with the appropriate early intervention services as detailed in the individualized family service plan.
(i) "Individualized family service plan" means a written plan designed to address the needs of the infant or toddler and his or her family as specified under Section 41-87-13.
(j) "Early intervention standards" means those standards established by any agency or agencies statutorily designated the responsibility to establish standards for infants and toddlers with disabilities, in coordination with the council and in accordance with Part C of IDEA.
(k) "Early intervention system" means the total collaborative effort in the state that is directed at meeting the needs of eligible children and their families.
(l)
"Parent," for the purpose of early intervention services, means a
parent, a guardian, a person acting as a parent of a child, foster parent, or
an appointed surrogate parent. The term does not include the state if the
child is a ward of the state where the child has not been placed with
individuals to serve in a parenting capacity, such as foster parents, or when a
surrogate parent has not been appointed. When a child is the ward of the
state, a Department of * * * Child Protection Services representative will
act as parent for purposes of service authorization.
(m) "Policies" means the state statutes, regulations, Governor's orders, directives by the lead agency, or other written documents that represent the state's position concerning any matter covered under this chapter.
(n) "Regulations" means the United States Department of Education's regulations concerning the governance and implementation of Part C of IDEA, the Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities.
SECTION 17. Section 43-1-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-1-11. The boards of
supervisors of the various counties of this state are hereby authorized and
empowered, in their discretion, to expend and appropriate such sums as they
deem necessary out of any available county funds for the purpose of providing
office space for the * * * Department of Child
Protection Services and the Department of Human Services. This includes,
but is not limited to, adequate office space for the efficient conduct of
business, as well as providing for payment of electricity, water, gas,
maintenance and repair of the building, and janitorial services and supplies.
SECTION 18. Section 43-1-12, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-1-12. The governing
authority of any municipality or county in this state is authorized and
empowered, in its discretion, to expend such funds as it deems necessary and
desirable, from any available funds of the municipality or county, to: (a)
match any state, federal or private funds available for any program
administered by the * * *
Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services or the Department of
Human Services in this state; and/or (b) make a voluntary contribution to
any such program.
SECTION 19. Section 43-1-63, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-1-63. The Department of * * * Child Protection Services
shall have the authority to use the services and resources of the State
Department of Education and the State Department of Health and of all other
appropriate state departments, agencies, institutions or political subdivisions
as will aid in carrying out the purposes of this chapter. It shall be the duty
of all such state departments, agencies and institutions to make available such
services and resources to the department, including, but not necessarily
limited to, such services and resources as may be required to perform
appropriate criminal history record checks on prospective foster and relative
child placements for the purpose of preventing and detecting abuse and neglect.
SECTION 20. Section 43-14-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-14-1. (1) The purpose of this chapter is to provide for the development, implementation and oversight of a coordinated interagency system of necessary services and care for children and youth, called the Mississippi Statewide System of Care, up to age twenty-one (21) with serious emotional/behavioral disorders including, but not limited to, conduct disorders, or mental illness who require services from a multiple services and multiple programs system, and who can be successfully diverted from inappropriate institutional placement. The Mississippi Statewide System of Care is to be conducted in the most fiscally responsible (cost-efficient) manner possible, based on an individualized plan of care which takes into account other available interagency programs, including, but not limited to, Early Intervention Act of Infants and Toddlers, Section 41-87-1 et seq., Early Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment, Section 43-13-117(A)(5), waivered program for home- and community-based services for developmentally disabled people, Section 43-13-117(A)(29), and waivered program for targeted case management services for children with special needs, Section 43-13-117(A)(31), those children identified through the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997 as having a serious emotional disorder (EMD), the Mississippi Children's Health Insurance Program and waivered programs for children with serious emotional disturbances, Section 43-13-117(A)(46), and is tied to clinically and functionally appropriate outcomes. Some of the outcomes are to reduce the number of inappropriate out-of-home placements inclusive of those out-of-state and to reduce the number of inappropriate school suspensions and expulsions for this population of children. This coordinated interagency system of necessary services and care shall be named the Mississippi Statewide System of Care. Children to be served by this chapter who are eligible for Medicaid shall be screened through the Medicaid Early Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) and their needs for medically necessary services shall be certified through the EPSDT process. For purposes of this chapter, the Mississippi Statewide System of Care is defined as a coordinated network of agencies and providers working as a team to make a full range of mental health and other necessary services available as needed by children with mental health problems and their families. The Mississippi Statewide System of Care shall be:
(a) Child centered, family focused, family driven and youth guided;
(b) Community based;
(c) Culturally competent and responsive; and shall provide for:
(i) Service coordination or case management;
(ii) Prevention and early identification and intervention;
(iii) Smooth transitions among agencies and providers, and to the transition-age and adult service systems;
(iv) Human rights protection and advocacy;
(v) Nondiscrimination in access to services;
(vi) A comprehensive array of services composed of treatment and informal supports that are identified as best practices and/or evidence-based practices;
(vii) Individualized service planning that uses a strengths-based, wraparound process;
(viii) Services in the least restrictive environment;
(ix) Family participation in all aspects of planning, service delivery and evaluation; and
(x) Integrated services with coordinated planning across child-serving agencies.
Mississippi Statewide System of Care services shall be timely, intensive, coordinated and delivered in the community. Mississippi Statewide System of Care services shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
(a) Comprehensive crisis and emergency response services;
(b) Intensive case management;
(c) Day treatment;
(d) Alcohol and drug abuse group services for youth;
(e) Individual, group and family therapy;
(f) Respite services;
(g) Supported employment services for youth;
(h) Family education and support and family partners;
(i) Youth development and support and youth partners;
(j) Positive behavioral supports (PBIS) in schools;
(k) Transition-age supported and independent living services; and
(l) Vocational/technical education services for youth.
(2) There is established the Interagency Coordinating Council for Children and Youth (hereinafter referred to as the "ICCCY"). The ICCCY shall consist of the following membership:
(a) The State Superintendent of Public Education;
(b) The Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Mental Health;
(c) The Executive Director of the State Department of Health;
(d) The Executive Director of the Department of Human Services;
(e) The Executive Director of the Division of Medicaid, Office of the Governor;
(f) The Executive Director of the State Department of Rehabilitation Services;
(g) The Executive Director of Mississippi Families as Allies for Children's Mental Health, Inc.;
(h) The Attorney General;
(i) A family member of a child or youth in the population named in this chapter designated by Mississippi Families as Allies;
(j) A youth or young adult in the population named in this chapter designated by Mississippi Families as Allies;
(k) A local MAP team coordinator designated by the Department of Mental Health;
(l) A child psychiatrist experienced in the public mental health system designated by the Mississippi Psychiatric Association;
(m) An individual with expertise and experience in early childhood education designated jointly by the Department of Mental Health and Mississippi Families as Allies;
(n) A representative
of an organization that advocates on behalf of disabled citizens in Mississippi
designated by the Department of Mental Health; * * *
(o) A faculty member
or dean from a Mississippi university specializing in training professionals
who work in the Mississippi Statewide System of Care designated by the Board of
Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning * * *; and
(p) The Commissioner of the Department of Child Protection Services.
If a member of the council designates a representative to attend council meetings, the designee shall bring full decision-making authority of the member to the meeting. The council shall select a chairman, who shall serve for a one-year term and may not serve consecutive terms. The council shall adopt internal organizational procedures necessary for efficient operation of the council. Each member of the council shall designate necessary staff of their departments to assist the ICCCY in performing its duties and responsibilities. The ICCCY shall meet and conduct business at least twice annually. The chairman of the ICCCY shall notify all ICCCY members and all other persons who request such notice as to the date, time, place and draft agenda items for each meeting.
(3) The Interagency System
of Care Council (ISCC) is created to serve as the state management team for the
ICCCY, with the responsibility of collecting and analyzing data and funding
strategies necessary to improve the operation of the Mississippi Statewide
System of Care, and to make recommendations to the ICCCY and to the Legislature
concerning such strategies on, at a minimum, an annual basis. The System of
Care Council also has the responsibility of coordinating the local
Multidisciplinary Assessment and Planning (MAP) teams and "A" teams
and may apply for grants from public and private sources necessary to carry out
its responsibilities. The Interagency System of Care Council shall be comprised
of one (1) member from each of the appropriate child-serving divisions or
sections of the State Department of Health, the Department of Human Services ( * * *Division
of Youth Services), the State Department of Mental Health (Division of Children
and Youth, Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, and Bureau of Intellectual and
Developmental Disabilities), the State Department of Education (Office of
Special Education and Office of Healthy Schools), the Division of Medicaid of the
Governor's Office, the Department of Rehabilitation Services, * * * the Attorney General's office, and the
Department of Child Protection Services. Additional members shall include
a family member of a child, youth or transition-age youth representing a family
education and support 501(c)3 organization, working with the population named
in this chapter designated by Mississippi Families as Allies, an individual
with expertise and experience in early childhood education designated jointly
by the Department of Mental Health and Mississippi Families as Allies, a local
MAP team representative and a local "A" team representative
designated by the Department of Mental Health, a probation officer designated
by the Department of Corrections, a family member and youth or young adult
designated by Mississippi Families as Allies for Children's Mental Health,
Inc., (MSFAA), and a family member other than a MSFAA representative to be
designated by the Department of Mental Health and the Director of the
Compulsory School Attendance Enforcement of the State Department of Education.
Appointments to the Interagency System of Care Council shall be made within
sixty (60) days after June 30, 2010. The council shall organize by selecting a
chairman from its membership to serve on an annual basis, and the chairman may
not serve consecutive terms.
(4) (a) As part of the
Mississippi Statewide System of Care, there is established a statewide system
of local Multidisciplinary Assessment, Planning and Resource (MAP) teams. The
MAP teams shall be comprised of one (1) representative each at the county level
from the major child-serving public agencies for education, human services,
health, mental health and rehabilitative services approved by respective state
agencies of the Department of Education, the Department of Human Services, the
Department of Health, the Department of Mental Health * * *, the Department of Rehabilitation
Services, and the Department of Child Protection Services. These
agencies shall, by policy, contract or regulation require participation on MAP
teams and "A" teams at the county level by the appropriate staff.
Three (3) additional members may be added to each team, one (1) of which may be
a representative of a family education/support 501(c)3 organization with
statewide recognition and specifically established for the population of
children defined in Section 43-14-1. The remaining members will be
representatives of significant community-level stakeholders with resources that
can benefit the population of children defined in Section 43-14-1. The
Department of Education shall assist in recruiting and identifying parents to
participate on MAP teams and "A" teams.
(b) For each local existing MAP team that is established pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection, there
shall also be established an "A" (Adolescent) team which shall work with a MAP team. The "A" teams shall provide System of Care services for youthful offenders who have serious behavioral or emotional disorders. Each "A" team shall be comprised of, at a minimum, the following five (5) members:
(i) A school counselor, mental health therapist or social worker;
(ii) A community mental health professional;
(iii) A social services/child welfare professional;
(iv) A youth court counselor; and
(v) A parent who had a child in the juvenile justice system.
(c) The Interagency Coordinating Council for Children and Youth and the Interagency System of Care Council shall work to develop MAP teams statewide that will serve to become the single point of entry for children and youth about to be placed in out-of-home care for reasons other than parental abuse/neglect.
(5) The Interagency Coordinating Council for Children and Youth may provide input to one another and to the ISCC relative to how each agency utilizes its federal and state statutes, policy requirements and funding streams to identify and/or serve children and youth in the population defined in this section. The ICCCY shall support the implementation of the plans of the respective state agencies for comprehensive, community-based, multidisciplinary care, treatment and placement of these children.
(6) The ICCCY shall oversee a pool of state funds that may be contributed by each participating state agency and additional funds from the Mississippi Tobacco Health Care Expenditure Fund, subject to specific appropriation therefor by the Legislature. Part of this pool of funds shall be available for increasing the present funding levels by matching Medicaid funds in order to increase the existing resources available for necessary community-based services for Medicaid beneficiaries.
(7) The local interagency coordinating care MAP team or "A" team will facilitate the development of the individualized System of Care programs for the population targeted in this section.
(8) Each local MAP team and "A" team shall serve as the single point of entry and re-entry to ensure that comprehensive diagnosis and assessment occur and shall coordinate needed services through the local MAP team and "A" team members and local service providers for the children named in subsection (1). Local children in crisis shall have first priority for access to the MAP team and "A" team processes and local System of Care services.
(9) The Interagency Coordinating Council for Children and Youth shall facilitate monitoring of the performance of local MAP teams.
(10) Each ICCCY member named in subsection (2) of this section shall enter into a binding memorandum of understanding to participate in the further development and oversight of the Mississippi Statewide System of Care for the children and youth described in this section. The agreement shall outline the system responsibilities in all operational areas, including ensuring representation on MAP teams, funding, data collection, referral of children to MAP teams and "A" teams, and training. The agreement shall be signed and in effect by July 1 of each year.
SECTION 21. Section 43-14-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-14-5. There is created in the State Treasury a special fund into which shall be deposited all funds contributed by the Department of Human Services, State Department of Health, Department of Mental Health, State Department of Rehabilitation Services, and the Department of Child Protection Services insofar as recipients are otherwise eligible under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and State Department of Education for the operation of a statewide System of Care by MAP teams and "A" teams utilizing such funds as may be made available to those MAP teams through a Request for Proposal (RFP) approved by the ICCCY.
SECTION 22. Section 43-15-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-3. The Department of * * * Child Protection Services
is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to cooperate fully with the United
States Children's Bureau and Secretary of Labor in establishing, extending and
strengthening "child welfare services" for the protection and care of
homeless, dependent and neglected children and children in danger of becoming
delinquent. Said Department of * * * Child Protection Services
is further authorized, empowered and directed to cooperate with the United
States Children's Bureau and Secretary of Labor in developing plans for said
"child welfare services" and extending any other cooperation
necessary under Section 521 of Public Law No. 271-74th Congress of the United
States.
In furtherance of the
"child welfare services" referred to in the first paragraph hereof
the State Treasurer is hereby authorized and directed to receive on behalf of
the state, and to execute all instruments incidental thereto, federal or other
funds to be used for "child welfare services," and to place such funds
in a special account to the credit of the "child welfare services,"
which said funds shall be expended by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
for the purposes and under the provisions of this article and Section 521 of
Public Law No. 271-74th Congress of the United States. It shall be paid out by
the State Treasurer as funds appropriated to carry out the provisions of said
laws.
The Department of * * * Child Protection Services
shall issue all checks on said "child welfare services" fund to
persons entitled to payment from said fund. All such sums shall be drawn upon
the "child welfare services" fund upon requisition of the * * * Commissioner
of the Department of Child Protection Services.
The money in the "child
welfare services" fund shall be expended in accordance with the rules and
regulations of the United States Children's Bureau and Secretary of Labor and
in accordance with the plan developed by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
and the United States Children's Bureau under Section 521 of Public Law No. 271-74th
Congress of the United States, and shall not be used for any other purpose.
If a claim for foster care
and/or adoption assistance under Title IV-E of the federal Social Security Act
is not acted upon within a reasonable time after the filing of the claim, or is
denied in whole or in part, the claimant may appeal to the * * * Commissioner of the Department of Child Protection
Services in the manner and form prescribed by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services.
The * * * Commissioner of the Department
of Child Protection Services shall, upon receipt of such an appeal, give
the claimant reasonable notice and opportunity for a fair hearing. The * * * Commissioner of the Department of Child Protection
Services may also, upon his or her own motion, review any decision
regarding a claim, and may consider any claim upon which a decision has not
been made within a reasonable time. All decisions of the * * * Commissioner
of the Department of Child Protection Services shall be final and binding.
SECTION 23. Section 43-15-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-5. (1) The
Department of * * * Child Protection Services shall have authority and
it shall be its duty to administer or supervise all public child welfare
services * * *;
administer and supervise the licensing and inspection of all private child
placing agencies; provide for the care of dependent and neglected children in
foster family homes or in institutions, supervise the care of such children and
those of illegitimate birth; supervise the importation of children; and
supervise the operation of all state institutions for children. The Department
of * * *
Child Protection Services shall be authorized to purchase hospital and
medical insurance coverage for those children placed in foster care * * *
who are not otherwise eligible for medical assistance under the Mississippi
Medicaid Law. The Department of * * * Child Protection Services
shall be further authorized to purchase burial or life insurance not exceeding
One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00) for those children placed in
foster * * *. All insurance coverage
authorized herein may be purchased with any funds other than state funds
available to the Department of * * * Child Protection Services,
including those funds available to the child which are administered by the
department.
(2) Any person,
partnership, group, corporation, organization or association desiring to
operate a child residential home, as defined in Section 43-16-3, may make
application for a license for such a facility to the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
on the application forms furnished for this purpose by the department. If an
applicant meets the published rules and regulations of the department regarding
minimum standards for a child residential home, then the applicant shall be
granted a license by the department.
SECTION 24. Section 43-15-6, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-6. (1) Any person, institution, facility, clinic, organization or other entity that provides services to children in a residential setting where care, lodging, maintenance, and counseling or therapy for alcohol or controlled substance abuse or for any other emotional disorder or mental illness is provided for children, whether for compensation or not, that holds himself, herself, or itself out to the public as providing such services, and that is entrusted with the care of the children to whom he, she, or it provides services, because of the nature of the services and the setting in which the services are provided shall be subject to the provisions of this section.
(2) Each entity to which this section applies shall complete, through the appropriate governmental authority, a national criminal history record information check and a child abuse registry check for each owner, operator, employee, prospective employee, volunteer or prospective volunteer of the entity and/or any other that has or may have unsupervised access to a child served by the entity. In order to determine the applicant's suitability for employment, the entity shall ensure that the applicant be fingerprinted by local law enforcement, and the results forwarded to the Department of Public Safety. If no disqualifying record is identified at the state level, the fingerprints shall be forwarded by the Department of Public Safety to the FBI for a national criminal history record check.
(3) An owner, operator, employee, prospective employee, volunteer or prospective volunteer of the entity and/or any other that has or may have unsupervised access to a child who has a criminal history of conviction or pending indictment of a crime, whether a misdemeanor or a felony, that bears upon an individual's fitness to have responsibility for the safety and well-being of children as set forth in this chapter may not provide child care or operate, or be licensed as, a residential child care program, foster parent, or foster home.
(4) All fees incurred in compliance with this section shall be borne by the individual or entity to which subsection (1) applies.
(5) The Department of * * * Child Protection Services
shall have the authority to set fees, to exclude a particular crime or crimes
or a substantiated finding of child abuse and/or neglect as disqualifying
individuals or entities from providing foster care or residential child care,
and adopt such other rules and regulations as may be required to carry out the
provisions of this section.
(6) Any entity that violates the provisions of this section by failure to complete sex offense criminal history record information and felony conviction record information checks, as required under subsection (3) of this section, shall be subject to a penalty of up to Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) for each such violation and may be enjoined from further operation until it complies with this section in actions maintained by the Attorney General.
(7) The Department of * * * Child Protection Services
and/or its officers, employees, attorneys, agents and representatives shall not
be held civilly liable for any findings, recommendations or actions taken
pursuant to this section.
SECTION 25. Section 43-15-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-7. The * * * Department
of Child Protection Services is hereby authorized to provide protective
services for children as will conserve home life; assume responsibility for the
care and support of dependent children needing public care away from their
homes; place children found by the department to be dependent or without proper
care in suitable institutions or private homes, and cooperate with public and
private institutions and agencies in placing such children in suitable
institutions or private homes; accept custody or guardianship, through one of
its designated employees, of any child, when appointed as custodian or guardian
in the manner provided by law.
The board of supervisors in
each county is hereby empowered, in its discretion, to set aside and
appropriate out of the tax levied and collected to support the poor of the county
or out of the county general fund necessary monies to be administered by the * * * Department
of Child Protection Services to carry out the provisions of this section.
SECTION 26. Section 43-15-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-11. (1) The board of
supervisors of any county and/or the mayor and board of commissioners of any
city and/or the mayor and board of aldermen of any municipality in this state
are hereby authorized and empowered, in their discretion, to expend out of any * * * monies in their respective
treasuries, to be drawn by warrant thereon, a sum or sums of money not
exceeding a total of Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) annually per One
Million Dollars ($1,000,000.00) of the assessed valuation of the real and
personal property thereof for the purpose of providing for the care, support
and maintenance of homeless or destitute children of any county or municipality
of this state who are supported, cared for, maintained and placed for adoption
by any children's home society which operates over and serves the entire State
of Mississippi, and which is approved and licensed by the Mississippi
Department of * * * Child Protection Services.
(2) The authority granted in this section is supplemental of and in addition to all existing authority for the expenditure of funds by such boards of supervisors and municipal governing authorities.
SECTION 27. Section 43-15-15, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-15. The * * * Mississippi
Department of Child Protection Services shall maintain a registry of
children whose custody lies with them and private or public agencies licensed
by the department. Said registry shall contain classifications of children as:
(a) Temporary custody for evaluation, not to exceed three (3) months;
(b) Temporary custody not to exceed one (1) year with the plan to return custody to the natural parents;
(c) Temporary custody, not to exceed two (2) years, with a plan to free for adoption;
(d) Children freed for adoption;
(e) Children ages fourteen (14) and above who have voluntarily chosen not to be adopted and cannot be returned to their own homes; and
(f) Children who are institutionalized and for whom placement in an adoptive home is not feasible.
SECTION 28. Section 43-15-17, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-17. (1) The Department of Child Protection Services is authorized to make such payments as may be appropriate for supportive services to facilitate either the return of children to their natural parents or their adoption, depending upon and contingent upon the availability of the Department of Child Protection Services securing or having sufficient funds to render this supportive service. Upon court order, the parent(s) shall be responsible for reimbursing the department for any foster care or kinship care payments made on behalf of his or her child, based upon financial ability to pay, until such time as there is a termination of parental rights regarding the child, or the child is adopted.
(2) For those children
placed in foster care * * *, the Department
of Child Protection Services shall make monthly payments for the support
of these children's room and board, clothing, allowance and personal needs.
From and after July 1, 1998, and subject to the availability of funds
specifically appropriated therefor, the Department of Child Protection
Services' foster care and therapeutic care monthly payment schedule in effect
before that date shall be increased by One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) per month,
with that minimum payment not to preclude the department from increasing
payments in later years as funds become available. From and after July 1,
1998, in order for foster parents to receive the monthly payments authorized
under this subsection (2), the Department of Child Protection Services shall
require foster care placements to be licensed as foster care homes and shall
require prospective foster parents to satisfactorily complete an appropriate
training program that emphasizes the goal of the foster care program to provide
stable foster placement until a permanency outcome is achieved.
(3) For a child placed in
the care of the child's relative within the third degree by the * * * Department
of Child Protection Services, unless a child is placed in the care of a
relative who is exempt from foster care training requirements, the department
shall make monthly payments to defray the relative's expense of furnishing room
and board. The department's relative care payment shall be in an amount up to
one hundred percent (100%) of the amount of the foster care board payment. The
department may continue to make those payments to the relative after the
department relinquishes legal custody of the child to the relative if the
relative has complied with foster care training requirements. Any such
payments for relative care shall be subject to specific appropriation therefor
by the Legislature.
SECTION 29. Section 43-15-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-19. (1) The * * * Mississippi
Department of Child Protection Services shall maintain a Mississippi
Adoption Resource Exchange registry, which shall contain a total listing of all
children freed for adoption as well as a listing of all persons who wish to
adopt children and who are approved by a licensed adoption agency in the State
of Mississippi. Said registry shall be distributed to all * * * licensed adoption
agencies within the state and shall be updated at least quarterly. The * * * Department
of Child Protection Services shall establish regulations for listing
descriptive characteristics while protecting the privacy of the children's
names. Listed names shall be removed when adoption placement plans are made
for a child or when a person withdraws an application for adoption.
(2) Adoptive parents shall
be given the option of having their names placed in the registry. They shall
be required to give written authority to the * * * Department of Child
Protection Services, for approval, to place their names in the registry * * *.
SECTION 30. Section 43-15-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-21. Anyone violating
or releasing information of a confidential nature without the approval of the
court with jurisdiction or the * * * Mississippi
Department of Child Protection Services, upon being found guilty,
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine of no more than One
Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or imprisonment of six (6) months, or both.
SECTION 31. Section 43-15-23, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-23. (1) As used in this section the term "placing out" means to arrange for the free care of a child in a family, other than that of the child's parent, stepparent, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle or aunt or legal guardian, for the purpose of adoption or for the purpose of providing care.
(2) No person, agency,
association, corporation, institution, society or other organization, except a
child placement agency licensed by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
under Section 43-15-5, shall request, receive or accept any compensation or
thing of value, directly or indirectly, for placing out of a child.
(3) No person shall pay or
give any compensation or thing of value, directly or indirectly, for placing
out of a child to any person, agency, association, corporation, institution,
society or other organization except a child placement agency licensed by the
Department of * * * Child Protection Services.
(4) The provisions of this
section shall not be construed to (a) prevent the payment of salaries or other
compensation by a child placement agency licensed by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
to the officers or employees thereof; (b) prevent the payment of legal fees,
which have been approved by the chancery court, to an attorney for services
performed in regard to adoption proceedings; (c) prevent the payment of
reasonable and actual medical fees or hospital charges for services rendered in
connection with the birth or medical treatment of such child to the physician
or hospital which rendered the services; or (d) prevent the receipt of such
payments by such attorney, physician or hospital.
(5) Any person, agency, association, corporation, institution, society or other organization violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of illegal placement of children and shall be punished by a fine not to exceed Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) or by imprisonment not more than five (5) years, or both such fine and imprisonment.
SECTION 32. Section 43-15-51, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-51. (1) The district
attorneys or the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
may initiate formal cooperative agreements with the appropriate agencies to
create multidisciplinary child protection teams in order to implement a
coordinated multidisciplinary team approach to intervention in reports
involving alleged severe or potential felony child physical or sexual abuse,
exploitation, or maltreatment. The multidisciplinary team also may be known as
a child abuse task force. The purpose of the team or task force shall be to
assist in the evaluation and investigation of reports and to provide
consultation and coordination for agencies involved in child protection cases.
The agencies to be included as members of the multidisciplinary team are: the
district attorney's office, city and county law enforcement agencies, county
attorneys, youth court prosecutors, and other agencies as appropriate.
(2) To implement the multidisciplinary child abuse team, the team or task force must be authorized by court order from the appropriate youth court. The court order will designate which agencies will participate in the cooperative multidisciplinary team.
(3) (a) Teams created under this section may invite other persons to serve on the team who have knowledge of and experience in child abuse and neglect matters. These persons may include licensed mental and physical health practitioners and physicians, dentists, representatives of the district attorney's office and the Attorney General's office, experts in the assessment and treatment of substance abuse or sexual abuse, the victim assistance coordinator of the district attorney's office and staff members of a child advocacy center.
(b) (i) A child advocacy center means an agency that advocates on behalf of children alleged to have been abused and assists in the coordination of the investigation of child abuse by providing a location for forensic interviews and promoting the coordination of services for children alleged to have been abused. A child advocacy center provides services that include, but are not limited to, forensic medical examinations, mental health and related support services, court advocacy, consultation, training for social workers, law enforcement training, and child abuse multidisciplinary teams, and staffing of multidisciplinary teams.
(ii) Child advocacy centers may provide a video-taped forensic interview of the child in a child friendly environment or separate building. The purpose of the video-taped forensic interview is to prevent further trauma to a child in the investigation and prosecution of child physical and sexual abuse cases. Child advocacy centers can also assist child victims by providing therapeutic counseling subsequent to the interview by a qualified therapist. Child advocacy centers can also assist law enforcement and prosecutors by acquainting child victim witnesses and their parents or guardians to the courtroom through child court school programs.
(4) A team or task force
created under this section shall review records on cases referred to the team
by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services or law enforcement
or the district attorney's office. The team shall meet at least monthly.
(5) No person shall
disclose information obtained from a meeting of the multidisciplinary team
unless necessary to comply with Department of * * * Child Protection Services'
regulations or conduct and proceeding in youth court or criminal court
proceedings or as authorized by a court of competent jurisdiction.
SECTION 33. Section 43-15-103, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-103. As used in this article:
(a) "Agency" means a residential child-caring agency or a child-placing agency.
(b) "Child" or "children" mean(s) any unmarried person or persons under the age of eighteen (18) years.
(c) "Child placing" means receiving, accepting or providing custody or care for any child under eighteen (18) years of age, temporarily or permanently, for the purpose of:
(i) Finding a person to adopt the child;
(ii) Placing the child temporarily or permanently in a home for adoption; or
(iii) Placing a child in a foster home or residential child-caring agency.
(d) "Child-placing agency" means any entity or person which places children in foster boarding homes or foster homes for temporary care or for adoption or any other entity or person or group of persons who are engaged in providing adoption studies or foster care studies or placement services as defined by the rules of the department.
(e)
"Department" means the Mississippi Department of * * * Child Protection Services.
* * *
( * * *f) "Family boarding home" or
"foster home" means a home (occupied residence) operated by any
entity or person which provides residential child care to at least one (1)
child but not more than six (6) children who are not related to the primary
caregivers.
( * * *g) "Group care home" means
any place or facility operated by any entity or person which provides
residential child care for at least seven (7) children but not more than twelve
(12) children who are not related to the primary caregivers.
( * * *h) "Licensee" means any
person, agency or entity licensed under this article.
( * * *i) "Maternity home" means
any place or facility operated by any entity or person which receives, treats
or cares for more than one (1) child or adult who is pregnant out of wedlock,
either before, during or within two (2) weeks after childbirth; provided, that
the licensed child-placing agencies and licensed maternity homes may use a
family boarding home approved and supervised by the agency or home, as a part
of their work, for as many as three (3) children or adults who are pregnant out
of wedlock, and provided further, that the provisions of this definition shall
not include children or women who receive maternity care in the home of a
person to whom they are kin within the sixth degree of kindred computed according
to civil law, nor does it apply to any maternity care provided by general or
special hospitals licensed according to law and in which maternity treatment
and care are part of the medical services performed and the care of children is
brief and incidental.
* * *
( * * *j) "Person associated with a
licensee" means an owner, director, member of the governing body,
employee, provider of care and volunteer of a human services licensee.
( * * *k) "Related" means children,
step-children, grandchildren, step-grandchildren, siblings of the whole or half-blood,
step-siblings, nieces or nephews of the primary care provider.
( * * *l) "Residential child care"
means the provision of supervision, and/or protection, and meeting the basic
needs of a child for twenty-four (24) hours per day, which may include services
to children in a residential setting where care, lodging, maintenance and
counseling or therapy for alcohol or controlled substance abuse or for any
other emotional disorder or mental illness is provided for children, whether
for compensation or not.
( * * *m) "Residential child-caring
agency" means any place or facility operated by any entity or person,
public or private, providing residential child care, regardless of whether
operated for profit or whether a fee is charged. Such residential child-caring
agencies include, but are not limited to, maternity homes, runaway shelters,
group homes that are administered by an agency, and emergency shelters that are
not in private residence.
SECTION 34. Section 43-15-105, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-105. (1) The * * * Mississippi
Department of Child Protection Services shall be the licensing authority
for the department, and is vested with all the powers, duties and
responsibilities described in this article. The * * * department shall make and
establish rules and regulations regarding:
(a) Approving, extending, denying, suspending and revoking licenses for foster homes, residential child-caring agencies and child-placing agencies;
(b) Conditional licenses, variances from department rules and exclusions;
(c) Basic health and safety standards for licensees; and
(d) Minimum administration and financial requirements for licensees.
(2) The * * * department shall:
(a) Define information
that shall be submitted to the * * * department with an application
for a license;
(b) Establish guidelines for the administration and maintenance of client and service records, including staff qualifications, staff to client ratios;
(c) Issue licenses in accordance with this article;
(d) Conduct surveys and inspections of licensees and facilities;
(e) Establish and collect licensure fees;
(f) Investigate complaints regarding any licensee or facility;
(g) Have access to all records, correspondence and financial data required to be maintained by a licensee or facility;
(h) Have authority to interview any client, family member of a client, employee or officer of a licensee or facility; and
(i) Have authority to
revoke, suspend or extend any license issued by the * * * department.
SECTION 35. Section 43-15-107, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-107. (1) Except as
provided in Section 43-15-111, no person, agency, firm, corporation,
association or other entity, acting individually or jointly with any other
person or entity, may establish, conduct or maintain foster homes, residential
child-caring agencies and child-placing agencies or facility and/or engage in
child placing in this state without a valid and current license issued by and
under the authority of the * * * department as provided by this
article and the rules of the * * * department. Any out-of-state
child-placing agency that provides a full range of services, including, but not
limited to, adoptions, foster family homes, adoption counseling services or
financial aid, in this state must be licensed by the * * * department under this article.
(2) No license issued under this article is assignable or transferable.
(3) A current license shall at all times be posted in each licensee's facility, in a place that is visible and readily accessible to the public.
(4) (a) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection, each license issued under this article expires at midnight (Central Standard Time) twelve (12) months from the date of issuance unless it has been:
(i) Previously
revoked by the * * *
department; or
(ii) Voluntarily
returned to the * * * department by the licensee.
(b) (i) For any child-placing agency located in Mississippi that remains in good standing, the license issued under this article expires at midnight (Central Standard Time) twenty-four (24) months from the date of issuance unless it has been:
1. Previously
revoked by the * * *
department; or
2.
Voluntarily returned to the * * * department by the licensee.
(ii) Any child-placing
agency whose license is governed by this paragraph (b) shall submit the
following information to the * * * department annually:
1. A copy of an audit report and IRS Form 990 for the agency;
2. The agency's fee schedule; and
3. The agency's client list.
(c) A license may be
renewed upon application and payment of the applicable fee, provided that the
licensee meets the license requirements established by this article and the
rules and regulations of the * * * department.
(5) Any licensee or
facility which is in operation at the time rules are made in accordance with
this article shall be given a reasonable time for compliance as determined by
the rules of the * * * department.
SECTION 36. Section 43-15-109, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-109. (1) An
application for a license under this article shall be made to the * * * department and shall contain
information that the * * * department determines is necessary in accordance
with established rules.
(2) Information received by
the * * *
department through reports, complaints, investigations and inspections
shall be classified as public in accordance with Title 25, Chapter 61,
Mississippi Code of 1972, Mississippi Public Records Act.
SECTION 37. Section 43-15-113, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-113. (1) If a
license is revoked, the * * * division department may grant a new license after:
(a) Satisfactory
evidence is submitted to the * * * department, evidencing that
the conditions upon which revocation was based have been corrected; and
(b) Inspection and compliance with all provisions of this article and applicable rules.
(2) The * * * department may only suspend a
license for a period of time which does not exceed the current expiration date
of that license.
(3) When a license has been
suspended, the * * * department may completely or partially restore the
suspended license upon a determination that the:
(a) Conditions upon which the suspension was based have been completely or partially corrected; and
(b) Interests of the public will not be jeopardized by restoration of the license.
SECTION 38. Section 43-15-115, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-115. (1) The * * * department may, for the
purpose of ascertaining compliance with the provisions of this article and its
rules and regulations, enter and inspect on a routine basis the facility of a
licensee.
(2) Before conducting an
inspection under subsection (1), the * * * department shall, after
identifying the person in charge:
(a) Give proper identification;
(b) Request to see the applicable license;
(c) Describe the nature and purpose of the inspection; and
(d) If necessary,
explain the authority of the * * * department to conduct the
inspection and the penalty for refusing to permit the inspection.
(3) In conducting an
inspection under subsection (1), the * * * department may, after meeting
the requirements of subsection (2):
(a) Inspect the physical facilities;
(b) Inspect records and documents;
(c) Interview directors, employees, clients, family members of clients and others; and
(d) Observe the licensee in operation.
(4) An inspection conducted under subsection (1) shall be during regular business hours and may be announced or unannounced.
(5) The licensee shall make copies of inspection reports available to the public upon request.
(6) The provisions of this
section apply to on-site inspections and do not restrict the * * * department from contacting
family members, neighbors or other individuals, or from seeking information
from other sources to determine compliance with the provisions of this article.
SECTION 39. Section 43-15-117, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-117. (1) Except as
provided in this article, no person, agency, firm, corporation, association or
group children's home may engage in child placing, or solicit money or other
assistance for child placing, without a valid license issued by the * * * department. No out-of-state
child-placing agency that provides a full range of services, including, but not
limited to, adoptions, foster family homes, adoption counseling services or
financial aid, may operate in this state without a valid license issued by the * * * department. No child-placing
agency shall advertise in the media markets in Mississippi seeking birth
mothers or their children for adoption purposes unless the agency holds a valid
and current license issued either by the * * * department or the authorized
governmental licensing agency of another state that regulates child-placing
agencies. Any child-placing agency, physician or attorney who advertises for
child placing or adoption services in Mississippi shall be required by the * * * department to show their
principal office location on all media advertising for adoption services.
(2) An attorney who provides legal services to a client in connection with proceedings for the adoption of a child by the client, who does not receive, accept or provide custody or care for the child for the purposes specified in Section 43-15-103(c), shall not be required to have a license under this article to provide those legal services.
(3) An attorney, physician or other person may assist a parent in identifying or locating a person interested in adopting the parent's child, or in identifying or locating a child to be adopted. However, no payment, charge, fee, reimbursement of expense, or exchange of value of any kind, or promise or agreement to make the same, may be made for that assistance.
(4) Nothing in this section precludes payment of reasonable fees for medical, legal or other lawful services rendered in connection with the care of a mother, delivery and care of a child including, but not limited to, the mother's living expenses, or counseling for the parents and/or the child, and for the legal proceedings related to lawful adoption proceedings; and no provision of this section abrogates the right of procedures for independent adoption as provided by law.
(5) The * * * department is specifically
authorized to promulgate rules under the Administrative Procedures Law, Title
25, Chapter 43, Mississippi Code of 1972, to regulate fees charged by licensed
child-placing agencies, if it determines that the practices of those licensed
child-placing agencies demonstrates that the fees charged are excessive or that
any of the agency's practices are deceptive or misleading; however, those rules
regarding fees shall take into account the use of any sliding fee by an agency
that uses a sliding fee procedure to permit prospective adoptive parents of
varying income levels to utilize the services of those agencies or persons.
(6) The * * * department shall promulgate
rules under the Administrative Procedures Law, Title 25, Chapter 43,
Mississippi Code of 1972, to require that all licensed child-placing agencies
provide written disclosures to all prospective adoptive parents of any fees or
other charges for each service performed by the agency or person, and file an
annual report with the * * * department that states the fees and charges for
those services, and to require them to inform the * * * department in writing thirty
(30) days in advance of any proposed changes to the fees or charges for those
services.
(7) The * * * department is specifically
authorized to disclose to prospective adoptive parents or other interested
persons any fees charged by any licensed child-placing agency, attorney or
counseling service or counselor for all legal and counseling services provided
by that licensed child-placing agency, attorney or counseling service or
counselor.
SECTION 40. Section 43-15-119, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-119. (1) If the * * * department finds that a
violation has occurred under this article or the rules and regulations of the * * * department, it may:
(a) Deny, suspend or
revoke a license or place the licensee on probation, if the * * * department discovers that a
licensee is not in compliance with the laws, standards or regulations governing
its operation, and/or it finds evidence of aiding, abetting or permitting the
commission of any illegal act; or
(b) Restrict or
prohibit new admissions to the licensee's program or facility, if the * * * department discovers that a
licensee is not in compliance with the laws, standards or regulations governing
its operation, and/or it finds evidence of aiding, abetting or permitting the
commission of any illegal act.
(2) If placed on probation,
the agency or licensee shall post a copy of the notice in a conspicuous place
as directed by the * * * department and with the agency's or individual's
license, and the agency shall notify the custodians of each of the children in
its care in writing of the agency's status and the basis for the probation.
SECTION 41. Section 43-15-121, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-121. In addition to,
and notwithstanding, any other remedy provided by law, the * * * department may, in a manner
provided by law and upon the advice of the Attorney General who, except as
otherwise authorized in Section 7-5-39, shall represent the * * * department in the proceedings,
maintain an action in the name of the state for injunction or other process
against any person or entity to restrain or prevent the establishment,
management or operation of a program or facility or performance of services in
violation of this article or rules of the * * * department.
SECTION 42. Section 43-15-125, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-125. The Department
of * * *
Child Protection Services and/or its officers, employees, attorneys and
representatives shall not be held civilly liable for any findings,
recommendations or actions taken pursuant to this article.
SECTION 43. Section 43-15-201, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-201. (1) An emergency medical services provider, without a court order, shall take possession of a child who is seventy-two (72) hours old or younger if the child is voluntarily delivered to the provider by the child's parent and the parent did not express an intent to return for the child.
(2) The parent who surrenders the baby shall not be required to provide any information pertaining to his or her identity, nor shall the emergency medical services provider inquire as to same. If the identity of the parent is known to the emergency medical services provider, the emergency medical services provider shall keep the identity confidential.
(3) A female presenting herself to a hospital through the emergency room or otherwise, who is subsequently admitted for purposes of labor and delivery, does not give up the legal protections or anonymity guaranteed under this section. If the mother clearly expresses a desire to voluntarily surrender custody of the newborn after birth, the emergency medical services provider can take possession of the child, without further action by the mother, as if the child had been presented to the emergency medical services provider in the same manner outlined above in subsection (1) of this section.
(a) If the mother expresses a desire to remain anonymous, identifying information may be obtained for purposes of securing payment of labor and delivery costs only. If the birth mother is a minor, the hospital may use the identifying information to secure payment through Medicaid, but shall not notify the minor's parent or guardian without the minor's consent.
(b) The identity of
the birth mother shall not be placed on the birth certificate or disclosed to
the Department of * * * Child Protection Services.
(4) There is a presumption that by relinquishing a child in accordance with this section, the parent consents to the termination of his or her parental rights with respect to the child. As such, the parent waives the right to notification required by subsequent court proceedings.
(5) An emergency medical services provider who takes possession of a child under this section shall perform any act necessary to protect the physical health or safety of the child.
SECTION 44. Section 43-15-203, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-203. (1) No later
than the close of the first business day after the date on which an emergency
medical services provider takes possession of a child pursuant to Section 43-15-201,
the provider shall notify the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
that the provider has taken possession of the child.
(2) The department shall assume the care, control and custody of the child immediately on receipt of notice pursuant to subsection (1). The department shall be responsible for all medical and other costs associated with the child and shall reimburse the hospital for any costs incurred prior to the child being placed in the care of the department.
SECTION 45. Section 43-15-207, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-15-207. For the purposes
of this article, an emergency medical services provider shall mean a licensed
hospital, as defined in Section 41-9-3, which operates an emergency department
or an adoption agency duly licensed by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services.
An emergency medical services provider does not include the offices, clinics,
surgeries or treatment facilities of private physicians or dentists. No
individual licensed healthcare provider, including physicians, dentists,
nurses, physician assistants or other health professionals shall be deemed to
be an emergency medical services provider under this article unless such
individual voluntarily assumes responsibility for the custody of the child.
SECTION 46. Section 43-16-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-16-3. As used in this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly provides otherwise:
(a) "Child" means a person who has not reached the age of eighteen (18) years or who has not otherwise been legally emancipated.
(b) "Child residential home" means any place, facility or home operated by any person which receives children who are not related to the operators and whose parents or guardians are not residents of the same facility for supervision, care, lodging and maintenance for twenty-four (24) hours a day, with or without transfer of custody. This term does not include:
(i) Residential
homes licensed by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
under Section 43-15-5;
(ii) Any public school;
(iii) Any home operated by a state agency;
(iv) Child care facilities as defined in Section 43-20-5;
(v) Youth camps as defined in Section 75-74-3;
(vi) Health care facilities licensed by the State Department of Health; or
(vii) The home of an attorney-in-fact operating under a power of attorney executed under Section 93-31-1 et seq.
(c) "Department" shall mean the State Department of Health.
(d) "Person" shall include an individual, partnership, organization, association or corporation.
SECTION 47. Section 43-16-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-16-21. Notwithstanding
the existence of any other remedy, the department may, in the manner provided
by law, in termtime or in vacation, upon the advice of the Attorney General
who, except as otherwise authorized in Section 7-5-39, shall represent the
department in the proceedings, maintain an action in the name of the state for
an injunction or restraining order to cease the operation of the home, and to
provide for the appropriate removal of the children from the home and placement
in the custody of the parents or legal guardians, the Department of * * * Child Protection Services,
or any other appropriate entity in the discretion of the court. Such action
shall be brought in the chancery court or the youth court, as appropriate, of
the county in which such child residential home is located, and shall only be
initiated for the following violations:
(a) Providing supervision, care, lodging or maintenance for any children in such home without filing notification in accordance with this chapter.
(b) Failure to satisfactorily comply with local health department or State Fire Marshal inspections made pursuant to Section 43-16-15, regarding the health, nutrition, cleanliness, safety, sanitation, written records and discipline policy of such home.
(c) Suspected abuse and/or neglect of the children served by such home, as defined in Section 43-21-105.
SECTION 48. Section 43-18-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-18-3. The
"appropriate public authorities" as used in Article III of the
Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children shall, with reference to this
state, mean the * * * Mississippi Department of Child
Protection Services. * * * Any county department of public welfare, likewise, when directed by the
commissioner of the state department of public welfare shall be authorized to
receive and act with reference to notices required by said Article III.
SECTION 49. Section 43-18-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-18-5. As used in
paragraph (a) of Article V of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children,
the phrase "appropriate authority in the receiving state" with
reference to this state shall mean the * * * Mississippi Department of Child
Protection Services.
SECTION 50. Section 43-20-8, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-20-8. (1) The licensing agency shall have powers and duties as set forth below, in addition to other duties prescribed under this chapter:
(a) Promulgate rules and regulations concerning the licensing and regulation of child care facilities as defined in Section 43-20-5;
(b) Have the authority to issue, deny, suspend, revoke, restrict or otherwise take disciplinary action against licensees as provided for in this chapter;
(c) Set and collect fees and penalties as provided for in this chapter; any increase in the fees charged by the licensing agency under this paragraph shall be in accordance with the provisions of Section 41-3-65; and
(d) Have such other powers as may be required to carry out the provisions of this chapter.
(2) Child care facilities shall assure that parents have welcome access to the child care facility at all times and shall comply with the provisions of Chapter 520, Laws of 2006.
(3) Each child care facility shall develop and maintain a current list of contact persons for each child provided care by that facility. An agreement may be made between the child care facility and the child's parent, guardian or contact person at the time of registration to inform the parent, guardian or contact person if the child does not arrive at the facility within a reasonable time.
(4) Child care facilities shall require that, for any current or prospective caregiver, all criminal records, background and sex offender registry checks and current child abuse registry checks are obtained. In order to determine the applicant's suitability for employment, the applicant shall be fingerprinted. If no disqualifying record is identified at the state level, the fingerprints shall be forwarded by the Department of Public Safety to the FBI for a national criminal history record check.
(5) The licensing agency
shall require to be performed a criminal records background check and a child
abuse registry check for all operators of a child care facility and any person
living in a residence used for child care. The Department of * * * Child Protection Services
shall have the authority to disclose to the State Department of Health any
potential applicant whose name is listed on the Child Abuse Central Registry or
has a pending administrative review. That information shall remain
confidential by all parties. In order to determine the applicant's suitability
for employment, the applicant shall be fingerprinted. If no disqualifying
record is identified at the state level, the fingerprints shall be forwarded by
the Department of Public Safety to the FBI for a national criminal history record
check.
(6) The licensing agency shall have the authority to exclude a particular crime or crimes or a substantiated finding of child abuse and/or neglect as disqualifying individuals or entities for prospective or current employment or licensure.
(7) The licensing agency and its agents, officers, employees, attorneys and representatives shall not be held civilly liable for any findings, recommendations or actions taken under this section.
(8) All fees incurred in compliance with this section shall be borne by the child care facility. The licensing agency is authorized to charge a fee that includes the amount required by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the national criminal history record check in compliance with the Child Protection Act of 1993, as amended, and any necessary costs incurred by the licensing agency for the handling and administration of the criminal history background checks.
(9) From and after January 1, 2008, the State Board of Health shall develop regulations to ensure that all children enrolled or enrolling in a state licensed child care center receive age-appropriate immunization against invasive pneumococcal disease as recommended by the Advisory Committee on immunization practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The State Board of Health shall include, within its regulations, protocols for children under the age of twenty-four (24) months to catch up on missed doses. If the State Board of Health has adopted regulations before January 1, 2008, that would otherwise meet the requirements of this subsection, then this subsection shall stand repealed on January 1, 2008.
SECTION 51. Section 43-21-105, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-21-105. The following words and phrases, for purposes of this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed herein unless the context clearly otherwise requires:
(a) "Youth court" means the Youth Court Division.
(b) "Judge" means the judge of the Youth Court Division.
(c) "Designee" means any person that the judge appoints to perform a duty which this chapter requires to be done by the judge or his designee. The judge may not appoint a person who is involved in law enforcement or who is an employee of the Mississippi Department of Human Services or the Department of Child Protection Services to be his designee.
(d) "Child" and "youth" are synonymous, and each means a person who has not reached his eighteenth birthday. A child who has not reached his eighteenth birthday and is on active duty for a branch of the armed services or is married is not considered a "child" or "youth" for the purposes of this chapter.
(e) "Parent" means the father or mother to whom the child has been born, or the father or mother by whom the child has been legally adopted.
(f) "Guardian" means a court-appointed guardian of the person of a child.
(g) "Custodian" means any person having the present care or custody of a child whether such person be a parent or otherwise.
(h) "Legal custodian" means a court-appointed custodian of the child.
(i) "Delinquent child" means a child who has reached his tenth birthday and who has committed a delinquent act.
(j) "Delinquent act" is any act, which if committed by an adult, is designated as a crime under state or federal law, or municipal or county ordinance other than offenses punishable by life imprisonment or death. A delinquent act includes escape from lawful detention and violations of the Uniform Controlled Substances Law and violent behavior.
(k) "Child in need of supervision" means a child who has reached his seventh birthday and is in need of treatment or rehabilitation because the child:
(i) Is habitually disobedient of reasonable and lawful commands of his parent, guardian or custodian and is ungovernable; or
(ii) While being required to attend school, willfully and habitually violates the rules thereof or willfully and habitually absents himself therefrom; or
(iii) Runs away from home without good cause; or
(iv) Has committed a delinquent act or acts.
(l) "Neglected child" means a child:
(i) Whose parent, guardian or custodian or any person responsible for his care or support, neglects or refuses, when able so to do, to provide for him proper and necessary care or support, or education as required by law, or medical, surgical, or other care necessary for his well-being; however, a parent who withholds medical treatment from any child who in good faith is under treatment by spiritual means alone through prayer in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination by a duly accredited practitioner thereof shall not, for that reason alone, be considered to be neglectful under any provision of this chapter; or
(ii) Who is otherwise without proper care, custody, supervision or support; or
(iii) Who, for any reason, lacks the special care made necessary for him by reason of his mental condition, whether the mental condition is having mental illness or having an intellectual disability; or
(iv) Who, for any reason, lacks the care necessary for his health, morals or well-being.
(m) "Abused child" means a child whose parent, guardian or custodian or any person responsible for his care or support, whether legally obligated to do so or not, has caused or allowed to be caused, upon the child, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, emotional abuse, mental injury, nonaccidental physical injury or other maltreatment. However, physical discipline, including spanking, performed on a child by a parent, guardian or custodian in a reasonable manner shall not be deemed abuse under this section. "Abused child" also means a child who is or has been trafficked within the meaning of the Mississippi Human Trafficking Act by any person, without regard to the relationship of the person to the child.
(n) "Sexual abuse" means obscene or pornographic photographing, filming or depiction of children for commercial purposes, or the rape, molestation, incest, prostitution or other such forms of sexual exploitation of children under circumstances which indicate that the child's health or welfare is harmed or threatened.
(o) "A child in need of special care" means a child with any mental or physical illness that cannot be treated with the dispositional alternatives ordinarily available to the youth court.
(p) A "dependent
child" means any child who is not a child in need of supervision, a
delinquent child, an abused child or a neglected child, and which child has
been voluntarily placed in the custody of the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
by his parent, guardian or custodian.
(q) "Custody" means the physical possession of the child by any person.
(r) "Legal custody" means the legal status created by a court order which gives the legal custodian the responsibilities of physical possession of the child and the duty to provide him with food, shelter, education and reasonable medical care, all subject to residual rights and responsibilities of the parent or guardian of the person.
(s) "Detention" means the care of children in physically restrictive facilities.
(t) "Shelter" means care of children in physically nonrestrictive facilities.
* * *
( * * *u) "Any person responsible for
care or support" means the person who is providing for the child at a
given time. This term shall include, but is not limited to, stepparents,
foster parents, relatives, nonlicensed babysitters or other similar persons
responsible for a child and staff of residential care facilities and group
homes that are licensed by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services.
( * * *v) The singular includes the plural,
the plural the singular and the masculine the feminine when consistent with the
intent of this chapter.
( * * *w) "Out-of-home" setting
means the temporary supervision or care of children by the staff of licensed
day care centers, the staff of public, private and state schools, the staff of
juvenile detention facilities, the staff of unlicensed residential care
facilities and group homes and the staff of, or individuals representing,
churches, civic or social organizations.
( * * *x) "Durable legal custody"
means the legal status created by a court order which gives the durable legal
custodian the responsibilities of physical possession of the child and the duty
to provide him with care, nurture, welfare, food, shelter, education and
reasonable medical care. All these duties as enumerated are subject to the
residual rights and responsibilities of the natural parent(s) or guardian(s) of
the child or children.
( * * *y) "Status offense" means
conduct subject to adjudication by the youth court that would not be a crime if
committed by an adult.
( * * *z) "Financially able" means
a parent or child who is ineligible for a court-appointed attorney.
( * * *aa) "Assessment" means an
individualized examination of a child to determine the child's psychosocial
needs and problems, including the type and extent of any mental health,
substance abuse or co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders and
recommendations for treatment. The term includes, but is not limited to, a
drug and alcohol, psychological or psychiatric evaluation, records review,
clinical interview or the administration of a formal test and instrument.
( * * *bb) "Screening" means a
process, with or without the administration of a formal instrument, that is
designed to identify a child who is at increased risk of having mental health,
substance abuse or co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders
that warrant immediate attention, intervention or more comprehensive
assessment.
( * * *cc) "Durable legal relative
guardianship" means the legal status created by a youth court order that
conveys the physical and legal custody of a child or children by durable legal
guardianship to a relative or fictive kin who is licensed as a foster or
resource parent.
( * * *dd) "Relative" means a
person related to the child by affinity or consanguinity within the third
degree.
( * * *ee) "Fictive kin" means a
person not related to the child legally or biologically but who is considered a
relative due to a significant, familial-like and ongoing relationship with the
child and family.
( * * *ff) "Reasonable efforts"
means the exercise of reasonable care and due diligence by the Department of
Human Services, the Department of Child Protection Services, or any other
appropriate entity or person to use appropriate and available services to
prevent the unnecessary removal of the child from the home or provide other
services related to meeting the needs of the child and the parents.
SECTION 52. Section 43-21-303, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-21-303. (1) No child in a matter in which the youth court has original exclusive jurisdiction shall be taken in custody by any person without a custody order except that:
(a) A law enforcement officer may take a child in custody if:
(i) Grounds exist for the arrest of an adult in identical circumstances; and
(ii) Such law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe that custody is necessary as defined in Section 43-21-301(3)(b); and
(iii) Such law enforcement officer can find no reasonable alternative to custody; or
(b) A law enforcement
officer or an agent of the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
may take a child into custody if:
(i) There is probable cause to believe that the child is in immediate danger of personal harm; however, probable cause shall not be based solely upon a positive drug test of a child's parent for marijuana, but a finding of probable cause may be based upon an evidence-based finding of harm to the child or a parent's inability to provide for the care and supervision of the child due to the parent's use of marijuana; and
(ii) Such law enforcement officer or agent has probable cause to believe that immediate custody is necessary as defined in Section 43-21-301(3)(b); and
(iii) Such law enforcement officer or agent can find no reasonable alternative to custody; and
(c) Any other person may take a child in custody if grounds exist for the arrest of an adult in identical circumstances. Such other person shall immediately surrender custody of the child to the proper law enforcement officer who shall thereupon continue custody only as provided in subsection (1)(a) of this section.
(2) When it is necessary to take a child into custody, the least restrictive custody should be selected.
(3) Unless the child is immediately released, the person taking the child into custody shall immediately notify the judge or his designee. A person taking a child into custody shall also make continuing reasonable efforts to notify the child's parent, guardian or custodian and invite the parent, guardian or custodian to be present during any questioning.
(4) A child taken into custody shall not be held in custody for a period longer than reasonably necessary, but not to exceed twenty-four (24) hours, and shall be released to his parent, guardian or custodian unless the judge or his designee authorizes temporary custody.
SECTION 53. Section 43-21-315, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-21-315. (1) The youth court shall, by general order or rule of court, designate the available detention or shelter facilities to which children shall be delivered when taken into custody. Copies of the order or rule shall be made available to the Department of Human Services and the Department of Child Protection Services and all law enforcement agencies within the territorial jurisdiction of the youth court.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, unless jurisdiction is transferred, no child shall be placed in any jail or place of detention of adults by any person or court unless the child shall be physically segregated from other persons not subject to the jurisdiction of the youth court and the physical arrangement of such jail or place of detention of adults prevents such child from having substantial contact with and substantial view of such other persons; but in any event, the child shall not be confined anywhere in the same cell with persons not subject to the jurisdiction of the youth court. Any order placing a child into custody shall comply with the detention requirements provided in Section 43-21-301(6). This subsection shall not be construed to apply to commitments to the training school under Section 43-21-605(1)(g)(iii).
(3) Any child who is charged with a hunting or fishing violation, a traffic violation, or any other criminal offense for which the youth court shall have power on its own motion to remove jurisdiction from any criminal court, may be detained only in the same facilities designated by the youth court for children within the jurisdiction of the youth court.
(4) After a child is ordered into custody, the youth court may arrange for the custody of the child with any private institution or agency caring for children, may commit the child to the Department of Mental Health pursuant to Section 41-21-61 et seq., or may order the Department of Human Services or the Department of Child Protection Services or any other public agency to provide for the custody, care and maintenance of such child. Provided, however, that the care, custody and maintenance of such child shall be within the statutory authorization and the budgetary means of such institution or facility.
SECTION 54. Section 43-21-351, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-21-351. (1) Any person or agency having knowledge that a child residing or being within the county is within the jurisdiction of the youth court may make a written report to the intake unit alleging facts sufficient to establish the jurisdiction of the youth court. The report shall bear a permanent number that will be assigned by the court in accordance with the standards established by the Administrative Office of Courts pursuant to Section 9-21-9(d), and shall be preserved until destroyed on order of the court.
(2) There shall be in each
youth court of the state an intake officer who shall be responsible for the
accurate and timely entering of all intake and case information into the
Mississippi Youth Court Information Delivery System (MYCIDS) for the Division
of Youth Services, truancy matters and the * * * Department
of Child Protection Services. It shall be the responsibility of the youth
court judge or referee of each county to ensure that the intake officer is
carrying out the responsibility of this section.
SECTION 55. Section 43-21-353, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-21-353. (1) Any
attorney, physician, dentist, intern, resident, nurse, psychologist, social
worker, family protection worker, family protection specialist, child
caregiver, minister, law enforcement officer, public or private school employee
or any other person having reasonable cause to suspect that a child is a
neglected child or an abused child, shall cause an oral report to be made
immediately by telephone or otherwise and followed as soon thereafter as
possible by a report in writing to the Department of * * * Child Protection Services,
and immediately a referral shall be made by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
to the youth court intake unit, which unit shall promptly comply with Section
43-21-357. In the course of an investigation, at the initial time of contact
with the individual(s) about whom a report has been made under this Youth Court
Act or with the individual(s) responsible for the health or welfare of a child
about whom a report has been made under this chapter, the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
shall inform the individual of the specific complaints or allegations made
against the individual. Consistent with subsection (4), the identity of the
person who reported his or her suspicion shall not be disclosed. Where
appropriate, the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
shall additionally make a referral to the youth court prosecutor.
Upon receiving a report that
a child has been sexually abused, or burned, tortured, mutilated or otherwise
physically abused in such a manner as to cause serious bodily harm, or upon
receiving any report of abuse that would be a felony under state or federal
law, the Department of * * * Child Protection Services shall immediately
notify the law enforcement agency in whose jurisdiction the abuse occurred and
shall notify the appropriate prosecutor within forty-eight (48) hours, and the
Department of * * * Child Protection Services shall have the duty to
provide the law enforcement agency all the names and facts known at the time of
the report; this duty shall be of a continuing nature. The law enforcement
agency and the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
shall investigate the reported abuse immediately and shall file a preliminary
report with the appropriate prosecutor's office within twenty-four (24) hours
and shall make additional reports as new or additional information or evidence
becomes available. The Department of * * * Child Protection Services
shall advise the clerk of the youth court and the youth court prosecutor of all
cases of abuse reported to the department within seventy-two (72) hours and
shall update such report as information becomes available.
(2) Any report to the
Department of * * * Child Protection Services shall contain the names
and addresses of the child and his parents or other persons responsible for his
care, if known, the child's age, the nature and extent of the child's injuries,
including any evidence of previous injuries * * *, any other information that might
be helpful in establishing the cause of the injury, and the identity of
the perpetrator.
(3) The Department of * * * Child Protection Services
shall maintain a statewide incoming wide-area telephone service or similar
service for the purpose of receiving reports of suspected cases of child abuse;
provided that any attorney, physician, dentist, intern, resident, nurse,
psychologist, social worker, family protection worker, family protection
specialist, child caregiver, minister, law enforcement officer or public or
private school employee who is required to report under subsection (1) of this
section shall report in the manner required in subsection (1).
(4) Reports of abuse and neglect made under this chapter and the identity of the reporter are confidential except when the court in which the investigation report is filed, in its discretion, determines the testimony of the person reporting to be material to a judicial proceeding or when the identity of the reporter is released to law enforcement agencies and the appropriate prosecutor pursuant to subsection (1). Reports made under this section to any law enforcement agency or prosecutorial officer are for the purpose of criminal investigation and prosecution only and no information from these reports may be released to the public except as provided by Section 43-21-261. Disclosure of any information by the prosecutor shall be according to the Mississippi Uniform Rules of Circuit and County Court Procedure. The identity of the reporting party shall not be disclosed to anyone other than law enforcement officers or prosecutors without an order from the appropriate youth court. Any person disclosing any reports made under this section in a manner not expressly provided for in this section or Section 43-21-261 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to the penalties prescribed by Section 43-21-267.
(5) All final dispositions
of law enforcement investigations described in subsection (1) of this section
shall be determined only by the appropriate prosecutor or court. All final
dispositions of investigations by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
as described in subsection (1) of this section shall be determined only by the
youth court. Reports made under subsection (1) of this section by the
Department of * * * Child Protection Services to the law enforcement
agency and to the district attorney's office shall include the following, if
known to the department:
(a) The name and address of the child;
(b) The names and addresses of the parents;
(c) The name and address of the suspected perpetrator;
(d) The names and addresses of all witnesses, including the reporting party if a material witness to the abuse;
(e) A brief statement of the facts indicating that the child has been abused and any other information from the agency files or known to the family protection worker or family protection specialist making the investigation, including medical records or other records, which may assist law enforcement or the district attorney in investigating and/or prosecuting the case; and
(f) What, if any,
action is being taken by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services.
(6) In any investigation of
a report made under this chapter of the abuse or neglect of a child as defined
in Section 43-21-105(m), the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
may request the appropriate law enforcement officer with jurisdiction to
accompany the department in its investigation, and in such cases the law
enforcement officer shall comply with such request.
(7) Anyone who willfully violates any provision of this section shall be, upon being found guilty, punished by a fine not to exceed Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or by imprisonment in jail not to exceed one (1) year, or both.
(8) If a report is made
directly to the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
that a child has been abused or neglected in an out-of-home setting, a referral
shall be made immediately to the law enforcement agency in whose jurisdiction
the abuse occurred and the department shall notify the district attorney's
office within forty-eight (48) hours of such report. The Department of * * * Child Protection Services
shall investigate the out-of-home setting report of abuse or neglect to
determine whether the child who is the subject of the report, or other children
in the same environment, comes within the jurisdiction of the youth court and
shall report to the youth court the department's findings and recommendation as
to whether the child who is the subject of the report or other children in the
same environment require the protection of the youth court. The law
enforcement agency shall investigate the reported abuse immediately and shall
file a preliminary report with the district attorney's office within forty-eight
(48) hours and shall make additional reports as new information or evidence
becomes available. If the out-of-home setting is a licensed facility, an
additional referral shall be made by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
to the licensing agency. The licensing agency shall investigate the report and
shall provide the Department of * * * Child Protection Services,
the law enforcement agency and the district attorney's office with their
written findings from such investigation as well as that licensing agency's
recommendations and actions taken.
(9) If a child protective investigation does not result in an out-of-home placement, a child protective investigator must provide information to the parent or guardians about community service programs that provide respite care, voluntary guardianship or other support services for families in crisis.
SECTION 56. Section 43-21-354, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-21-354. The statewide
incoming wide area telephone service established pursuant to Section 43-21-353,
Mississippi Code of 1972, shall be maintained by the Department of * * * Child
Protection Services on a twenty-four-hour seven (7) days a week basis.
SECTION 57. Section 43-21-357, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-21-357. (1) After
receiving a report, the youth court intake unit shall promptly make a
preliminary inquiry to determine whether the interest of the child, other
children in the same environment or the public requires the youth court to take
further action. As part of the preliminary inquiry, the youth court intake
unit may request or the youth court may order the Department of Human Services,
the Department of Youth Services, any successor agency or any other qualified
public employee to make an investigation or report concerning the child and any
other children in the same environment, and present the findings thereof to the
youth court intake unit. If the youth court intake unit receives a neglect or
abuse report, the youth court intake unit shall immediately forward the
complaint to the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
to promptly make an investigation or report concerning the child and any other
children in the same environment and promptly present the findings thereof to
the youth court intake unit. If it appears from the preliminary inquiry that
the child or other children in the same environment are within the jurisdiction
of the court, the youth court intake unit shall recommend to the youth court:
(a) That the youth court take no action;
(b) That an informal adjustment be made;
(c) That the
Department of * * * Child
Protection Services monitor the child, family and other children in the
same environment;
(d) That the child is warned or counseled informally;
(e) That the child be referred to the youth court drug court; or
(f) That a petition be filed.
(2) The youth court shall then, without a hearing:
(a) Order that no action be taken;
(b) Order that an informal adjustment be made;
(c) Order that the
Department of * * * Child
Protection Services monitor the child, family and other children in the
same environment;
(d) Order that the child is warned or counseled informally;
(e) That the child be referred to the youth court drug court; or
(f) Order that a petition be filed.
(3) If the preliminary inquiry discloses that a child needs emergency medical treatment, the judge may order the necessary treatment.
SECTION 58. Section 43-21-405, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-21-405. (1) The informal adjustment process shall be initiated with an informal adjustment conference conducted by an informal adjustment counselor appointed by the judge or his designee.
(2) If the child and his parent, guardian or custodian appear at the informal adjustment conference without counsel, the informal adjustment counselor shall, at the commencement of the conference, inform them of their right to counsel, the child's right to appointment of counsel and the right of the child to remain silent. If either the child or his parent, guardian or custodian indicates a desire to be represented by counsel, the informal adjustment counselor shall adjourn the conference to afford an opportunity to secure counsel.
(3) At the beginning of the informal adjustment conference, the informal adjustment counselor shall inform the child and his parent, guardian or custodian:
(a) That information has been received concerning the child which appears to establish jurisdiction of the youth court;
(b) The purpose of the informal adjustment conference;
(c) That during the informal adjustment process no petition will be filed;
(d) That the informal adjustment process is voluntary with the child and his parent, guardian or custodian and that they may withdraw from the informal adjustment at any time; and
(e) The circumstances under which the informal adjustment process can be terminated under Section 43-21-407.
(4) The informal adjustment counselor shall then discuss with the child and his parent, guardian or custodian:
(a) Recommendations for actions or conduct in the interest of the child to correct the conditions of behavior or environment which may exist;
(b) Continuing conferences and contacts with the child and his parent, guardian or custodian by the informal adjustment counselor or other authorized persons; and
(c) The child's general behavior, his home and school environment and other factors bearing upon the proposed informal adjustment.
(5) After the parties have agreed upon the appropriate terms and conditions of informal adjustment, the informal adjustment counselor and the child and his parent, guardian or custodian shall sign a written informal adjustment agreement setting forth the terms and conditions of the informal adjustment. The informal adjustment agreement may be modified at any time upon the consent of all parties to the informal adjustment conference.
(6) The informal adjustment
process shall not continue beyond a period of six (6) months from its
commencement unless extended by the youth court for an additional period not to
exceed six (6) months by court authorization prior to the expiration of the
original six-month period. In no event shall the custody or supervision of a
child which has been placed with the Department of * * * Human Services or the
Department of Child Protection Services be continued or extended except
upon a written finding by the youth court judge or referee that reasonable
efforts have been made to maintain the child within his own home, but that the
circumstances warrant his removal and there is no reasonable alternative to
custody, and that reasonable efforts will continue to be made towards
reunification of the family.
SECTION 59. Section 43-21-603, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-21-603. (1) At the beginning of each disposition hearing, the judge shall inform the parties of the purpose of the hearing.
(2) All testimony shall be under oath unless waived by all parties and may be in narrative form. The court may consider any evidence that is material and relevant to the disposition of the cause, including hearsay and opinion evidence. At the conclusion of the evidence, the youth court shall give the parties an opportunity to present oral argument.
(3) If the child has been adjudicated a delinquent child, before entering a disposition order, the youth court should consider, among others, the following relevant factors:
(a) The nature of the offense;
(b) The manner in which the offense was committed;
(c) The nature and number of a child's prior adjudicated offenses;
(d) The child's need for care and assistance;
(e) The child's current medical history, including medication and diagnosis;
(f) The child's mental health history, which may include, but not be limited to, the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument version 2 (MAYSI-2);
(g) Copies of the child's cumulative record from the last school of record, including special education records, if applicable;
(h) Recommendation from the school of record based on areas of remediation needed;
(i) Disciplinary records from the school of record; and
(j) Records of disciplinary actions outside of the school setting.
(4) If the child has been adjudicated a child in need of supervision, before entering a disposition order, the youth court should consider, among others, the following relevant factors:
(a) The nature and history of the child's conduct;
(b) The family and home situation; and
(c) The child's need of care and assistance.
(5) If the child has been adjudicated a neglected child or an abused child, before entering a disposition order, the youth court shall consider, among others, the following relevant factors:
(a) The child's physical and mental conditions;
(b) The child's need of assistance;
(c) The manner in which the parent, guardian or custodian participated in, tolerated or condoned the abuse, neglect or abandonment of the child;
(d) The ability of a child's parent, guardian or custodian to provide proper supervision and care of a child; and
(e) Relevant testimony and recommendations, where available, from the foster parent of the child, the grandparents of the child, the guardian ad litem of the child, representatives of any private care agency that has cared for the child, the family protection worker or family protection specialist assigned to the case, and any other relevant testimony pertaining to the case.
(6) After consideration of all the evidence and the relevant factors, the youth court shall enter a disposition order that shall not recite any of the facts or circumstances upon which the disposition is based, nor shall it recite that a child has been found guilty; but it shall recite that a child is found to be a delinquent child, a child in need of supervision, a neglected child or an abused child.
(7) If the youth court
orders that the custody or supervision of a child who has been adjudicated abused
or neglected be placed with the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
or any other person or public or private agency, other than the child's parent,
guardian or custodian, the youth court shall find and the disposition order shall
recite that:
(a) (i) Reasonable efforts have been made to maintain the child within his own home, but that the circumstances warrant his removal and there is no reasonable alternative to custody; or
(ii) The circumstances are of such an emergency nature that no reasonable efforts have been made to maintain the child within his own home, and that there is no reasonable alternative to custody; and
(b) That the effect of the continuation of the child's residence within his own home would be contrary to the welfare of the child and that the placement of the child in foster care is in the best interests of the child; or
(c) Reasonable efforts to maintain the child within his home shall not be required if the court determines that:
(i) The parent has subjected the child to aggravated circumstances, including, but not limited to, abandonment, torture, chronic abuse and sexual abuse; or
(ii) The parent has been convicted of murder of another child of that parent, voluntary manslaughter of another child of that parent, aided or abetted, attempted, conspired or solicited to commit that murder or voluntary manslaughter, or a felony assault that results in the serious bodily injury to the surviving child or another child of that parent; or
(iii) The parental rights of the parent to a sibling have been terminated involuntarily; and
(iv) That the effect of the continuation of the child's residence within his own home would be contrary to the welfare of the child and that placement of the child in foster care is in the best interests of the child.
Once the reasonable efforts requirement is bypassed, the court shall have a permanency hearing under Section 43-21-613 within thirty (30) days of the finding.
(8) Upon a written motion by a party, the youth court shall make written findings of fact and conclusions of law upon which it relies for the disposition order. If the disposition ordered by the youth court includes placing the child in the custody of a training school, an admission packet shall be prepared for the child that contains the following information:
(a) The child's current medical history, including medications and diagnosis;
(b) The child's mental health history;
(c) Copies of the child's cumulative record from the last school of record, including special education records, if reasonably available;
(d) Recommendation from the school of record based on areas of remediation needed;
(e) Disciplinary records from the school of record; and
(f) Records of disciplinary actions outside of the school setting, if reasonably available.
Only individuals who are permitted under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) shall have access to a child's medical records which are contained in an admission packet. The youth court shall provide the admission packet to the training school at or before the child's arrival at the training school. The admittance of any child to a training school shall take place between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on designated admission days.
(9) When a child in the
jurisdiction of the Youth Court is committed to the custody of the Mississippi
Department of * * * Child Protection Services and is believed to be in
need of treatment for a mental or emotional disability or infirmity, the
Department of * * * Child Protection Services shall file an affidavit
alleging that the child is in need of mental health services with the Youth
Court. The Youth Court shall refer the child to the appropriate community
mental health center for evaluation pursuant to Section 41-21-67. If the
prescreening evaluation recommends residential care, the Youth Court shall
proceed with civil commitment pursuant to Sections 41-21-61 et seq., 43-21-315
and 43-21-611, and the Department of Mental Health, once commitment is ordered,
shall provide appropriate care, treatment and services for at least as many
adolescents as were provided services in fiscal year 2004 in its facilities.
(10) Any screening and assessment examinations ordered by the court may aid in dispositions related to delinquency, but no statements or admissions made during the course thereof may be admitted into evidence against the child on the issue of whether the child committed a delinquent act.
SECTION 60. Section 43-21-613, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-21-613. (1) If the youth court finds, after a hearing which complies with the sections governing adjudicatory hearings, that the terms of a delinquency or child in need of supervision disposition order, probation or parole have been violated, the youth court may, in its discretion, revoke the original disposition and make any disposition which it could have originally ordered. The hearing shall be initiated by the filing of a petition that complies with the sections governing petitions in this chapter and that includes a statement of the youth court's original disposition order, probation or parole, the alleged violation of that order, probation or parole, and the facts which show the violation of that order, probation or parole. Summons shall be served in the same manner as summons for an adjudicatory hearing.
(2) On motion of a child or a child's parent, guardian or custodian, the youth court may, in its discretion, conduct an informal hearing to review the disposition order. If the youth court finds a material change of circumstances relating to the disposition of the child, the youth court may modify the disposition order to any appropriate disposition of equal or greater precedence which the youth court could have originally ordered.
(3) (a) Unless the youth court's jurisdiction has been terminated, all disposition orders for supervision, probation or placement of a child with an individual or an agency shall be reviewed by the youth court judge or referee at least annually to determine if continued placement, probation or supervision is in the best interest of the child or the public. For children who have been adjudicated abused or neglected, the youth court shall conduct a permanency hearing within twelve (12) months after the earlier of:
(i) An adjudication that the child has been abused or neglected; or
(ii) The date of
the child's removal from the allegedly abusive or neglectful custodian/parent.
Notice of such hearing shall be given in accordance with the provisions of
Section 43-21-505(5). In conducting the hearing, the judge or referee shall
require a written report and may require information or statements from the
child's youth court counselor, parent, guardian or custodian, which includes,
but is not limited to, an evaluation of the child's progress and
recommendations for further supervision or treatment. The judge or referee
shall, at the permanency hearing determine the future status of the child,
including, but not limited to, whether the child should be returned to the
parent(s) or placed with suitable relatives, placed for adoption, placed for
the purpose of establishing durable legal custody or should, because of the
child's special needs or circumstances, be continued in foster care on a
permanent or long-term basis. If the child is in an out-of-state placement,
the hearing shall determine whether the out-of-state placement continues to be
appropriate and in the best interest of the child. At the permanency hearing
the judge or referee shall determine, and the youth court order shall recite
that reasonable efforts were made by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
to finalize the child's permanency plan that was in effect on the date of the
permanency hearing. The judge or referee may find that reasonable efforts to
maintain the child within his home shall not be required in accordance with
Section 43-21-603(7)(c), and that the youth court shall continue to conduct
permanency hearings for a child who has been adjudicated abused or neglected,
at least annually thereafter, for as long as the child remains in the custody
of the Mississippi Department of * * * Child Protection Services.
(b) The court may find that the filing of a termination of parental rights petition is not in the child's best interest if:
(i) The child is being cared for by a relative; and/or
(ii) The
Department of * * * Child Protection Services has documented compelling
and extraordinary reasons why termination of parental rights would not be in
the best interests of the child.
(c) The provisions of this subsection shall also apply to review of cases involving a dependent child; however, such reviews shall take place not less frequently than once each one hundred eighty (180) days. A dependent child shall be ordered by the youth court judge or referee to be returned to the custody and home of the child's parent, guardian or custodian unless the judge or referee, upon such review, makes a written finding that the return of the child to the home would be contrary to the child's best interests.
(d) Reviews are not to
be conducted unless explicitly ordered by the youth court concerning those
cases in which the court has granted durable legal custody. In such cases, the
Department of * * * Child Protection Services shall be released from any
oversight or monitoring responsibilities, and relieved of physical and legal
custody and supervision of the child.
(4) The provisions of this section do not apply to proceedings concerning durable legal relative guardianship.
SECTION 61. Section 43-27-101, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-27-101. For purposes of Sections 43-27-101 and 43-27-103, the following words shall have the meanings ascribed in this section, unless the context requires otherwise:
(a) "Child or
youth in the custody of the Department of * * * Child Protection Services"
means an individual:
(i) Who has not yet reached his eighteenth birthday;
(ii) Who has been
legally placed in the custody of the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
by the youth court and for whom custody with the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
was not sought by the parents or legal custodians or guardians for the parents'
or legal custodians' or guardians' legal responsibilities to relieve themselves
of the responsibility for paying for treatment for a child or youth; and
(iii) Who is unable to be maintained with the family or legal guardians or custodians due to his or her need for specialized care.
(b) "Child or
youth under the supervision of the Department of * * * Child Protection Services"
means an individual:
(i) Who has not yet reached his eighteenth birthday; and
(ii) Who has been
referred for abuse or neglect and for whom a case has been opened and is active
in the * * * Department of Child
Protection Services.
(c) "Plan of care" means a written plan of services needed to be provided for a child or youth and his or her family in order to provide the special care or services required.
(d) "Special needs crisis" means:
(i) Conduct or behavioral problems of such a severe nature and level that family or parental violence, abuse, and/or neglect pose an imminent threat or are present; or
(ii) Conduct or behavioral problems of such a severe nature and level that family or parental violence, abuse, and/or neglect pose an imminent threat or are present.
(e) "Specialized care" means:
(i) "Self-care," which means the ability to provide, sustain and protect himself or herself at a level appropriate to his or her age;
(ii) "Interpersonal relationships," which means the ability to build and maintain satisfactory relationships with peers and adults;
(iii) "Family life," which means the capacity to live in a family or family-type environment;
(iv) "Self-direction," which means the child's ability to control his or her behavior and to make decisions in a manner appropriate to his or her age;
(v) "Education," which means the ability to learn social and intellectual skill from teachers in an available educational setting.
(f) "Special needs child" means a child with a variety of handicapping conditions or disabilities, including emotional or severely emotional disorders. These conditions or disabilities present the need for special medical attention, supervision and therapy on a very regimented basis.
SECTION 62. Section 43-27-103, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-27-103. (1) Sections 43-27-101 and 43-27-103 shall enable the development by the Department of Human Services and the Department of Child Protection Services of a system of services for children or youth in the custody of or under the supervision of the Department of Human Services or the Department of Child Protection Services, if funds are appropriated to the department for that purpose. The system of services may consist of emergency response services, an early intervention and treatment unit, respite care, crisis nurseries, specialized outpatient or inpatient treatment services, special needs foster care, therapeutic foster care, emergency foster homes, and Medicaid targeted case management for abused and neglected children and youth as well as children adjudicated delinquent or in need of supervision. Any of these services that are provided shall be arranged by and coordinated through the Department of Human Services or the Department of Child Protection Services, and the department may contract with public or private agencies or entities to provide any of the services or may provide any of the services itself. All of the services shall be provided in facilities that meet the standards set by the Department of Human Services or the Department of Child Protection Services for the particular type of facility involved. None of the services provided shall duplicate existing services except where there is a documented need for expansion of the services.
(2) A description of the services that may be provided under Sections 43-27-101 and 43-27-103 are as follows:
(a) "Emergency response services" means services to respond to children or youth in severe crisis and include:
(i) Emergency single point phone lines;
(ii) Crisis care coordinators staffing shifts that enable twenty-four-hour per day response as "front-line" professionals when crisis calls are received, assist with decision-making, family support, initiate plan of action and remain "on call" for the first seventy-two (72) hours for other service professionals to get in place and insure development of a plan of care;
(iii) Acute care/emergency medical response through contracted services with up to five (5) regional hospitals providing emergency room services and hospitalization for up to seventy-two (72) hours with a maximum of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) per day;
(iv) Case managers;
(v) Respite services; and
(vi) Assessment services contracted with social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists and other health professionals.
(b) "Early intervention and treatment unit" means a unique, nonhospital crisis service in a residential context that is able to provide the level of support and intervention needed to resolve the crisis and as an alternative to hospitalization. This unit shall provide specialized assessment, including a variety of treatment options and services to best intervene in a child or youth's crisis, and provide an appropriate plan for further services upon returning to the home and community. Staff-to-child or youth ratio shall be high, with multidisciplinary, specialized services for up to six (6) children or youths at one (1) time, and with the maximum assessment and treatment planning and services being ninety (90) days for most children or youths.
(c) "Respite care" means planned temporary care for a period of time ranging from a few hours within a twenty-four-hour period to an overnight or weekend stay to a maximum of ten (10) days. Care may be provided in-home or out-of-home with trained respite parents or counselors and is designed to provide a planned break for the parents from the caretaking role with the child.
(d) "Crisis nurseries" means a program providing therapeutic nursery treatment services to preschool aged children who as preschoolers demonstrate significant behavioral or emotional disorders. These services shall be to therapeutically address developmental and emotional behavioral difficulties through direct intervention with the child in a nursery school environment and to intervene with parents to provide education, support and therapeutic services.
(e) "Specialized outpatient or inpatient treatment services," such as sex offender treatment, means specialized treatment for perpetrators of sexual offenses with children.
(f) "Special needs foster care" means foster care for those children with a variety of handicapping conditions or disabilities, including serious emotional disturbance.
(g) "Therapeutic foster care" means residential mental health services provided to children and adolescents in a family setting, utilizing specially trained foster parents. Therapeutic foster care essentially involves the following features:
(i) Placement with foster parents who have been carefully selected by knowledgeable, well-trained mental health and social service professionals to work with children with an emotional disturbance;
(ii) Provision of special training to the foster parents to assist them in working with children with an emotional disturbance;
(iii) Low staff-to-child ratio, allowing the therapeutic staff to work very closely with each child, the foster parents and the biological parents, if available;
(iv) Creation of a support system among these specially trained foster parents; and
(v) Payment of a special foster care payment to the foster parents.
(h) "Emergency foster homes" means those homes used on a short-term basis for (i) children who are temporarily removed from the home in response to a crisis situation, or (ii) youth who exhibit special behavioral or emotional problems for whom removal from the existing home situation is necessary. In some cases they may provide an emergency placement for infants and toddlers for whom no regular foster home is available, rather than placement into an emergency shelter where older and larger groups of children are placed. Foster parents are trained to deal with the special needs of children placed in these emergency homes.
(i) "Medicaid targeted case management" means activities that are related to assuring the completion of proper client evaluations; arranging and supporting treatment plans, monitoring services, coordinating service delivery and other related actions.
SECTION 63. Section 43-27-109, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-27-109. The Department of Human Services and the Department of Child Protection Services may employ a sufficient number of new family protection specialists, youth counselors and clerical staff to reduce the caseload sizes for social workers and youth counselors of the department and to reduce the workload on clerical staff, if funds are appropriated to the department for that purpose.
SECTION 64. Section 43-27-113, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-27-113. In any
investigation by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
of a report made under Section 43-21-101 et seq. of the abuse or neglect of a
child as defined in Section 43-21-105, the department may request the
appropriate law enforcement officer with jurisdiction to accompany the
department in its investigation, and in such cases the law enforcement officer
shall comply with such request.
SECTION 65. Section 43-27-115, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-27-115. The Department
of * * *
Child Protection Services is authorized to employ one (1) program
manager for each department region, if funds are appropriated to the department
for that purpose, whose duties shall be to develop an ongoing public education
program to inform Mississippi citizens about the needs of the state's children,
youth and families, the work of the department in addressing these needs and
how citizens might become involved. The Department of * * * Child Protection Services
shall develop formal agreements of cooperation and protocol between the
department and other providers of services to children and families including
school districts, hospitals, law enforcement agencies, mental health centers
and others.
SECTION 66. Section 43-27-117, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-27-117. The Department
of * * *
Child Protection Services is authorized to establish an online automated
child welfare information system, if funds are appropriated to the department
for that purpose, to give the department the capability to supply foster care,
adoption and child abuse and neglect data to the federal Department of Health
and Human Services in a specified format as required, and to help the
department in tracking child abuse and neglect referrals and the number of
children affected in those referrals.
SECTION 67. Section 57-39-43, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
57-39-43. (1) There is created in the State Treasury a fund to be designated as the "Mississippi Oil Overcharge Fund," referred to in this section as "fund." Monies in the fund, referred to in this section as "oil overcharge funds," may be used for projects or programs authorized in accordance with appropriate federal court orders regarding the use of oil overcharge funds or by the United States Department of Energy, or both.
(2) The Treasurer shall deposit or transfer into the fund any funds received as a result of federal statute or administrative or regulatory actions requiring the disbursement to states of refund monies for alleged overcharges for crude oil or refined petroleum products. The Treasurer may establish accounts within the fund as necessary for management of monies in the fund.
(3) Expenditures may be
made from the fund upon requisition to the Treasurer by the Executive Director
of the * * * Mississippi Development
Authority, the Executive Director of the Department of Human Services,
or the Commissioner of the Department of Child Protection Services.
(4) The fund shall be treated as a special trust fund. Interest earned on the principal in the fund shall be credited by the Treasurer to the fund.
(5) In their annual budget
request, the * * * Mississippi
Development Authority, the Department of Human Services, and the
Department of Child Protection Services shall submit a list of projects or
programs for which monies from the fund are requested to be used.
SECTION 68. Section 93-5-23, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-5-23. When a divorce shall be decreed from the bonds of matrimony, the court may, in its discretion, having regard to the circumstances of the parties and the nature of the case, as may seem equitable and just, make all orders touching the care, custody and maintenance of the children of the marriage, and also touching the maintenance and alimony of the wife or the husband, or any allowance to be made to her or him, and shall, if need be, require bond, sureties or other guarantee for the payment of the sum so allowed. Orders touching on the custody of the children of the marriage shall be made in accordance with the provisions of Section 93-5-24. For the purposes of orders touching the maintenance and alimony of the wife or husband, "property" and "an asset of a spouse" shall not include any interest a party may have as an heir at law of a living person or any interest under a third-party will, nor shall any such interest be considered as an economic circumstance or other factor. The court may afterwards, on petition, change the decree, and make from time to time such new decrees as the case may require. However, where proof shows that both parents have separate incomes or estates, the court may require that each parent contribute to the support and maintenance of the children of the marriage in proportion to the relative financial ability of each. In the event a legally responsible parent has health insurance available to him or her through an employer or organization that may extend benefits to the dependents of such parent, any order of support issued against such parent may require him or her to exercise the option of additional coverage in favor of such children as he or she is legally responsible to support.
Whenever the court has ordered a party to make periodic payments for the maintenance or support of a child, but no bond, sureties or other guarantee has been required to secure such payments, and whenever such payments as have become due remain unpaid for a period of at least thirty (30) days, the court may, upon petition of the person to whom such payments are owing, or such person's legal representative, enter an order requiring that bond, sureties or other security be given by the person obligated to make such payments, the amount and sufficiency of which shall be approved by the court. The obligor shall, as in other civil actions, be served with process and shall be entitled to a hearing in such case.
At the discretion of the court, any person found in contempt for failure to pay child support and imprisoned therefor may be referred for placement in a state, county or municipal restitution, house arrest or restorative justice center or program, provided such person meets the qualifications prescribed in Section 99-37-19.
Whenever in any proceeding
in the chancery court concerning the custody of a child a party alleges that
the child whose custody is at issue has been the victim of sexual or physical
abuse by the other party, the court may, on its own motion, grant a continuance
in the custody proceeding only until such allegation has been investigated by
the Department of * * * Child Protection Services. At the time of
ordering such continuance, the court may direct the party and his attorney
making such allegation of child abuse to report in writing and provide all
evidence touching on the allegation of abuse to the Department of * * * Child Protection Services.
The Department of * * * Child Protection Services shall investigate
such allegation and take such action as it deems appropriate and as provided in
such cases under the Youth Court Law (being Chapter 21 of Title 43, Mississippi
Code of 1972) or under the laws establishing family courts (being Chapter 23 of
Title 43, Mississippi Code of 1972).
If after investigation by
the Department of * * * Child Protection Services or final disposition by
the youth court or family court allegations of child abuse are found to be
without foundation, the chancery court shall order the alleging party to pay
all court costs and reasonable attorney's fees incurred by the defending party
in responding to such allegation.
The court may investigate,
hear and make a determination in a custody action when a charge of abuse and/or
neglect arises in the course of a custody action as provided in Section 43-21-151,
and in such cases the court shall appoint a guardian ad litem for the child as
provided under Section 43-21-121, who shall be an attorney. Unless the
chancery court's jurisdiction has been terminated, all disposition orders in
such cases for placement with the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
shall be reviewed by the court or designated authority at least annually to
determine if continued placement with the department is in the best interest of
the child or public.
The duty of support of a child terminates upon the emancipation of the child. The court may determine that emancipation has occurred pursuant to Section 93-11-65.
Custody and visitation upon military temporary duty, deployment or mobilization shall be governed by Section 93-5-34.
SECTION 69. Section 93-17-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-3. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a court of this state has jurisdiction over a proceeding for the adoption or readoption of a minor commenced under this chapter if:
(a) Immediately before commencement of the proceeding, the minor lived in this state with a parent, a guardian, a prospective adoptive parent or another person acting as parent, for at least six (6) consecutive months, excluding periods of temporary absence, or, in the case of a minor under six (6) months of age, lived in this state from soon after birth with any of those individuals and there is available in this state substantial evidence concerning the minor's present or future care;
(b) Immediately before commencement of the proceeding, the prospective adoptive parent lived in this state for at least six (6) consecutive months, excluding periods of temporary absence, and there is available in this state substantial evidence concerning the minor's present or future care;
(c) The agency that placed the minor for adoption is licensed in this state and it is in the best interest of the minor that a court of this state assume jurisdiction because:
(i) The minor and the minor's parents, or the minor and the prospective adoptive parent, have a significant connection with this state; and
(ii) There is available in this state substantial evidence concerning the minor's present or future care;
(d) The minor and the prospective adoptive parent are physically present in this state and the minor has been abandoned or it is necessary in an emergency to protect the minor because the minor has been subjected to or threatened with mistreatment or abuse or is otherwise neglected;
(e) It appears that no other state would have jurisdiction under prerequisites substantially in accordance with paragraphs (a) through (d), or another state has declined to exercise jurisdiction on the ground that this state is the more appropriate forum to hear a petition for adoption of the minor, and it is in the best interest of the minor that a court of this state assume jurisdiction; or
(f) The child has been adopted in a foreign country, the agency that placed the minor for adoption is licensed in this state, and it is in the best interest of the child to be readopted in a court of this state having jurisdiction.
(2) A court of this state may not exercise jurisdiction over a proceeding for adoption of a minor if, at the time the petition for adoption is filed, a proceeding concerning the custody or adoption of the minor is pending in a court of another state exercising jurisdiction substantially in conformity with the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act or this section unless the proceeding is stayed by the court of the other state.
(3) If a court of another state has issued a decree or order concerning the custody of a minor who may be the subject of a proceeding for adoption in this state, a court of this state may not exercise jurisdiction over a proceeding for adoption of the minor unless:
(a) The court of this state finds that the court of the state which issued the decree or order:
(i) Does not have continuing jurisdiction to modify the decree or order under jurisdictional prerequisites substantially in accordance with the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act or has declined to assume jurisdiction to modify the decree or order; or
(ii) Does not have jurisdiction over a proceeding for adoption substantially in conformity with subsection (1)(a) through (d) or has declined to assume jurisdiction over a proceeding for adoption; and
(b) The court of this state has jurisdiction over the proceeding.
(4) Any person may be adopted in accordance with the provisions of this chapter in termtime or in vacation by an unmarried adult or by a married person whose spouse joins in the petition. The adoption shall be by sworn petition filed in the chancery court of the county in which the adopting petitioner or petitioners reside or in which the child to be adopted resides or was born, or was found when it was abandoned or deserted, or in which the home is located to which the child has been surrendered by a person authorized to so do. The petition shall be accompanied by a doctor's or nurse practitioner's certificate showing the physical and mental condition of the child to be adopted and a sworn statement of all property, if any, owned by the child. In addition, the petition shall be accompanied by affidavits of the petitioner or petitioners stating the amount of the service fees charged by any adoption agencies or adoption facilitators used by the petitioner or petitioners and any other expenses paid by the petitioner or petitioners in the adoption process as of the time of filing the petition. If the doctor's or nurse practitioner's certificate indicates any abnormal mental or physical condition or defect, the condition or defect shall not, in the discretion of the chancellor, bar the adoption of the child if the adopting parent or parents file an affidavit stating full and complete knowledge of the condition or defect and stating a desire to adopt the child, notwithstanding the condition or defect. The court shall have the power to change the name of the child as a part of the adoption proceedings. The word "child" in this section shall be construed to refer to the person to be adopted, though an adult.
(5) Adoption by couples of the same gender is prohibited.
(6) No person may be placed
in the home of or adopted by the prospective adopting parties before a court-ordered
or voluntary home study is satisfactorily completed by a licensed adoption
agency, a licensed, experienced social worker approved by the chancery court or
by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services on the prospective
adoptive parties if required by Section 93-17-11.
(7) No person may be
adopted by a person or persons who reside outside the State of Mississippi
unless the provisions of the Interstate Compact for Placement of Children
(Section 43-18-1 et seq.) have been complied with. In such cases Forms 100A,
100B (if applicable) and evidence of Interstate Compact for Placement of
Children approval shall be added to the permanent adoption record file within
one (1) month of the placement, and a minimum of two (2) post-placement reports
conducted by a licensed child-placing agency shall be provided to the
Mississippi Department of * * * Human Services Child Protection Services Interstate
Compact for Placement of Children office.
(8) No person may be adopted unless the provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) have been complied with, if applicable. When applicable, proof of compliance shall be included in the court adoption file prior to finalization of the adoption. If not applicable, a written statement or paragraph in the petition for adoption shall be included in the adoption petition stating that the provisions of ICWA do not apply before finalization.
(9) The readoption of a child who has automatically acquired United States citizenship following an adoption in a foreign country and who possesses a Certificate of Citizenship in accordance with the Child Citizenship Act, CAA, Public Law 106-395, may be given full force and effect in a readoption proceeding conducted by a court of competent jurisdiction in this state by compliance with the Mississippi Registration of Foreign Adoptions Act, Article 9 of this chapter.
SECTION 70. Section 93-17-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-5. (1) There shall be made parties to the proceeding by process or by the filing therein of a consent to the adoption proposed in the petition, which consent shall be duly sworn to or acknowledged and executed only by the following persons, but not before seventy-two (72) hours after the birth of the child:
(a) The parents, or parent, if only one (1) parent, though either be under the age of twenty-one (21) years;
(b) If both parents are dead, then any two (2) adult kin of the child within the third degree computed according to the civil law; if one of such kin is in possession of the child, he or she shall join in the petition or be made a party to the suit; or
(c) The guardian ad litem of an abandoned child, upon petition showing that the names of the parents of the child are unknown after diligent search and inquiry by the petitioners. In addition to the above, there shall be made parties to any proceeding to adopt a child, either by process or by the filing of a consent to the adoption proposed in the petition, the following:
(i) Those persons
having physical custody of the child, except persons who are acting as foster
parents as a result of placement with them by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
of the State of Mississippi.
(ii) Any person to whom custody of the child may have been awarded by a court of competent jurisdiction of the State of Mississippi.
(iii) The agent of
the * * * Department of Child Protection Services of
the State of Mississippi that has placed a child in foster care, either by
agreement or by court order.
(2) The consent may also be executed and filed by the duly authorized officer or representative of a home to whose care the child has been delivered. The child shall join the petition by the child's next friend.
(3) If consent is not filed, process shall be had upon the parties as provided by law for process in person or by publication, if they are nonresidents of the state or are not found therein after diligent search and inquiry, the court or chancellor in vacation may fix a date in termtime or in vacation to which process may be returnable and shall have power to proceed in termtime or vacation. In any event, if the child is more than fourteen (14) years of age, a consent to the adoption, sworn to or acknowledged by the child, shall also be required or personal service of process shall be had upon the child in the same manner and in the same effect as if the child were an adult.
SECTION 71. Section 93-17-8, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-8. (1) Whenever an adoption becomes a contested matter, whether after a hearing on a petition for determination of rights under Section 93-17-6 or otherwise, the court:
(a) Shall, on motion of any party or on its own motion, issue an order for immediate blood or tissue sampling in accordance with the provisions of Section 93-9-21 et seq., if paternity is at issue. The court shall order an expedited report of such testing and shall hold the hearing resolving this matter at the earliest time possible.
(b) Shall appoint a guardian ad litem to represent the child. Such guardian ad litem shall be an attorney, however his duties are as guardian ad litem and not as attorney for the child. The reasonable costs of the guardian ad litem shall be taxed as costs of court. Neither the child nor anyone purporting to act on his behalf may waive the appointment of a guardian ad litem.
(c) Shall determine first whether or not the objecting parent is entitled to so object under the criteria of Section 93-17-7 and then shall determine the custody of the child in accord with the best interests of the child and the rights of the parties as established by the hearings and judgments.
(d) Shall schedule all hearings concerning the contested adoption as expeditiously as possible for prompt conclusion of the matter.
(2) In determining the custody of the child after a finding that the adoption will not be granted, the fact of the surrender of the child for adoption by a parent shall not be taken as any evidence of that parent's abandonment or desertion of the child or of that parent's unfitness as a parent.
(3) In contested adoptions arising through petitions for determination of rights where the prospective adopting parents were not parties to that proceeding, they need not be made parties to the contested adoption until there has been a ruling that the objecting parent is not entitled to enter a valid objection to the adoption. At that point the prospective adopting parents shall be made parties by joinder which shall show their suitability to be adopting parents as would a petition for adoption. The identity and suitability of the prospective adopting parents shall be made known to the court and the guardian ad litem, but shall not be made known to other parties to the proceeding unless the court determines that the interests of justice or the best interests of the child require it.
(4) No birth parent or alleged parent shall be permitted to contradict statements given in a proceeding for the adoption of their child in any other proceeding concerning that child or his ancestry.
(5) Appointment of a guardian ad litem is not required in any proceeding under this chapter except as provided in subsection (1)(b) above and except for the guardian ad litem needed for an abandoned child. It shall not be necessary for a guardian ad litem to be appointed where the chancery judge presiding in the adoption proceeding deems it unnecessary and no adoption agency is involved in the proceeding. No final decree of adoption heretofore granted shall be set aside or modified because a guardian ad litem was not appointed unless as the result of a direct appeal not now barred.
(6) The provisions of Chapter 15 of this Title 93, Mississippi Code of 1972, are not applicable to proceedings under this chapter except as specifically provided by reference herein.
(7) The court may order a
child's birth father, identified as such in the proceedings, to reimburse the
Department of * * * Child Protection Services, the foster parents, the
adopting parents, the home, any other agency or person who has assumed
liability for such child, all or part of the costs of the medical expenses
incurred for the mother and the child in connection with the birth of the
child, as well as reasonable support for the child after his birth.
SECTION 72. Section 93-17-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-11. At any time after
the filing of the petition for adoption and completion of process thereon, and
before the entering of a final decree, the court may, in its discretion, of its
own motion or on motion of any party to the proceeding, require an
investigation and report to the court to be made by any person, officer or home
as the court may designate and direct concerning the child, and shall require
in adoptions, other than those in which the petitioner or petitioners are a
relative or stepparent of the child, that a home study be performed of the
petitioner or petitioners by a licensed adoption agency or by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services,
at the petitioner's or petitioners' sole expense and at no cost to the state or
county. The investigation and report shall give the material facts upon which
the court may determine whether the child is a proper subject for adoption,
whether the petitioner or petitioners are suitable parents for the child,
whether the adoption is to its best interest, and any other facts or
circumstances that may be material to the proposed adoption. The home study
shall be considered by the court in determining whether the petitioner or
petitioners are suitable parents for the child. The court, when an
investigation and report are required by the court or by this section, shall
stay the proceedings in the cause for such reasonable time as may be necessary
or required in the opinion of the court for the completion of the investigation
and report by the person, officer or home designated and authorized to make the
same.
Upon the filing of that consent or the completion of the process and the filing of the investigation and report, if required by the court or by this section, and the presentation of such other evidence as may be desired by the court, if the court determines that it is to the best interests of the child that an interlocutory decree of adoption be entered, the court may thereupon enter an interlocutory decree upon such terms and conditions as may be determined by the court, in its discretion, but including therein that the complete care, custody and control of the child shall be vested in the petitioner or petitioners until further orders of the court and that during such time the child shall be and remain a ward of the court. If the court determines by decree at any time during the pendency of the proceeding that it is not to the best interests of the child that the adoption proceed, the petitioners shall be entitled to at least five (5) days' notice upon their attorneys of record and a hearing with the right of appeal as provided by law from a dismissal of the petition; however, the bond perfecting the appeal shall be filed within ten (10) days from the entry of the decree of dismissal and the bond shall be in such amount as the chancellor may determine and supersedeas may be granted by the chancellor or as otherwise provided by law for appeal from final decrees.
After the entry of the interlocutory decree and before entry of the final decree, the court may require such further and additional investigation and reports as it may deem proper. The rights of the parties filing the consent or served with process shall be subject to the decree but shall not be divested until entry of the final decree.
SECTION 73. Section 93-17-12, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-12. In any child
custody matter hereafter filed in any chancery or county court in which
temporary or permanent custody has already been placed with a parent or
guardian and in all adoptions, the court shall impose a fee for any court-ordered
home study performed by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
or any other entity. The fee shall be assessed upon either party or upon both
parties in the court's discretion. The minimum fee imposed shall be not less
than Three Hundred Fifty Dollars ($350.00) for each household on which a home
study is performed. The fee shall be paid directly to the Mississippi
Department of * * * Child Protection Services prior to the home study
being conducted by the department or to the entity if the study is performed by
another entity. The judge may order the fee be paid by one or both of the
parents or guardian. If the court determines that both parents or the guardian
are unable to pay the fee, the judge shall waive the fee and the cost of the
home study shall be defrayed by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services.
SECTION 74. Section 93-17-53, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-53. The purpose of
Sections 93-17-51 through 93-17-67 is to supplement the Mississippi adoption
law by making possible through public supplemental benefits the most
appropriate adoption of each child certified by the * * * Mississippi
Department of Child Protection Services as requiring a supplemental benefit
to assure adoption.
SECTION 75. Section 93-17-57, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-57. The * * * Mississippi
Department of Child Protection Services shall establish and administer an
ongoing program of supplemental benefits for adoption. Supplemental benefits
and services for children under this program shall be provided out of such
funds as may be appropriated to the Mississippi Medicaid Commission for the
medical services for children in foster care, or made available to the
department from other sources.
SECTION 76. Section 93-17-59, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-59. Any child meeting
criteria specified in Section 93-17-55 for whom the * * * Mississippi
Department of Child Protection Services feels supplemental benefits are
necessary to improve opportunities for adoption will be eligible for the
program. The adoption agency shall document that reasonable efforts have been
made to place the child in adoption without supplemental benefits through the
use of adoption resource exchanges, recruitment and referral to appropriate
specialized adoption agencies.
SECTION 77. Section 93-17-61, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-61. (1) When parents
are found and approved for adoption of a child certified as eligible for
supplemental benefits, and before the final decree of adoption is issued, there
shall be executed a written agreement between the family entering into the
adoption and the Department of * * * Child Protection Services.
In individual cases, supplemental benefits may commence with the adoptive
placement or at the appropriate time after the adoption decree and will vary
with the needs of the child as well as the availability of other resources to
meet the child's needs. The supplemental benefits may be for special services
only or for money payments as allowed under Section 43-13-115, Mississippi Code
of 1972, and either for a limited period, for a long-term not exceeding the
child's eighteenth birthday, or for any combination of the foregoing. The
amount of the time-limited, long-term supplemental benefits may in no case
exceed that which would be currently allowable for such child under the
Mississippi Medicaid Law.
(2) When supplemental
benefits last for more than one (1) year, the adoptive parents shall present an
annual written certification that the child remains under the parents' care and
that the child's need for supplemental benefits continues. Based on
investigation by the agency and available funds, the agency may approve
continued supplemental benefits. These benefits shall be extended so long as
the parents remain legally responsible for and are providing support for the
child. The agency shall continue paying benefits until a child reaches twenty-one
(21) years of age if the child meets the criteria stated in Section 93-17-67( * * *2) for continuation of Medicaid
coverage.
(3) A child who is a resident of Mississippi when eligibility for supplemental benefits is certified shall remain eligible and receive supplemental benefits, if necessary for adoption, regardless of the domicile or residence of the adopting parents at the time of application for adoption, placement, legal decree of adoption or thereafter.
SECTION 78. Section 93-17-63, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-63. All records
regarding such adoption shall be confidential. Anyone violating or releasing
information of a confidential nature, as contemplated by Sections 93-17-51
through 93-17-67 without the approval of the court with jurisdiction or the * * * Mississippi
Department of Child Protection Services unless such release is made
pursuant to Sections 93-17-201 through 93-17-223 shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor and subject to a fine not exceeding One Thousand Dollars
($1,000.00) or imprisonment of six (6) months, or both.
SECTION 79. Section 93-17-65, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-65. The * * * Mississippi
Department of Child Protection Services shall promulgate rules and
regulations necessary to implement the provisions of Sections 93-17-51 through
93-17-67.
SECTION 80. Section 93-17-67, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-67. (1) If the
adoptive parents of a child eligible for adoption supplemental benefits sign an
adoption assistance agreement with the Department of * * * Child Protection Services,
then, whether or not they accept such benefits, Medicaid coverage shall be
provided for the child under the agency's medical payment program from and
after the commencement date established pursuant to Section 93-17-61 until the
child's eighteenth birthday, provided that federal matching funds are available
for such payment.
(2) Any child who is
adopted in this state through a state-supported adoption agency and who
immediately prior to such adoption was receiving Medicaid benefits because of a
severe physical or mental handicap shall continue to receive such coverage
benefits after adoption age eighteen (18), and such benefits shall be payable
as provided under the agency's medical payment program for so long as the * * * Mississippi
Department of Child Protection Services determines that the treatment or
rehabilitation for which payment is being made is in the best interest of the
child concerned, but not past the age of twenty-one (21) years, provided that
federal matching funds are available for such payment and that any state funds
used for such payment shall have been appropriated specifically for such
purpose.
(3) If permitted by federal law without any loss to the state of federal matching funds, the financial resources of the adopting parents shall not be a factor in such determination except that payments on behalf of a child of any age may be adjusted when insurance benefits available to the adopting parents would pay all or part of such payments being made by the state, or if medical or rehabilitation services are otherwise available without cost to the adopting parents. The amount of financial assistance given shall not exceed the amount that the Medicaid Commission would be required to pay for the same medical treatment or rehabilitation.
(4) The receipt of Medicaid benefits by an adopted child under Sections 93-17-51 through 93-17-67 shall not qualify the adopting parents for Medicaid eligibility, unless either parent is otherwise eligible under Section 43-13-115, Mississippi Code of 1972.
SECTION 81. Section 93-17-69, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-69. Any person
proposing to adopt a child who is a dependent of a state child-placing agency
and who is in special circumstances as defined in paragraph (c) of Section 93-17-55
shall be represented by the * * * Mississippi
Department of Child Protection Services when requested by the adopting
parent in all phases of the adoption proceeding. State child-placing agencies
shall advise prospective adopting parents of their right under this section to
be represented in adoption proceedings. The fees for filing the petition for
adoption and preparing a revised birth certificate, any court costs taxed
against the petitioner and any other actual payments made by the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
to third parties as required to complete the adoption proceeding, shall be paid
by the adopting parent.
SECTION 82. Section 93-17-101, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-101. (1) The Legislature finds that:
(a) Locating adoptive families for children for whom state assistance is desirable, pursuant to the Mississippi adoption assistance law, and assuring the protection of the interests of the children affected during the entire assistance period, require special measures when the adoptive parents move to other states or are residents of another state; and
(b) Providing medical and other necessary services for children, with state assistance, encounters special difficulties when the providing of services takes place in other states.
(2) The purposes of Sections 93-17-101 through 93-17-109 are to:
(a) Authorize the
Mississippi Department of * * * Public Welfare Child Protection Services to enter into
interstate agreements with agencies of other states for the protection of
children on behalf of whom adoption assistance is being provided by the
Mississippi Department of * * * Public Welfare Child Protection Services; and
(b) Provide procedures for interstate children's adoption assistance payments, including medical payments.
SECTION 83. Section 93-17-103, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-103. (1) The
Mississippi Department of * * * Public Welfare Child Protection Services is authorized
to develop, participate in the development of, negotiate and enter into one or
more interstate compacts on behalf of this state with other states to implement
one or more of the purposes set forth in Sections 93-17-101 through 93-17-109.
When so entered into, and for so long as it shall remain in force, such a
compact shall have the force and effect of law.
(2) For the purposes of Sections 93-17-101 through 93-17-109, the term "state" shall mean a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands or a territory or possession of or administered by the United States.
(3) For the purposes of Sections 93-17-101 through 93-17-109, the term "adoption assistance state" means the state that is signatory to an adoption assistance agreement in a particular case.
(4) For the purposes of Sections 93-17-101 through 93-17-109, the term "residence state" means the state of which the child is a resident by virtue of the residence of the adoptive parents.
SECTION 84. Section 93-17-107, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-107. (1) A child
with special needs resident in this state who is the subject of an adoption
assistance agreement with another state and who has been determined eligible
for Medicaid in that state shall be entitled to receive a medical assistance
identification from this state upon filing with the Mississippi Department of * * * Child Protection Services
a certified copy of the adoption assistance agreement obtained from the
adoption assistance state which certifies to the eligibility of the child for
Medicaid. In accordance with regulations of the Mississippi Department of * * * Child Protection Services,
the adoptive parents shall be required, at least annually, to show that the
agreement is still in force or has been renewed.
(2) The Division of Medicaid, Office of the Governor, shall consider the holder of a medical assistance identification pursuant to this section as any other holder of a medical assistance identification under the laws of this state and shall process and make payment on claims on account of such holder in the same manner and pursuant to the same conditions and procedures as for other recipients of medical assistance.
(3) The submission of any claim for payment or reimbursement for services or benefits pursuant to this section or the making of any statement in connection therewith, which claim or statement the maker knows or should know to be false, misleading or fraudulent shall be punishable as perjury and shall also be subject to a fine not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), or imprisonment for not to exceed two (2) years, or both.
(4) The provisions of this section shall apply only to medical assistance for children under adoption assistance agreements from states that have entered into a compact with this state under which the other state provides medical assistance to children with special needs under adoption assistance agreements made by this state. All other children entitled to medical assistance pursuant to adoption assistance agreements entered into by this state shall be eligible to receive it in accordance with the laws and procedures applicable thereto.
SECTION 85. Section 93-17-109, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-109. Consistent with
federal law, the Mississippi Department of * * * Child Protection Services
and the Division of Medicaid, Office of the Governor of the State of
Mississippi, in connection with the administration of Sections 93-17-101
through 93-17-109 and any compact entered into pursuant hereto, shall include
in any state plan made pursuant to the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare
Act of 1980 (P.L. 96-272), Titles IV(e) and XIX of the Social Security Act, and
any other applicable federal laws, the provision of adoption assistance and
medical assistance for which the federal government pays some or all of the
cost provided such authority is granted under the provisions of some law of
this state other than the provisions of Sections 93-17-101 through 93-17-109.
Such departments shall apply for and administer all relevant federal aid in
accordance with law.
SECTION 86. Section 93-17-203, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-17-203. The following words and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed herein unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(a) "Agency"
means * * * the Mississippi Department of Child Protection
Services, a licensed or nonlicensed adoption agency or any other individual
or entity assisting in the finalization of an adoption.
(b) "Adoptee" means a person who is or has been adopted in this state at any time.
(c) "Birth parent" means either:
(i) The mother designated on the adoptee's original birth certificate; or
(ii) The person named by the mother designated on the adoptee's original birth certificate as the father of the adoptee.
(d) "Board" means the Mississippi State Board of Health.
(e) "Bureau" means the Bureau of Vital Records of the Mississippi State Board of Health.
(f) "Licensed
adoption agency" means any agency or organization performing adoption
services and duly licensed by the Mississippi Department of * * * Child Protection Services.
SECTION 87. Section 93-21-307, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-21-307. The
administration of the Mississippi Children's Trust Fund shall be vested in the * * * Department of Child Protection
Services. In carrying out the provisions of Sections 93-21-301 through 93-21-311,
the * * * Department of Child Protection
Services shall have the following powers and duties:
(a) To assist in developing programs aimed at discovering and preventing the many factors causing child abuse and neglect;
(b) To prepare and disseminate, including the presentation of, educational programs and materials on child abuse and neglect;
(c) To provide educational programs for professionals required by law to make reports of child abuse and neglect;
(d) To help coordinate child protective services at the state, regional and local levels with the efforts of other state and voluntary social, medical and legal agencies;
(e) To provide advocacy for children in public and private state and local agencies affecting children;
(f) To encourage citizen and community awareness as to the needs and problems of children;
(g) To facilitate the exchange of information between groups concerned with families and children;
(h) To consult with state departments, agencies, commissions and boards to help determine the probable effectiveness, fiscal soundness and need for proposed educational and service programs for the prevention of child abuse and neglect;
(i) To adopt rules and
regulations, subject to approval of the State Board of * * * Human Services, in
accordance with the Administrative Procedures Law to discharge its
responsibilities;
(j) To report
annually, through the annual report of the * * * Mississippi
Department of Child Protection Services, to the Governor and the Legislature
concerning the * * * department's activities under Sections 93-21-301
through 93-21-311 and the effectiveness of those activities in fostering the
prevention of child abuse and neglect;
(k) To recommend to the Governor and the Legislature changes in state programs, statutes, policies and standards which will reduce child abuse and neglect, improve coordination among state agencies which provide services to prevent abuse and neglect, improve the condition of children and assist parents and guardians;
(l) To evaluate and strengthen all local, regional and state programs dealing with child abuse and neglect;
(m) To prepare and submit annually to the Governor and the Legislature reports evaluating the level and quality of all programs, services and facilities provided to children by state agencies;
(n) To contract with public or private nonprofit institutions, organizations, agencies or schools or with qualified individuals for the establishment of community-based educational and service programs designed to reduce the occurrence of child abuse and neglect;
(o) To determine the eligibility of programs applying for financial assistance and to make grants and loans from the fund for the purposes set forth in Sections 93-21-301 through 93-21-311;
(p) To develop, within
one (1) year after July 1, 1989, a state plan for the distribution of funds
from the trust fund which shall assure that an equal opportunity exists for
establishment of prevention programs and for receipt of trust fund * * * monies among all geographic areas
in this state, and to submit the plan to the Governor and the Legislature and
annually thereafter submit revisions thereto as needed;
(q) To provide for the coordination and exchange of information on the establishment and maintenance of local prevention programs;
(r) To develop and
publicize criteria for the receipt of trust fund * * * monies by eligible local
prevention programs;
(s) To enter into contracts with public or private agencies to fulfill the requirements of Sections 93-21-301 through 93-21-311; and
(t) Review, monitor
and approve the expenditure of trust fund * * * monies by eligible local programs.
SECTION 88. Section 93-21-311, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-21-311. In making grants
or loans from the trust fund, the * * * department shall consider the
degree to which the applicant's proposal meets the following criteria:
(a) Has as its primary purpose the development and facilitation of a community-based prevention program in a specific geographical area, which program shall utilize trained volunteers and existing community resources where practicable;
(b) Is administered by
an organization or group which is composed of or has participation by the * * * Department
of Child Protection Services, the county health department, the youth court
or chancery court, the office of the district attorney, county or municipal law
enforcement personnel, county or municipal school officials, local public or
private organizations or agencies which provide programs or services for the
prevention of child abuse and neglect and educational programs for the
prevention of problems of families and children; and
(c) Demonstrates a willingness and ability and has a plan to provide prevention program models and consultations to appropriate organizations within the community regarding prevention program development and maintenance.
SECTION 89. Section 93-31-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
93-31-3. (1) (a) A parent or legal custodian of a child, by means of a properly executed power of attorney as provided in Section 93-31-5, may delegate to another willing person or persons as attorney-in-fact any of the powers regarding the care and custody of the child other than the following:
(i) The power to consent to marriage or adoption of the child;
(ii) The performance or inducement of an abortion on or for the child; or
(iii) The termination of parental rights to the child.
(b) A delegation of powers under this section does not:
(i) Change or modify any parental or legal rights, obligations, or authority established by an existing court order;
(ii) Deprive any custodial or noncustodial parent or legal guardian of any parental or legal rights, obligations, or authority regarding the custody, visitation, or support of the child; or
(iii) Affect a court's ability to determine the best interests of a child.
(c) If both parents are living and have shared custody as a matter of law or under an existing court order, both parents must execute the power of attorney.
(d) A power of attorney under this chapter must be facilitated by either a child welfare agency that is licensed to place children for adoption and that is operating under the Safe Families for Children model or another charitable organization that is operating under the Safe Families for Children model. A full criminal history and child abuse and neglect background check must be conducted on any person who is not a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or sibling of the child if the person is:
(i) Designated or proposed to be designated as the attorney-in-fact; or
(ii) Is a person over the age of fifteen (15) who resides in the home of the designated attorney-in-fact.
(2) A power of attorney executed under this chapter shall not be used for the sole purposes of enrolling a child in a school to participate in the academic or interscholastic athletic programs provided by that school or for any other unlawful purposes, except as may be permitted by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (Public Law 114-95).
(3) The parent or legal custodian of the child has the authority to revoke or withdraw the power of attorney authorized by this section at any time. Upon the termination, expiration, or revocation of the power of attorney, the child must be returned to the custody of the parent or legal custodian as soon as reasonably possible.
(4) Until the authority expires or is revoked or withdrawn by the parent or legal custodian, the attorney-in-fact shall exercise parental or legal authority on a continuous basis without compensation for the duration of the power of attorney.
(5) The execution of a
power of attorney by a parent or legal custodian does not, in the absence of
other evidence, constitute abandonment, desertion, abuse, neglect, or any
evidence of unfitness as a parent unless the parent or legal custodian fails to
take custody of the child or execute a new power of attorney after the one-year
time limit, or after a longer time period as allowed for a serving parent, has
elapsed. Nothing in this subsection prevents the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
or law enforcement from investigating allegations of abuse, abandonment,
desertion, neglect or other mistreatment of a child.
(6) When the custody of a child is transferred by a power of attorney under this chapter, the child is not considered to have been placed in foster care and the attorney-in-fact will not be subject to any of the requirements or licensing regulations for foster care or other regulations relating to out-of-home care for children and will not be subject to any statutes or regulations dealing with the licensing or regulation of foster care homes.
(7) (a) "Serving parent" means a parent who is a member of the Armed Forces of the United States, including any reserve component thereof, or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps or the Public Health Service of the United States Department of Health and Human Services detailed by proper authority for duty with the Armed Forces of the United States, or who is required to enter or serve in the active military service of the United States under a call or order of the President of the United States or to serve on state active duty.
(b) A serving parent may delegate the powers designated in subsection (1) of this section for longer than one (1) year if on active-duty service or if scheduled to be on active-duty service. The term of delegation, however, may not exceed the term of active-duty service plus thirty (30) days.
SECTION 90. Section 97-3-54.1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-3-54.1. (1) (a) A person who coerces, recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides or obtains by any means, or attempts to coerce, recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide or obtain by any means, another person, intending or knowing that the person will be subjected to forced labor or services, or who benefits, whether financially or by receiving anything of value from participating in an enterprise that he knows or reasonably should have known has engaged in such acts, shall be guilty of the crime of human trafficking.
(b) A person who knowingly purchases the forced labor or services of a trafficked person or who otherwise knowingly subjects, or attempts to subject, another person to forced labor or services or who benefits, whether financially or by receiving anything of value from participating in an enterprise that he knows or reasonably should have known has engaged in such acts, shall be guilty of the crime of procuring involuntary servitude.
(c) A person who knowingly subjects, or attempts to subject, or who recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides or obtains by any means, or attempts to recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide or obtain by any means, a minor, knowing that the minor will engage in commercial sexual activity, sexually explicit performance, or the production of sexually oriented material, or causes or attempts to cause a minor to engage in commercial sexual activity, sexually explicit performance, or the production of sexually oriented material, shall be guilty of procuring sexual servitude of a minor and shall be punished by commitment to the custody of the Department of Corrections for not less than five (5) nor more than thirty (30) years, or by a fine of not less than Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) nor more than Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000.00), or both. It is not a defense in a prosecution under this section that a minor consented to engage in the commercial sexual activity, sexually explicit performance, or the production of sexually oriented material, or that the defendant reasonably believed that the minor was eighteen (18) years of age or older.
(2) If the victim is not a minor, a person who is convicted of an offense set forth in subsection (1)(a) or (b) of this section shall be committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections for not less than two (2) years nor more than twenty (20) years, or by a fine of not less than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) nor more than One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00), or both. If the victim of the offense is a minor, a person who is convicted of an offense set forth in subsection (1)(a) or (b) of this section shall be committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections for not less than five (5) years nor more than twenty (20) years, or by a fine of not less than Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000.00) nor more than One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00), or both.
(3) An enterprise may be prosecuted for an offense under this chapter if:
(a) An agent of the enterprise knowingly engages in conduct that constitutes an offense under this chapter while acting within the scope of employment and for the benefit of the entity.
(b) An employee of the enterprise engages in conduct that constitutes an offense under this chapter and the commission of the offense was part of a pattern of illegal activity for the benefit of the enterprise, which an agent of the enterprise either knew was occurring or recklessly disregarded, and the agent failed to take effective action to stop the illegal activity.
(c) It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution of an enterprise that the enterprise had in place adequate procedures, including an effective complaint procedure, designed to prevent persons associated with the enterprise from engaging in the unlawful conduct and to promptly correct any violations of this chapter.
(d) The court may consider the severity of the enterprise's offense and order penalties, including: (i) a fine of not more than One Million Dollars ($1,000,000.00); (ii) disgorgement of profit; and (iii) debarment from government contracts. Additionally, the court may order any of the relief provided in Section 97-3-54.7.
(4) In addition to the
mandatory reporting provisions contained in Sections 43-21-353 and 97-5-51,
any person who has reasonable cause to suspect that a minor under the age of
eighteen (18) is a trafficked person shall immediately make a report * * * to the Statewide Human Trafficking
Coordinator. * * * A minor who has been
identified as a victim of trafficking shall not be liable for criminal activity
in violation of this section.
(5) It is an affirmative defense in a prosecution under this act that the defendant:
(a) Is a victim; and
(b) Committed the offense under a reasonable apprehension created by a person that, if the defendant did not commit the act, the person would inflict serious harm on the defendant, a member of the defendant's family, or a close associate.
SECTION 91. Section 97-5-24, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-5-24. If any person
eighteen (18) years or older who is employed by any public school district or
private school in this state is accused of fondling or having any type of
sexual involvement with any child under the age of eighteen (18) years who is
enrolled in such school, the principal of such school and the superintendent of
such school district shall timely notify the district attorney with
jurisdiction where the school is located of such accusation, the Mississippi
Department of Education and the Department of * * * Child Protection Services,
provided that such accusation is reported to the principal and to the school
superintendent and that there is a reasonable basis to believe that such
accusation is true. Any superintendent, or his designee, who fails to make a
report required by this section shall be subject to the penalties provided in
Section 37-11-35. Any superintendent, principal, teacher or other school
personnel participating in the making of a required report pursuant to this
section or participating in any judicial proceeding resulting therefrom shall
be presumed to be acting in good faith. Any person reporting in good faith
shall be immune from any civil liability that might otherwise be incurred or
imposed.
SECTION 92. Section 97-5-39, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-5-39. (1) (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, any parent, guardian or other person who intentionally, knowingly or recklessly commits any act or omits the performance of any duty, which act or omission contributes to or tends to contribute to the neglect or delinquency of any child or which act or omission results in the abuse of any child, as defined in Section 43-21-105(m) of the Youth Court Law, or who knowingly aids any child in escaping or absenting himself from the guardianship or custody of any person, agency or institution, or knowingly harbors or conceals, or aids in harboring or concealing, any child who has absented himself without permission from the guardianship or custody of any person, agency or institution to which the child shall have been committed by the youth court shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine not to exceed One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or by imprisonment not to exceed one (1) year in jail, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
(b) For the purpose of this section, a child is a person who has not reached his eighteenth birthday. A child who has not reached his eighteenth birthday and is on active duty for a branch of the armed services, or who is married, is not considered a child for the purposes of this statute.
(c) If a child commits one (1) of the proscribed acts in subsection (2)(a), (b) or (c) of this section upon another child, then original jurisdiction of all such offenses shall be in youth court.
(d) If the child's deprivation of necessary clothing, shelter, health care or supervision appropriate to the child's age results in substantial harm to the child's physical, mental or emotional health, the person may be sentenced to imprisonment in custody of the Department of Corrections for not more than five (5) years or to payment of a fine of not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or both.
(e) A parent, legal guardian or other person who knowingly permits the continuing physical or sexual abuse of a child is guilty of neglect of a child and may be sentenced to imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections for not more than ten (10) years or to payment of a fine of not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), or both.
(2) Any person shall be guilty of felonious child abuse in the following circumstances:
(a) Whether bodily harm results or not, if the person shall intentionally, knowingly or recklessly:
(i) Burn any child;
(ii) Physically torture any child;
(iii) Strangle, choke, smother or in any way interfere with any child's breathing;
(iv) Poison a child;
(v) Starve a child of nourishments needed to sustain life or growth;
(vi) Use any type of deadly weapon upon any child;
(b) If some bodily harm to any child actually occurs, and if the person shall intentionally, knowingly or recklessly:
(i) Throw, kick, bite, or cut any child;
(ii) Strike a child under the age of fourteen (14) about the face or head with a closed fist;
(iii) Strike a child under the age of five (5) in the face or head;
(iv) Kick, bite, cut or strike a child's genitals; circumcision of a male child is not a violation under this subparagraph (iv);
(c) If serious bodily harm to any child actually occurs, and if the person shall intentionally, knowingly or recklessly:
(i) Strike any child on the face or head;
(ii) Disfigure or scar any child;
(iii) Whip, strike or otherwise abuse any child;
(d) Any person, upon conviction under paragraph (a) or (c) of this subsection, shall be sentenced by the court to imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections for a term of not less than five (5) years and up to life, as determined by the court. Any person, upon conviction under paragraph (b) of this subsection shall be sentenced by the court to imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections for a term of not less than two (2) years nor more than ten (10) years, as determined by the court. For any second or subsequent conviction under this subsection (2), the person shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life.
(e) For the purposes of this subsection (2), "bodily harm" means any bodily injury to a child and includes, but is not limited to, bruising, bleeding, lacerations, soft tissue swelling, and external or internal swelling of any body organ.
(f) For the purposes of this subsection (2), "serious bodily harm" means any serious bodily injury to a child and includes, but is not limited to, the fracture of a bone, permanent disfigurement, permanent scarring, or any internal bleeding or internal trauma to any organ, any brain damage, any injury to the eye or ear of a child or other vital organ, and impairment of any bodily function.
(g) Nothing contained in paragraph (c) of this subsection shall preclude a parent or guardian from disciplining a child of that parent or guardian, or shall preclude a person in loco parentis to a child from disciplining that child, if done in a reasonable manner, and reasonable corporal punishment or reasonable discipline as to that parent or guardian's child or child to whom a person stands in loco parentis shall be a defense to any violation charged under paragraph (c) of this subsection.
(h) Reasonable discipline and reasonable corporal punishment shall not be a defense to acts described in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection or if a child suffers serious bodily harm as a result of any act prohibited under paragraph (c) of this subsection.
(3) Nothing contained in this section shall prevent proceedings against the parent, guardian or other person under any statute of this state or any municipal ordinance defining any act as a crime or misdemeanor. Nothing in the provisions of this section shall preclude any person from having a right to trial by jury when charged with having violated the provisions of this section.
(4) (a) A parent, legal guardian or caretaker who endangers a child's person or health by knowingly causing or permitting the child to be present where any person is selling, manufacturing or possessing immediate precursors or chemical substances with intent to manufacture, sell or possess a controlled substance as prohibited under Section 41-29-139 or 41-29-313, is guilty of child endangerment and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than ten (10) years or to payment of a fine of not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), or both.
(b) If the endangerment results in substantial harm to the child's physical, mental or emotional health, the person may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than twenty (20) years or to payment of a fine of not more than Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000.00), or both.
(5) Nothing contained in this section shall prevent proceedings against the parent, guardian or other person under any statute of this state or any municipal ordinance defining any act as a crime or misdemeanor. Nothing in the provisions of this section shall preclude any person from having a right to trial by jury when charged with having violated the provisions of this section.
(6) After consultation with the Department of Human Services or the Department of Child Protection Services, a regional mental health center or an appropriate professional person, a judge may suspend imposition or execution of a sentence provided in subsections (1) and (2) of this section and in lieu thereof require treatment over a specified period of time at any approved public or private treatment facility. A person may be eligible for treatment in lieu of criminal penalties no more than one (1) time.
(7) In any proceeding resulting from a report made pursuant to Section 43-21-353 of the Youth Court Law, the testimony of the physician making the report regarding the child's injuries or condition or cause thereof shall not be excluded on the ground that the physician's testimony violates the physician-patient privilege or similar privilege or rule against disclosure. The physician's report shall not be considered as evidence unless introduced as an exhibit to his testimony.
(8) Any criminal prosecution arising from a violation of this section shall be tried in the circuit, county, justice or municipal court having jurisdiction; provided, however, that nothing herein shall abridge or dilute the contempt powers of the youth court.
SECTION 93. Section 97-5-51, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-5-51. (1) Definitions. For the purposes of this section:
(a) "Sex crime against a minor" means any offense under at least one (1) of the following statutes when committed by an adult against a minor who is under the age of sixteen (16):
(i) Section 97-3-65 relating to rape;
(ii) Section 97-3-71 relating to rape and assault with intent to ravish;
(iii) Section 97-3-95 relating to sexual battery;
(iv) Section 97-5-23 relating to the touching of a child, mentally defective or incapacitated person or physically helpless person for lustful purposes;
(v) Section 97-5-41 relating to the carnal knowledge of a stepchild, adopted child or child of a cohabiting partner;
(vi) Section 97-5-33 relating to exploitation of children;
(vii) Section 97-3-54.1(1)(c) relating to procuring sexual servitude of a minor;
(viii) Section 43-47-18 relating to sexual abuse of a vulnerable person;
(ix) Section 97-1-7 relating to the attempt to commit any of the offenses listed in this subsection.
(b) "Mandatory reporter" means any of the following individuals performing their occupational duties: health care practitioner, clergy member, teaching or child care provider, law enforcement officer, or commercial image processor.
(c) "Health care practitioner" means any individual who provides health care services, including a physician, surgeon, physical therapist, psychiatrist, psychologist, medical resident, medical intern, hospital staff member, licensed nurse, midwife and emergency medical technician or paramedic.
(d) "Clergy member" means any priest, rabbi or duly ordained deacon or minister.
(e) "Teaching or child care provider" means anyone who provides training or supervision of a minor under the age of sixteen (16), including a teacher, teacher's aide, principal or staff member of a public or private school, social worker, probation officer, foster home parent, group home or other child care institutional staff member, personnel of residential home facilities, a licensed or unlicensed day care provider.
(f) "Commercial image processor" means any person who, for compensation: (i) develops exposed photographic film into negatives, slides or prints; (ii) makes prints from negatives or slides; or (iii) processes or stores digital media or images from any digital process, including, but not limited to, website applications, photography, live streaming of video, posting, creation of power points or any other means of intellectual property communication or media including conversion or manipulation of still shots or video into a digital show stored on a photography site or a media storage site.
(g) "Caretaker" means any person legally obligated to provide or secure adequate care for a minor under the age of sixteen (16), including a parent, guardian, tutor, legal custodian or foster home parent.
(2) (a) Mandatory reporter requirement. A mandatory reporter shall make a report if it would be reasonable for the mandatory reporter to suspect that a sex crime against a minor has occurred.
(b) Failure to file a mandatory report shall be punished as provided in this section.
(c) Reports made under this section and the identity of the mandatory reporter are confidential except when the court determines the testimony of the person reporting to be material to a judicial proceeding or when the identity of the reporter is released to law enforcement agencies and the appropriate prosecutor. The identity of the reporting party shall not be disclosed to anyone other than law enforcement or prosecutors except under court order; violation of this requirement is a misdemeanor. Reports made under this section are for the purpose of criminal investigation and prosecution only and information from these reports is not a public record. Disclosure of any information by the prosecutor shall conform to the Mississippi Uniform Rules of Circuit and County Court Procedure.
(d) Any mandatory reporter who makes a required report under this section or participates in a judicial proceeding resulting from a mandatory report shall be presumed to be acting in good faith. Any person or institution reporting in good faith shall be immune from any liability, civil or criminal, that might otherwise be incurred or imposed.
(3) (a) Mandatory reporting procedure. A report required under subsection (2) must be made immediately to the law enforcement agency in whose jurisdiction the reporter believes the sex crime against the minor occurred. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection (3), a mandatory reporter may not delegate to any other person the responsibility to report, but shall make the report personally.
(i) The reporting
requirement under this subsection (3) is satisfied if a mandatory reporter in
good faith reports a suspected sex crime against a minor to the Department of * * * Child Protection Services
under Section 43-21-353 if the reporter reasonably suspects the sex crime
constitutes abuse or neglect.
(ii) The reporting requirement under this subsection (3) is satisfied if a mandatory reporter reports a suspected sex crime against a minor by following a reporting procedure that is imposed:
1. By state agency rule as part of licensure of any person or entity holding a state license to provide services that include the treatment or education of abused or neglected children; or
2. By statute.
(b) Contents of the report. The report shall identify, to the extent known to the reporter, the following:
(i) The name and address of the minor victim;
(ii) The name and address of the minor's caretaker;
(iii) Any other pertinent information known to the reporter.
(4) A law enforcement officer who receives a mandated report under this section shall file an affidavit against the offender on behalf of the State of Mississippi if there is probable cause to believe that the offender has committed a sex crime against a minor.
(5) Collection of forensic samples. (a) (i) When an abortion is performed on a minor who is less than fourteen (14) years of age at the time of the abortion procedure, fetal tissue extracted during the abortion shall be collected in accordance with rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this section if it would be reasonable to suspect that the pregnancy being terminated is the result of a sex crime against a minor.
(ii) When a minor who is under sixteen (16) years of age gives birth to an infant, umbilical cord blood shall be collected, if possible, in accordance with rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this section if it would be reasonable to suspect that the minor's pregnancy resulted from a sex crime against a minor.
(iii) It shall be reasonable to suspect that a sex crime against a minor has occurred if the mother of an infant was less than sixteen (16) years of age at the time of conception and at least one (1) of the following conditions also applies:
1. The mother of the infant will not identify the father of the infant;
2. The mother of the infant lists the father of the infant as unknown;
3. The person the mother identifies as the father of the infant disputes his fatherhood;
4. The person the mother identifies as the father of the infant is twenty-one (21) years of age or older; or
5. The person the mother identifies as the father is deceased.
(b) The State Medical Examiner shall adopt rules and regulations consistent with Section 99-49-1 that prescribe:
(i) The amount and type of fetal tissue or umbilical cord blood to be collected pursuant to this section;
(ii) Procedures for the proper preservation of the tissue or blood for the purpose of DNA testing and examination;
(iii) Procedures for documenting the chain of custody of such tissue or blood for use as evidence;
(iv) Procedures for proper disposal of fetal tissue or umbilical cord blood collected pursuant to this section;
(v) A uniform reporting instrument mandated to be utilized, which shall include the complete residence address and name of the parent or legal guardian of the minor who is the subject of the report required under this subsection (5); and
(vi) Procedures for communication with law enforcement agencies regarding evidence and information obtained pursuant to this section.
(6) Penalties. (a) A person who is convicted of a first offense under this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00).
(b) A person who is convicted of a second offense under this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or imprisoned for not more than thirty (30) days, or both.
(c) A person who is convicted of a third or subsequent offense under this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or imprisoned for not more than one (1) year, or both.
(7) A health care practitioner or health care facility shall be immune from any penalty, civil or criminal, for good-faith compliance with any rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this section.
SECTION 94. Section 97-29-49, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-29-49. (1) A person commits the misdemeanor of prostitution if the person knowingly or intentionally performs, or offers or agrees to perform, sexual intercourse or sexual conduct for money or other property. "Sexual conduct" includes cunnilingus, fellatio, masturbation of another, anal intercourse or the causing of penetration to any extent and with any object or body part of the genital or anal opening of another.
(2) Any person violating the provisions of this section shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine not exceeding Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) or by confinement in the county jail for not more than six (6) months, or both.
(3) In addition to the
mandatory reporting provisions contained in Section 97-5-51, any law
enforcement officer who takes a minor under eighteen (18) years of age into
custody for suspected prostitution shall immediately make a report to the
Department of * * * Child Protection Services as required in Section 43-21-353
for suspected child sexual abuse or neglect, and the department shall commence
an initial investigation into suspected child sexual abuse or neglect as
required in Section 43-21-353.
(4) If it is determined that a person suspected of or charged with engaging in prostitution is engaging in those acts as a direct result of being a trafficked person, as defined by Section 97-3-54.4, that person shall be immune from prosecution for prostitution as a juvenile or adult and, if a minor, the provisions of Section 97-3-54.1(4) shall be applicable.
SECTION 95. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019, and shall stand repealed from and after June 30, 2019.
