Mississippi’s Youth Court Law - Abused and Neglected Children

Let’s start by first defining what exactly “abuse” and “neglect” mean.

According to the Mississippi Youth Court Law an abused child is a child whose caretaker “has caused or allowed to be caused, upon the child, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, commercial sexual exploitation, emotional abuse, mental injury, nonaccidental physical injury or other maltreatment”. (Section 43-21-105(m) of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended.) (Physical discipline performed in a reasonable manner, however, is not considered abuse.)

A neglected child is one in which his or her caretaker “neglects or refuses, when able so to do, to provide for his or her proper and necessary care or support, or education as required by law, or medical, surgical, or other care necessary for his or her well-being”. (Section 43-21-105(l) of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended.) Interestingly, a caretaker who withholds medical treatment from a 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.” Id.

When the Youth Court first encounters an abused or neglected child, it is generally at a shelter hearing. At this stage, the Court will order that a child be taken into custody if there is probably cause to believe that the child is in danger of a significant risk of harm, or the caretaker is not available to provide for the care and supervision of the child, and there is no reasonable alternative to custody. In addition, the Court must find that "the effect of the continuation of the child's residing within his or her own home would be contrary to the welfare of the child, that the placement of the child in foster care is in the best interests of the child…and that reasonable efforts have been made to maintain the child within his or her own home, but that the circumstances warrant his or her removal.” (Section 43-21-301(c) of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended).

The important take away here is that the law imposes a duty upon the State to make “reasonable efforts” to maintain a child in his or her home before removing custody from a parent. Reasonable efforts is defined as “the exercise of reasonable care and due diligence by the Department of Human Services, the Department of Child Protection Services (CPS), 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 43-21-105(gg) of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended.)

An example would be that if parents are neglecting their children due to being unable to financially provide for them, CPS should attempt to reasonable offer services to the parents such as TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) or SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) before taking custody from them.

After custody is removed, the next stage of the proceedings is the adjudication hearing. Here the State must prove that the child is a neglected or abused child by a preponderance of the evidence. Here the State must generally offer proof of reasonable efforts to reunify the child with the parent. This obligation of making reasonable efforts towards reunification continues in all subsequent permanency hearings.

Of course, there are exceptions to the State’s obligation to make reasonable efforts to maintain a child within his or her home or to reunify a child with his or her parents. Reasonable efforts are not required when the parent has subjected the child to aggravated circumstances, such as abandonment, torture, chronic abuse and sexual abuse. (Section 43-21-603(7) of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended.) They are also not required if 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. Id. Lastly, reasonable efforts are not required when the parental rights of the parent to a sibling have been terminated involuntarily. id.

If the Court determines that reunification if inappropriate, the Court could grant durable legal custody to a relative or fictive kin who has exercised physical custody of the child for at least six months under the supervision of CPS. If both reunification and durable legal custody are inappropriate, the Court could order that the parental rights of the child be terminated, thus clearing the way for the child to be adopted.