Report: Drugs to blame for Hancock County’s high foster-care rate

The Hancock County Youth Court Task Force, which formed last year to study the foster-care crisis, released its final report this week with 16 findings and recommendations on how to correct the high number of children in state custody.

Notably, the report blamed the problem on drug addiction, as court officials have done since discussions on the foster-care crisis began in December 2014.

"The Task Force found that the largest single factor can be attributed to the substantial numbers of Hancock County parents that are using drugs," the report said.

At that time, Hancock County had the highest per-capita rate of children in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, a rate 10 times higher than any other county in the state. Though the numbers have begun to improve, the county’s foster care rate still holds the top position.

The Hancock County Youth Court conducted a case-by-case review and found more than 75 percent of the families with children in custody were suffering from the effects of drug addiction, the report said.

The task force’s drug finding contradicts the findings from PEER, the state legislature’s Performance Evaluation & Expenditure Review committee. PEER conducted a comprehensive review of drug use in Hancock County and did not find causal data to support the relationship between drugs and the high number of children in custody.

Instead, PEER found that irregular policies of Hancock County Youth Court as well as problems with DHS staffing and heavy workload rates have contributed to the record high number of children in custody.

One of Hancock County Youth Court’s policies is to drug test every adult living in the home. If one of the adults tests positive, that adult must move out of the home or the child must be taken into custody.

“Our youth court’s policy is to separate the children from the addicts until the addicts have had 2 consecutive clean drug screens,” according to a letter Chancellor Sandy Steckler sent to PEER.

That policy conflicts with the policy of the state’s child services agency, now known as Mississippi Child Protective Services.

In a May interview, CPS Director David Chandler said such a policy is unwise because it equates substance abuse to child abuse. Just because a parent or other adult living in a home with children has a drug problem, it doesn’t make them child abusers, he said.

For instance, Chandler explained, the adult may be a recovering addict who happened to relapse but never posed a risk to children living in the home.

Before taking children into custody in such a situation, CPS would first seek to get treatment for the adult, he said.

The task force found that Hancock County lacks resources to treat people for substance abuse and addiction. It recommends the county Board of Supervisors increase treatment options.

It also found, among other things, that many parents lack legal representation. The county already has hired a court-appointed attorney for parents, but one lawyer “cannot possibly represent every parent that is currently in the system,” the report said. The task force recommends the county hire additional lawyers to represent parents in all youth court settings.

It is “unacceptable to terminate parental rights without parents being represented by an attorney,” the report said.

This story was originally published July 22, 2016 at 2:22 PM with the headline "Report: Drugs to blame for Hancock County’s high foster-care rate."