DHS

DHS: Fostering secrets

Sun Herald presents a six-part investigation into Mississippi's child protection system.

Can DHS take your kids if you make them do too much homework? This couple says it happened

In March 2014, Jennifer and Scott Berry’s five children were taken into state custody. The couple, accused of mentally mistreating their children, fought for months trying to prove their innocence, get their kids back and escape the bureaucratic maze of the Mississippi Department of Human Services.

Thousands of personal records found scattered across Bay St. Louis bridge

Thousands of pages of sensitive and vital records belonging to Gulf Coast residents and their children were found scattered all over the Bay St. Louis Bridge on May 17. The records included official copies of birth certificates and Social Security cards of adults and children, copies of driver’s licenses and state IDs, bank account statements, utility bills, and other records, as well as documents from the Mississippi Department of Human Services.

After several bills were killed that would have allowed Mississippi parents access to their youth court case files, Sean Tindell, R-Gulfport, inserted the same language into a CASA bill that was passed and signed into law in April.

After rejections, Coast senator found a way to get youth court bill passed

Coast lawmakers quietly inserted transparency language into a bill that has now become law. On its face, House Bill 1213 looks like a large measure dedicated solely to expanding youth court judges’ power to use the nonprofit CASA Mississippi.

The content of case files, like these in Harrison County Youth Court in Gulfport on May 17, 2016, is kept secret, even from attorneys who represent clients.

We’re the only state with this law — but ‘no one has time’ for it

The Sun Herald reviewed the statutes of all 50 states, as well as the American territories of Guam, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, and found only Mississippi has such strict confidentiality laws governing the disclosure of youth court and child-welfare records.

Suit: DHS worker ‘unlawfully’ searched home and ‘threatened’ couple

A Lee County couple filed a federal lawsuit Friday against the Mississippi Department of Human Services and a former state child-services worker from Hancock County, alleging the worker unconstitutionally searched their home and made false statements in court that led to the unwarranted removal of their children.

Marie Gill plays with her son, Michael, 5, at McLeod Park in Kiln in March 2016.

A young mom took a leap and sued DHS. It may have been doomed to fail.

A federal court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit that accused the Mississippi Department of Human Services and two of its employees of falsifying records to ‘steal’ a woman’s two children. The US District Court in Gulfport dismissed all claims against DHS and the agency’s two employees, Tequila Hall and Patricia Piazza, finding the agency ‘enjoys sovereign immunity’ and the employees enjoy ‘qualified immunity’ under statutes that shield state departments and their workers from lawsuits.

The Hancock County Board of Supervisors learned Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017, another Youth Court official has resigned her position, making her the sixth employee to leave in six months.

Another Hancock youth court official resigns — the sixth in six months

Hancock County Youth Court Judge Elise Deano advised the Hancock County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that Stephanie Stewart tendered her resignation as youth court administrator after holding the position for five months. Stewart is the third Hancock County youth court administrator to resign since the end of 2015 and the sixth employee to leave since September.

The contents of case files — such as these in Harrison County Youth Court in 2016 — is kept secret, even from attorneys who represent clients. A bills in the current legislative session was halted after the House had voted unanimously to pass it.

Youth court reform bill passes Mississippi House, then halted

Rep. Mark Baker, R-Brandon, filed a motion to reconsider House Bill 1210, stopping the bill from going to the Senate where it has a solid chance of passing. The bill seeks to provide parents with redacted copies of their own youth court case records and is one of the many legislative efforts to reform issues brought to light in the Sun Herald’s ‘Fostering Secrets’ investigation last year.

The Mississippi Department of Human Services is in Jackson.

Lawmakers aim to reform child-welfare system after Sun Herald series

Rep. Timmy Ladner, R-Poplarville, introduced a bill Monday that seeks to prohibit people from making completely anonymous reports of child abuse or child neglect to the state Department of Child Protection Services.

Matthew and Miranda Harrington with their 9-year-old son on Dec. 14.

What a youth court judge didn’t want the media to know

The situation at a house in the Bayside community was “of such an emergency nature,” according to the youth court, that Child Protection Services was ordered to forcibly enter the home in September to try to seize three children who lived there with their parents. State Rep. Timmy Ladner said he has begun an investigation into the Harrington case as well as another youth court case in which Judge Steve Maggio placed someone under a gag order.

Sun Herald photojournalist John Fitzhugh

He captured most emotional DHS experiences with his eyes, not his lens

Sun Herald photographer John Fitzhugh talks about the faces of children and parents who are entangled in the Mississippi child protective services system. They are etched into his memory — even though he could not photograph them.

Would open Youth Courts in Mississippi help children or hurt them?

Judges, parents, attorney offer different perspectives on the secrecy of Youth Court in Mississippi, and whether open courts would make a difference.

Her kids were sexually abused while under state's care, and it gets worse

A South Mississippi mother received a call from a Department of Human Services caseworker that her children who are in custody of the state may have been sexually abused at their foster home. Gulfport Police say they were unable to find a suspect.

Why does Hancock County have so many children in the DHS system?

Hancock County has by far the highest rate of children in the DHS system in the state. Parents, an attorney and employees of the Mississippi Department of Human services weigh in. DHS employees say things are improving.

Mississippi Department of Human Services caseworker Rebekah Woodcock goes through her case files in her office in Kiln on Wednesday, March 9, 2016.

DHS doesn’t want to take your children

In a rare insight into the workings of the Department of Human Services, a Hancock County DHS caseworker talks about the challenges of the job. A regional director tells how the department has evolved over the last four years, adding more workers and reducing their caseloads. Still, Hancock County has the highest per-capita rate of children in DHS care in the state.

Alone at birth, boy now has three parents after paperwork error

A 9-year-old boy left at the hospital at birth has been raised by foster parents who wanted to adopt him. But after the Mississippi Department of Human Services failed to do the proper paperwork, his birth mother sought custody.

Did a social worker lie to take away this Mississippi mom’s child?

A single mother from rural Hancock County walked into the sheriff’s office in 2015 with a stack of documents and an allegation that sparked criminal investigations into what may be the most secretive government entity in Mississippi. The woman told investigators a child protective services worker had forged a custody document and used it to take away her child.

They said she drank nail polish remover—but secret photos told a different tale

In January 2015, sheriff’s investigators began probing Mindi Stiglet’s complaint, which accused Mississippi Department of Human Services worker Fegee Simms in the forging of a document that led to Stiglet’s child being taken taken from her and put in foster care. But just as the investigation gained footing, detectives hit a roadblock when the Attorney General’s Office declined to pursue charges.

The day after Scott and Jennifer Berry's children were taken away by Hancock County Department of Human Services they did not show up at school, despite their parents pleas that they be there.

Mississippi took their kids away — so this couple started recording everything

After a closed-door Youth Court hearing, a child-services caseworker arrives at the home of Jennifer and Scott Berry, walks in and begins waving around a court order that empowers her to take the couple’s five children into DHS custody.

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Would open Youth Courts in Mississippi help children or hurt them?

Aug 12, 2016

Judges, parents, attorney offer different perspectives on the secrecy of Youth Court in Mississippi, and whether open courts would make a difference.

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