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- Some see a lack of pre-petition judicial oversight as a problem, while others are optimistic the changes will help get the state out of the Olivia Y. lawsuit while providing better outcomes for children and families.
One of the major changes to Mississippi’s youth court system enacted as part of the Youth Court Reform Act recently passed by the Legislature during the special session shifts pre-petition matters from judicial oversight and places that responsibility with prosecutors and staff within the Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services.
The legislation included more than $29.5 million in funding to create a statewide diversion program and expand the number of detention facilities as well as update the system’s databases.
There is concern that removing judges from pre-petition responsibilities puts the state at risk, especially in light of the fact that the state is still dealing with the Olivia Y. lawsuit. Others see the changes as a way to get out from under the suit.
According to CPS, Olivia Y. was filed in March 2004 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, Jackson, Division, against the Governor of Mississippi, the Executive Director of the Department of Human Services, and the Director of the MDHS, Division of Family and Children’s Services, all in their official capacities. This case alleged that Mississippi’s foster care system was failing to adequately protect children in its custody and provide necessary services in violation of their federal constitutional rights. This lawsuit sought only court-ordered changes in the system; money damages were never at issue.
Mississippi paid millions in legal fees and other expenses as part of the lawsuit. The case has cost the state about $80 million in various attorney fees, including defense attorney fees and federal monitors, Administrative Office of Courts Youth Court Program Director Vickie Lowery explained.
“And I think the state is interested in an exit strategy for that, so the state’s not paying all these penalties and instead we’re making investments in the system and moving things upstream,” Lowery said. “We’re helping children and families sooner and trying to provide the supports they need to be stabilized.”
Judicial Oversight
Madison County Youth Court Judge Staci O’Neal is concerned with the reduction in pre-petition judicial oversight.
“CPS no longer has any judicial oversight over their functions, which some may say is a good thing, some may see as a bad thing,” she said. “Time will tell if they need that oversight or not.”
Under the changes, petitions pertaining to delinquency, abuse and neglect will no longer come before a youth court judge for consideration.
“The main point of this legislation was to remove the judge from having any input into which cases are prosecuted and which cases are not,” O’Neal said. “Prior, the law required that we oversee that.”
Now CPS and prosecutors will be tasked with that responsability.
“CPS can now file petitions in child welfare cases and abuse and neglect cases, the county prosecutor or the agency can,” Lowery confirmed.
“Ultimately, the buck stops with the prosecutor or CPS,” O’Neal added.
Traditionally, courts and court staff were involved in each case before a petition was filed, such as with child welfare situations in a home, safety plans, and investigations.
“We’re tracking that data but courts are not going to get involved until the petition is filed,” Lowery said.
If CPS determines emergency custody is required, CPS can take the child for up to 24 hours and then submit a written request for emergency custody to a youth court judge within 48 hours.
Judicial oversight on the back end remains in place. Judge O’Neal said courts retain oversight over whether CPS is doing what is required to reunify children with their parents after emergency custody by the state occurs.
“It just removes judicial oversight as to which cases come to court,” said O’Neal.
Prosecutors have an avenue to bring cases to a judge in an abuse or neglect case and when referring a case to drug court.
Intake Officers
The changes enacted as part of the special session legislation also moved all intake officers under the Administrative Office of Courts, leading Judge O’Neal to question if the manpower will be sufficient.
Previously, only 24 counties had full-time youth courts with full-time intake officers. Areas of the state without full-time courts are currently being served by part-time referee judge systems. Prior to the recent legislation, areas with referee courts may have had one intake officer serving several counties. Now the intake officers under AOC have that responsibility. On July 1, 2027, those part-time judge systems will be replaced with nine chancellors appointed by Governor Tate Reeves.
Judge O’Neal is concerned that move will increase the workload for the current 19 AOC intake officers up to four times what they have currently, since they now cover all of Mississippi’s 82 counties.
“It remains to be seen if their 19 people can do the work of 82 counties,” O’Neal said.
Lowery said the $2.5 million in funding that was going to the referee courts to hire part-time intake officers and pay for supplies will now be used to hire more AOC intake officers. Initially, the new officers will be contract employees, but Lowery said the long-term goal is for them to become state employees.
“We have 19 in the field and then we have some additional in the state office that are doing data analysis and some other things. We are looking to double the number in the field.” Lowery said. “So, we’ll have 38 in the field with some additional backup in the state office.”
Lowery further explained that the plan is to have all of the extra intake officers out in the field by August 24 of this year. She believes a total of 38 intake officers will be sufficient to handle the caseload.
“Intake looks a lot different now in terms of what the court is actually handling, we now have agency-led pre-petition activity,” Lowery added.
On the delinquency side, Lowery said the statewide system will mean fewer instances of court involvement and subsequently fewer cases first going to court.
“I think it’s really the combination of this agency-led pre-petition activity that is going to reduce the overall workload or caseload of the courts such that these AOC intake officers can manage,” Lowery said.
The move addresses a longstanding challenge the state has faced in funding. The 24 counties that had full-time youth courts had the tax base to pay for it, while the smaller more rural counties did not. Lowery said the state wants to ensure all children have access to programs, services and full-time courts, not just those living in larger, tax-rich areas.
“So, the state’s trying to figure out how do we move from sort of a patchwork quilt approach to something that creates more consistency statewide, so children and families are not experiencing what some called geographic justice,” Lowery said.
Upgrading Technology
Growing pains are also being felt in dealing with technology upgrades outlined in the new legislation.
As the AOC works to make necessary upgrades to the database, youth courts have fallen back to printing and emailing records, Judge O’Neal said.
Lowery agreed that there are growing pains with meeting the new requirements but she said the current system in place now, the Mississippi Youth Court Information Delivery System (MYCIDS), is severely outdated. Band-aids are being applied until a newer, more updated system is put in place in the next 32 months.
“It’s 1999 technology, we jokingly refer to it as flip phone technology,” Lowery said.
MYCIDS has never achieved what many other case management systems do, essentially started as a database that was converted to case management system that also has the task of populating orders.
“Over the course of the next three months, we’ll have some substantial technology upgrades that will bring the youth court technology in line with what the Youth Court Reform Act of 2026 has done, legally speaking,” Lowery described.
CPS is in the process of updating its MACWIS (Mississippi automated Child Welfare Information System) technology as well.
The update will work to meet the new state law that mandates parental access to case files. This new system is also meant to be able to track the newly established statewide diversion program.
The new system is expected to compile data that can be reviewed during roundtable discussions between several state agencies, including the Department of Public Safety, Department of Mental Health, Attorney General, and Medicaid. Those discussions will determine how well the diversion program is working and identify service desserts, Lowery explained.
The idea is for the new system to provide intake officers and other state employees who are working cases with a way to quickly find available services simply by entering a zip code, allowing them to connect families with that assistance.
An increase in federal funding availability is also anticipated, which could help offset the cost of the state’s investment.
“The state is making a sizable investment. We don’t want to leave any federal money on the table,” Lowery added.
Long-term Process
While some see passage of the Youth Court Reform Act as a sudden shift in how youth courts operate, Lowery said state lawmakers and her office have been working for the past three to four years with consultants to study the Mississippi’s juvenile justice and child welfare system.
“I know some of this feels very sudden, but the state really started looking at this and the Legislature created two things, the foster care and adoption task force that came out with some consensus recommendations, all of which were adopted verbatim and became codified,” Lowery elaborated. “And then there was a youth court commission that was charged with addressing whether or not the state should have a statewide uniform youth court model and what it should look like.”
The goal is to find a system that can move children through the system faster while ensuring their safety and establishing a statewide diversion program.
“The state is a poor substitute for a home or for parents,” Lowery said. “There’s so much trauma involved when these children are removed from homes or detained and put into these systems. So we want to get better outcomes.”
