Mississippi joins Trump administration’s foster care initiative

• “A Home for Every Child” is intended to help reduce red tape, modernize the licensure process, and ensure more children are not staying in hotels or other non-traditional housing.

Mississippi joined four other states this week in the Trump administration’s “A Home for Every Child” initiative, a pilot effort aimed at encouraging more Americans to become foster families. 

The initiative is part of the Trump administration’s “Fostering the Future for American Children and Families” executive order. 

During a press conference held by Governor Tate Reeves (R) announcing the new effort on Tuesday, Mississippi Commissioner of Child Protective Services Andrea Sanders said changes are desperately needed, adding that about 365 additional foster homes are currently necessary to meet the demand. She said many foster homes were lost in the aftermath of COVID-19, leaving the ratio of foster children to available homes at about 52%.

“So, as I said earlier, we have work to do but that has been a climb from COVID of a very low ratio,” Sanders said.

No additional federal funding will be included as part of participation in the initiative, but it will lessen the barriers many prospective foster parents face in becoming licensed.

Alex Adams, Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families, said his agency sends about $12 billion annually to all 50 states, but those dollars come with strings that can slow the process for families and waste the time and energy of staff.  

Three strategies will be employed to achieve this initiative’s goal: focusing on retention of existing foster families while recruiting more, allowing more extended relatives and family friends (fictive kin) to become licensed, and shoring up preventative services to reduce the need for foster families. 

“As a conservative, I believe that government should be always efficient, that government should be accountable to taxpayers, and the government should focus on the responsibilities that matter most,” Governor Reeves said. “One of those responsibilities is protecting our children.” 

He said that will include finding ways to make licensure easier and faster for families who qualify.

“At the same time, we are working to cut unnecessary red tape that discourages qualified families from stepping up and stepping forward,” Reeves added. “Good people who want to help children should not be overwhelmed by bureaucracy. By streamlining processes and using data to guide decisions, we can better match children with families who are equipped to meet their needs.”

To make the process more efficient, Sanders said her agency is working on digitizing the application process and aligning the state’s licensing regulations with those on the federal level. 

“Part of the barrier in Mississippi has been bulky burdensome regulations that were above and beyond what the federal model regulations are. We have gone through and stripped out all of extra and streamlined those regulations,” Sanders explained.

Governor Reeves said there will also be a concerted effort to prevent children from being taken from their families, if possible, while working with communities to fill in the gaps. 

“This effort will require churches, non-profit civic groups and individual families across Mississippi to step up,” Reeves said. “Foster parents represent some of the most generous people in our state. People who open their homes and their hearts to children who need stability and support.”

Other states that have already joined in this initiative include Oklahoma, Louisiana, Tennessee and Missouri, Adams noted. He expects the total number of participating states to reach 10 by month’s end.

“What happens next is we negotiate a program improvement plan with the states,” Adams said, adding that Mississippi and the other participating states are already ahead of the curve.