The case was filed in 2004 on behalf of children in state custody. It led to years of settlement agreements, court-ordered monitoring and reform plans intended to address system-wide failures in Mississippi’s foster care system.
State attorneys are now asking the court to dismiss the case or vacate the current settlement agreement, adopted in 2018.
In court filings, attorneys for the state and MDCPS Commissioner Andrea Sanders argue the agency has changed through new laws, staffing improvements, technology upgrades, expanded placement options and internal reforms.
“Simply put, today, Mississippi’s child welfare system does not violate Plaintiffs’ substantive due process rights,” state attorneys wrote.
The state’s argument is not that the agency has met every benchmark in the settlement agreement. Instead, attorneys argue the legal question is whether children in MDCPS custody are being denied their constitutional rights to personal security and reasonably safe living conditions. The state says they are not.
They argue MDCPS has taken “purposeful action” to protect children in state custody, and that any remaining problems do not justify continued federal court oversight.
“Because the relevant constitutional deficiencies have been addressed, the Court now lacks jurisdiction and judicial oversight of Mississippi’s child welfare system is no longer warranted,” the state wrote in its motion.
In a supporting memorandum, state attorneys wrote that time and resources “would be better spent” on sustaining a child welfare system focused on children’s best interests instead of data collection and legal bills.
Sanders said in an affidavit that reporting requirements under the settlement agreement had grown substantially before they were suspended in 2021. One quarterly production in February 2021 included nearly 27,000 pages of documents, according to Sanders.
She said annual document productions increased from 6,303 pages in 2018 to 71,845 pages in 2020, not counting spreadsheets and other files.
Sanders said the reporting burden was part of why the parties agreed to suspend monitoring and enforcement under the settlement agreement so the agency could enter a rebuilding period.
The state says that suspension allowed MDCPS to focus on systemic reforms. Sanders said MDCPS moved to a seven-service-area model, increased compensation, specialized work roles, created a caseload dashboard, expanded training and recruitment programs and began replacing the state’s old child welfare data system.
The state also claimed major improvements around staffing and caseloads. Sanders said 90% of case-carrying specialists met the agency’s caseload standard as of March 31, 2026, compared with 60% in June 2021.
But child and family advocates say staffing improvements do not necessarily prove the system is working better for children.
“Have we even had enough time to see if the increase in trained staff is making a difference?” said Polly Tribble, executive director of Disability Rights Mississippi.
The most recent monitor report, covering 2024, found progress in some areas. But the report also found major safety concerns.
MDCPS initially reported 59 children in state custody were abused or neglected in 2024. The monitoring team identified 30 more children whose records had been miscoded, bringing the total to 89 children, or 1.37% of children in MDCPS custody.That was more than four times the agreed-upon standard.
The report also found at least 181 children and youth were placed in hotels or motels in 2024. Those are unlicensed, non-residential placements. More than one-third of those children had multiple hotel placements. Their average stay was 45 days.
Tribble said placement problems can be especially harmful for children with disabilities or serious behavioral health needs.
“We want children of all abilities to live in a home environment, in a healthy home environment,” Tribble said. “If a child with a disability doesn’t get the care he or she needs, then that can play a role in behavioral incidences. It can damage a child’s quality of life.”
Tribble said her organization most often encounters children in MDCPS custody when they are placed in psychiatric residential treatment facilities. She said some remain there longer than treatment requires because there is no appropriate community placement available.
“They stay at those facilities longer than they need, longer than treatment requires, because there’s nowhere out in the community for them to live,” Tribble said. “It’s easier for CPS to leave those youths in these facilities where they know they’re being taken care of than to try to find a community placement for them.”
Joy Hogge, executive director of Families as Allies, said Mississippi should not measure success only through agency metrics, staffing improvements or court compliance.
“What I would encourage families to think about, and this is very basic, but it’s so important and it does not consistently happen, is: Are they being listened to?” Hogge said.
Hogge said Mississippi should focus more on keeping children safely with their families when possible, rather than waiting until children have to be removed and then trying to reunify them.
“For most children, almost all children, the best thing is to support their biological family in keeping that child in the home so that you don’t even get to the point of reunification,” Hogge said.
The 2024 monitor report found 2,425 children in custody at the end of the year, or 59%, had reunification as their federal permanency goal. But the report also found required monthly contact with parents in reunification cases did not happen consistently.
Hogge said ending court oversight would only be meaningful if the state replaces the current metrics with a stronger focus on the actual needs of children and families.
“It’s not going to work unless it’s replaced with, ‘What are we going to do to keep children with their families, for every child to have a home?’” Hogge said.
Attorneys for the children in the original case are expected to respond in the coming weeks before the judge decides whether court oversight can end.
