The program, "A Home for Every Child", aims to improve the ratio of foster care homes to children in need.
"When a child must enter foster care, that child should never have to wait," said Governor Tate Reeves at a Tuesday press conference. "They should have a home ready for them: a home that supports their safety, their stability and long-term well-being."
Reeves said to do that, they have three main goals to increase homes and bring down the number of kids in foster care.
First, is recruiting as well as retaining more foster families. Reeves said they'll also work to license more extended relatives to care for those kids. Finally, they hope to use preventative services to decrease foster care entries.
The program won't translate into federal funding changes but will involve differences in how Mississippi reports on foster care to the federal government.
"As we pursue this important goal, we are committed to reducing regulatory burdens that limit local decision-making and eliminate wasteful spending so that taxpayer dollars are used efficiently and effectively," Reeves said.
Without naming specifics, Comimssioner Andrea Sanders of the Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services said those regulations would be state ones that "were above and beyond what the federal model regulations are."
That's some of what she says MSDCF has already been doing, along with technology modernization and improving data access.
"Over the past five years, our focus at MDCPS has been building a stronger foundation, modernizing technology, improving access to reliable data, strengthening our workforce and eliminating outdated regulations," Sanders said. "Now, we are ready to build on that progress."
"We are working to better support foster parents by making the application process more transparent, fully digital, providing clear expectations and ensuring families have the information and support that they need."
Alex Adams, assistant secretary for the federal Administration for Children and Families, says a lack of foster homes is a national issue.
"The nationwide statistic is if there's 100 kids coming in to foster care, we only have 57 homes to care for them," Adams said.
"What happens with the remainder of the children is, they often get placed in non-traditional settings: short-term rentals, hotels, Airbnb's, or in some instances, government office locations."
Sanders told reporters that based on the current number of children in foster care in Mississippi, they need about 365 homes.
Adams said that increasing the amount of homes is one way to improve the families-to-children ratio, but added that slowing foster care entries was critical as well.
"Mental health supports, substance use disorder supports, timlier permanacy, more adoption homes: things like that," said Adams.
Right now, Oklahoma, Missouri, Louisiana and Missouri are the other states signed on. Adams expects 10 states total will join on by the end of March.
He says next steps include working out a program improvement plan with states.
