Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS)

Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS)

Any socioeconomic status

Residents or non-residents of Pearl River county

Policy procedure

Division of Family and Children's Services

(DFCS)

Recommendations

More services for foster families

Attitudes Within the Community

Hospitals, law enforcement, and court personnel

Schools

Notorious history

Interaction Between Agencies

• dentist’s offices
• physician’s offices
• mental health centers
• law enforcement agencies
• schools
• treatment centers for behavioral problems and addictions
• day care centers
• Youth Court
• Chancery Court

Impediments to Service Delivery

• heavy caseload
• intensity of caseload
• poor/strong supervision

Evaluation of SW process

• Evaluated by Foster Care Reviewer
• Continuing Quality Improvement Unit (CQI)

Methods and Interventions

• service agreement
• regular visits with parents
• psychological evaluations
• parenting classes
• drug and alcohol intervention
• anger management
• clear up legal issues with the court
• personal counseling
• family counseling

Criteria for Clients

• Youth Court
• Chancery Court
• Family Court
• ill or hospitalized parent
• CHINS
• child under 72 hours
• voluntary consent for adoption

Termination of Clients

• When a service agreement is completed and a child is returned home safely
• legal custody is given to someone else by the court
• parents surrender their rights
• a parents rights are terminated
• the child is legally an adult

Provisions for Client

Feedback

Foster care Review

Family Team

Meetings

DFCS obtains funds through the Mississippi Legislature to distribute to foster children.

• First, a new policy is sent to a sub-team to be reviewed
• Next, the sub-team designates a program area work group to review the policy.
• The policy is then sent to a State Implementation Team (SIT) and reviewed.
• The state Attorney General’s office reviews and comments on the policy.
• The policy is now returned to the agency.
• The policy is now signed and approved by the Attorney General and Secretary of State.
• The policy is now put into effect and is distributed into the field.

Purpose of DFCS

• protect children from abuse, neglect, and exploitation
• protect, care for, and supervise dependent, neglected children
• preserve and strengthen families
• reunify families
• link families to resources
• advocate for clients and their families
• support and strengthen families
• stabilize crisis situations

Interaction Between Practioners

Clients

• Helpful
• Cooperative
• Work together for a common purpose

Conflict is usually due to the difficulty of the case load or the number of case loads that a S.W. has.

• Foster children are ages 21 and under
• Family members of foster children
• Resource parents

Structure of Agency

DFCS is a public non-profit agency.

Funded by the federal government, the state, and the county

Conflict can usually be resolved between S.W.

Funds distributed in the form of:

• board payments
• personal allowances
• clothing allowances
• birthday allowances
• Christmas allowances
• child care