Current through September 24, 2024
Revised through 2003 Legislative Session
SEC. 43-15-5. Administration of child welfare services.
(1) The State Department of Public Welfare shall have authority and it shall be its duty to administer or supervise all public child welfare services, including those services, responsibilities, duties and powers with which the county departments of public welfare are charged and empowered in this chapter; administer and supervise the licensing and inspection of all private child placing agencies; provide for the care of dependent and neglected children in foster family homes or in institutions, supervise the care of such children and those of illegitimate birth; supervise the importation of children; and supervise the operation of all state institutions for children. The State Department of Public Welfare shall be authorized to purchase hospital and medical insurance coverage for those children placed in foster care by the state or county departments of public welfare who are not otherwise eligible for medical assistance under the Mississippi Medicaid Law. The State Department of Public Welfare shall be further authorized to purchase burial or life insurance not exceeding One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00) for those children placed in foster care by the state or county departments of public welfare. All insurance coverage authorized herein may be purchased with any funds other than state funds available to the State Department of Public Welfare, including those funds available to the child which are administered by the department.
(2) Any person, partnership, group, corporation, organization or association desiring to operate a child residential home, as defined in Section 43-16-3, may make application for a license for such a facility to the State Department of Public Welfare on the application forms furnished for this purpose by the department. If an applicant meets the published rules and regulations of the department regarding minimum standards for a child residential home, then the applicant shall be granted a license by the department.
SEC. 43-15-6. Persons convicted of certain crimes not to be licensed as foster parent or foster home.
No person convicted of a crime affecting children or any other crime as set forth in Section 97-5-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, relating to the abandonment of a child under age six (6); Section 97-5-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, relating to seduction of a child under age eighteen (18); Section 97-5-23, Mississippi Code of 1972, relating to the touching of a child for lustful purposes; Section 97-5-35, Mississippi Code of 1972, relating to the exploitation of children; Section 97-5-39, Mississippi Code of 1972, relating to contributing to the neglect or delinquency of a child and felonious battery of a child; Section 97-5-41, Mississippi Code of 1972, relating to the carnal knowledge of a stepchild, adopted child or child of a cohabiting partner; Section 97-3-95, Mississippi Code of 1972, relating to sexual battery; Section 97-29-59, Mississippi Code of 1972, relating to unnatural intercourse; Section 41-29-145, Mississippi Code of 1972, relating to the distribution of controlled substances to persons under age twenty-one (21); Section 97-3-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, relating to murder and capital murder; Section 97-3-53, Mississippi Code of 1972, relating to kidnapping; Section 97-3-65, 97-3-67 or 97-3-71, Mississippi Code of 1972, relating to rape; Section 97-29-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, relating to indecent exposure; or any other offense committed in another jurisdiction which, if committed in this state, would be deemed to be such a crime without regard to its designation elsewhere, shall be licensed as a foster parent or a foster home by the Mississippi Department of Public Welfare. The Department of Public Welfare is authorized to check any public records available in the State of Mississippi for such criminal information.
SEC. 43-15-21. Penalty for releasing confidential information.
Anyone violating or releasing information of a confidential nature without the approval of the court with jurisdiction or the state department of public welfare upon being found guilty shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine of no more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) or imprisonment of six (6) months, or both.
SEC. 43-15-103. Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
(a) "Agency" means a residential child-caring agency or a child-placing agency.
(b) "Child" or "children" mean(s) any unmarried person or persons under the age of eighteen (18) years.
(c) "Child placing" means receiving, accepting or providing custody or care for any child under eighteen (18) years of age, temporarily or permanently, for the purpose of:
(i) Finding a person to adopt the child;
(ii) Placing the child temporarily or permanently in a home for adoption; or
(iii) Placing a child in a foster home or residential child-caring agency.
(d) "Child-placing agency" means any entity or person which places children in foster boarding homes or foster homes for temporary care or for adoption or any other entity or person or group of persons who are engaged in providing adoption studies or foster care studies or placement services as defined by the rules of the department.
(e) "Department" means the Mississippi Department of Human Services.
(f) "Director" means the Director of the Division of Family and Children's Services.
(g) "Division" means the Division of Family and Children's Services within the Mississippi Department of Human Services.
(h) "Family boarding home" or "foster home" means a home (occupied residence) operated by any entity or person which provides residential child care to at least one (1) child but not more than six (6) children who are not related to the primary caregivers.
(i) "Group care home" means any place or facility operated by any entity or person which provides residential child care for at least seven (7) children but not more than twelve (12) children who are not related to the primary caregivers.
(j) "Licensee" means any person, agency or entity licensed under this chapter.
(k) "Maternity home" means any place or facility operated by any entity or person which receives, treats or cares for more than one (1) child or adult who is pregnant out of wedlock, either before, during or within two (2) weeks after childbirth; provided, that the licensed child-placing agencies and licensed maternity homes may use a family boarding home approved and supervised by the agency or home, as a part of their work, for as many as three (3) children or adults who are pregnant out of wedlock, and provided further, that the provisions of this definition shall not include children or women who receive maternity care in the home of a person to whom they are kin within the sixth degree of kindred computed according to civil law, nor does it apply to any maternity care provided by general or special hospitals licensed according to law and in which maternity treatment and care are part of the medical services performed and the care of children is brief and incidental.
(l) "Office" means the Office of Licensing within the Division of Family and Children's Services of the Mississippi Department of Human Services.
(m) "Person associated with a licensee" means an owner, director, member of the governing body, employee, provider of care and volunteer of a human services licensee.
(n) "Related" means children, step-children, grandchildren, step-grandchildren, siblings of the whole or half-blood, step-siblings, nieces or nephews of the primary care provider.
(o) "Residential child care" means the provision of supervision, and/or protection, and meeting the basic needs of a child for twenty-four (24) hours per day, which may include services to children in a residential setting where care, lodging, maintenance and counseling or therapy for alcohol or controlled substance abuse or for any other emotional disorder or mental illness is provided for children, whether for compensation or not.
(p) "Residential child-caring agency" means any place or facility operated by any entity or person, public or private, providing residential child care, regardless of whether operated for profit or whether a fee is charged. Such residential child-caring agencies include, but are not limited to, maternity homes, runaway shelters, group homes that are administered by an agency, and emergency shelters that are not in private residence.
SEC. 43-15-105. Division of Family and Children's Services to be licensing authority; duties.
(1) The Division of Family and Children's Services shall be the licensing authority for the department, and is vested with all the powers, duties and responsibilities described in this chapter. The division shall make and establish rules and regulations regarding:
(a) Approving, extending, denying, suspending and revoking licenses for foster homes, residential child-caring agencies and child-placing agencies;
(b) Conditional licenses, variances from department rules and exclusions;
(c) Basic health and safety standards for licensees; and
(d) Minimum administration and financial requirements for licensees.
(2) The division shall:
(a) Define information that shall be submitted to the division with an application for a license;
(b) Establish guidelines for the administration and maintenance of client and service records, including staff qualifications, staff to client ratios;
(c) Issue licenses in accordance with this chapter;
(d) Conduct surveys and inspections of licensees and facilities;
(e) Establish and collect licensure fees;
(f) Investigate complaints regarding any licensee or facility;
(g) Have access to all records, correspondence and financial data required to be maintained by a licensee or facility;
(h) Have authority to interview any client, family member of a client, employee or officer of a licensee or facility; and
(i) Have authority to revoke, suspend or extend any license issued by the division.
SEC. 43-15-107. Licensure requirements.
(1) Except as provided in Section 43-15-111, [File Link Not Available] no person, agency, firm, corporation, association or other entity, acting individually or jointly with any other person or entity, may establish, conduct or maintain foster homes, residential child-caring agencies and child-placing agencies or facility and/or engage in child placing in this state without a valid and current license issued by and under the authority of the division as provided by this chapter and the rules of the division.
(2) No license issued under this chapter is assignable or transferable.
(3) A current license shall at all times be posted in each licensee's facility, in a place that is visible and readily accessible to the public.
(4)
(a) Each license issued under this chapter expires at midnight (Central Standard Time) twelve (12) months from the date of issuance unless it has been:
(i) Previously revoked by the office; or
(ii) Voluntarily returned to the office by the licensee.
(b) A license may be renewed upon application and payment of the applicable fee, provided that the licensee meets the license requirements established by this chapter and the rules and regulations of the division.
(5) Any licensee or facility which is in operation at the time rules are made in accordance with this chapter shall be given a reasonable time for compliance as determined by the rules of the division.
SEC. 43-15-111. Exemptions from licensure requirements.
The provisions of this chapter do not apply to:
(1) A facility or program owned or operated by an agency of the State of Mississippi or United States government;
(2) A facility or program operated by or under an exclusive contract with the Department of Corrections;
(3) Schools and educational programs and facilities the primary purpose of which is to provide a regular course of study necessary for advancement to a higher educational level or completion of a prescribed course of study, and which may, incident to such educational purposes, provide boarding facilities to the students of such programs.
(4)
Any residential child-caring agency and/or child-placing agency operated or conducted under the auspices of a religious institution and meeting the requirements or conditions of this section shall be exempt from the licensure requirements of this chapter under the following conditions:
(a)
such religious institution must have a tax exempt status as a nonprofit religious institution in accordance with Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended, or the real property owned and exclusively occupied by the religious institution must be exempt from location taxation, and
(b)
the agency or institution must be in compliance with the requirements
of the Child Residential Home Notification Act, Section 43-16-1 et seq., Mississippi Code of 1972, and must not be in violation of Section 43-16-21
(c)
regarding the abuse and/or neglect of any child served by such home who has been adjudicated by the youth court as an abused and/or neglected child. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a residential child-caring agency or child-placing agency operated by or conducted under the auspices of a religious institution from obtaining a license pursuant to this chapter.
SEC. 43-15-113. Reinstatement of license following revocation.
(1) If a license is revoked, the division may grant a new license after:
(a) Satisfactory evidence is submitted to the division, evidencing that the conditions upon which revocation was based have been corrected; and
(b) Inspection and compliance with all provisions of this chapter and applicable rules.
(2) The division may only suspend a license for a period of time which does not exceed the current expiration date of that license.
(3) When a license has been suspended, the division may completely or partially restore the suspended license upon a determination that the:
(a) Conditions upon which the suspension was based have been completely or partially corrected; and
(b) Interests of the public will not be jeopardized by restoration of the license.
SEC. 43-15-117. General restrictions; advertising restrictions; regulation of fees; written disclosure of fees and charges.
(1) Except as provided in this chapter, no person, agency, firm, corporation, association or group children's home may engage in child placing, or solicit money or other assistance for child placing, without a valid license issued by the division.
(2)
(a) An attorney, physician or other person may assist a parent in identifying or locating a person interested in adopting the parent's child, or in identifying or locating a child to be adopted. However, no payment, charge, fee, reimbursement of expense, or exchange of value of any kind, or promise or agreement to make the same, may be made for that assistance.
(b) An attorney, physician or other person may not:
(i) Issue or cause to be issued to any person a card, sign or device indicating that he or she is available to provide that assistance;
(ii) Cause, permit or allow any sign or marking indicating that he or she is available to provide that assistance, on or in any building or structure;
(iii) Announce or cause, permit or allow an announcement indicating that he or she is available to provide that assistance, to appear in any newspaper, magazine, directory or on radio or television; or
(iv) Advertise by any other means that he or she is available to provide that assistance.
(3) Nothing in this section precludes payment of usual and customary fees for medical, legal or other lawful services rendered in connection with the care of a mother, delivery and care of a child, or counseling for the parents and/or the child, and for the legal proceedings related to lawful adoption proceedings; and no provision of this section abrogates the right of procedures for independent adoption as provided by law.
(4) The division is specifically authorized to promulgate rules pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act, Title 25, Chapter 43, Mississippi Code of 1972, to regulate fees charged by licensed child-placing agencies, if it determines that the practices of those licensed child-placing agencies demonstrates that the fees charged are excessive or that any of the agency's practices are deceptive or misleading; provided, that such rules regarding fees shall take into account the use of any sliding fee by an agency which uses a sliding fee procedure to permit prospective adoptive parents of varying income levels to utilize the services of such agencies or persons.
(5) The division shall promulgate rules pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act, Title 25, Chapter 43, Mississippi Code of 1972, to require that all licensed child-placing agencies provide written disclosures to all prospective adoptive parents of any fees or other charges for each service performed by the agency or person, and file an annual report with the division which states the fees and charges for those services, and to require them to inform the division in writing thirty (30) days in advance of any proposed changes to the fees or charges for those services.
(6) The division is specifically authorized to disclose to prospective adoptive parents or other interested persons any fees charged by any licensed child-placing agency, attorney or counseling service or counselor for all legal and counseling services provided by that licensed child-placing agency, attorney or counseling service or counselor.
SEC. 43-15-119. Disciplinary proceedings.
(1) If the division finds that a violation has occurred under this chapter or the rules and regulations of the division, it may:
(a) Deny, suspend or revoke a license or place the licensee on probation, if the division discovers that a licensee is not in compliance with the laws, standards or regulations governing its operation, and/or it finds evidence of aiding, abetting or permitting the commission of any illegal act; or
(b) Restrict or prohibit new admissions to the licensee's program or facility, if the division discovers that a licensee is not in compliance with the laws, standards or regulations governing its operation, and/or it finds evidence of aiding, abetting or permitting the commission of any illegal act.
(2) If placed on probation, the agency or licensee shall post a copy of the notice in a conspicuous place as directed by the division and with the agency's or individual's license, and the agency shall notify the custodians of each of the children in its care in writing of the agency's status and the basis for the probation.
SEC. 43-15-123. Criminal penalties.
Any person, agency, association, corporation, institution, society or other organization violating the provisions of this chapter shall be guilty of illegal placement of children and shall be punished by a fine not to exceed Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) or by imprisonment not more than five (5) years, or both such fine and imprisonment.
SEC. 43-18-1. Execution of compact.
The governor, on behalf of this state, is hereby authorized to execute a compact in substantially the following form with all other jurisdictions legally joining therein; and the legislature hereby signifies in advance its approval and ratification of such compact, which compact is as follows:
INTERSTATE COMPACT ON THE PLACEMENT OF CHILDREN
ARTICLE I.
It is the purpose and policy of the party states to cooperate with each other in the interstate placement of children to the end that:
(a) Each child requiring placement shall receive the maximum opportunity to be placed in a suitable environment and with persons or institutions having appropriate qualifications and facilities to provide a necessary and desirable degree and type of care.
(b) The appropriate authorities in a state where a child is to be placed may have full opportunity to ascertain the circumstances of the proposed placement, thereby promoting full compliance with applicable requirements for the protection of the child.
(c) The proper authorities of the state from which the placement is made may obtain the most complete information on the basis on which to evaluate a projected placement before it is made.
(d) Appropriate jurisdictional arrangements for the care of children will be promoted. ARTICLE II.
As used in this compact:
(a) "Child" means a person who, by reason of minority, is legally subject to parental, guardianship or similar control.
(b) "Sending agency" means a party state, officer or employee thereof; a subdivision of a party state, or officer or employee thereof; a court of a party state; a person, corporation, association, charitable agency or other entity which sends, brings or causes to be sent or brought any child to another party state.
(c) "Receiving state" means the state to which a child is sent, brought, or caused to be sent or brought, whether by public authorities or private persons or agencies and whether for placement with state or local public authorities or for placement with private agencies or persons.
(d) "Placement" means the arrangement for the care of a child in a family free or boarding home or in a child-caring agency or institution but does not include any institution caring for the mentally ill or mentally defective or any institution primarily educational in character, and any hospital or other medical facility.
ARTICLE III.
(a) No sending agency shall send, bring or cause to be sent or brought into any other party state any child for placement in foster care or as a preliminary to a possible adoption unless the sending agency shall comply with each and every requirement set forth in this article and with the applicable laws of the receiving state governing the placement of children therein.
(b) Prior to sending, bringing or causing any child to be sent or brought into a receiving state for placement in foster care or as a preliminary to a possible adoption, the sending agency shall furnish the appropriate public authorities in the receiving state written notice of the intention to send, bring or place the child in the receiving state. The notice shall contain:
(1) The name, date and place of birth of the child.
(2) The identity and address or addresses of the parents or legal guardian.
(3) The name and address of the person, agency or institution to or with which the sending agency proposes to send, bring or place the child.
(4) A full statement of the reasons for such proposed action and evidence of the authority pursuant to which the placement is proposed to be made.
(c) Any public officer or agency in a receiving state which is in receipt of a notice pursuant to paragraph (b) of this article may request of the sending agency, or any other appropriate officer or agency of or in the sending agency's state, and shall be entitled to receive therefrom, such supporting or additional information as it may deem necessary under the circumstances to carry out the purpose and policy of this compact.
(d) The child shall not be sent, brought or caused to be sent or brought into the receiving state until the appropriate public authorities in the receiving state shall notify the sending agency, in writing, to the effect that the proposed placement does not appear to be contrary to the interests of the child.
ARTICLE IV.
The sending, bringing or causing to be sent or brought into any receiving state of a child in violation of the terms of this compact shall constitute a violation of the laws respecting the placement of children of both in which the sending agency is located or from which it sends or brings the child and of the receiving state. Such violation may be punished or subjected to penalty in either jurisdiction in accordance with its laws. In addition to liability for any such punishment or penalty, any such violation shall constitute full and sufficient grounds for the suspension or revocation of any license, permit or other legal authorization held by the sending agency which empowers or allows it to place or care for children.
ARTICLE V.
(a) The sending agency shall retain jurisdiction over the child sufficient to determine all matters in relation to the custody, supervision, care, treatment and disposition of the child which it would have had if the child had remained in the sending agency's state, until the child is adopted, reaches majority, becomes self-supporting or is discharged with the concurrence of the appropriate authority in the receiving state. Such jurisdiction shall also include the power to effect or cause the return of the child or its transfer to another location and custody pursuant to law. The sending agency shall continue to have financial responsibility for support and maintenance of the child during the period of the placement. Nothing contained herein shall defeat a claim of jurisdiction by a receiving state sufficient to deal with an act of delinquency or crime committed therein.
(b) When the sending agency is a public agency, it may enter into an agreement with an authorized public or private agency in the receiving state providing for the performance of one or more services in respect of such case by the latter as agent for the sending agency.
(c) Nothing in this compact shall be construed to prevent a private charitable agency authorized to place children in the receiving state from performing services or acting as agent in that state for a private charitable agency of the sending state; nor to prevent the agency in the receiving state from discharging financial responsibility for the support and maintenance of a child who has been placed on behalf of the sending agency without relieving the responsibility set forth in paragraph (a) hereof.
ARTICLE VI.
A child adjudicated delinquent may be placed in an institution in another party jurisdiction pursuant to this compact but no such placement shall be made unless the child is given a court hearing on notice to the parent or guardian with opportunity to be heard, prior to his being sent to such other party jurisdiction for institutional care and the court finds that:
(1) Equivalent facilities for the child are not available in the sending agency's jurisdiction; and
(2) Institutional care in the other jurisdiction is in the best interest of the child and will not produce undue hardship.
ARTICLE VII.
The executive head of each jurisdiction party to this compact shall designate an officer who shall be general coordinator of activities under this compact in his jurisdiction and who, acting jointly with like officers of other party jurisdictions, shall have power to promulgate rules and regulations to carry out more effectively the terms and provisions of this compact.
ARTICLE VIII.
This compact shall not apply to:
(a) The sending or bringing of a child into a receiving state by his parent, stepparent, grandparent, adult brother or sister, adult uncle or aunt, or his guardian and leaving the child with any such relative or nonagency guardian in the receiving state.
(b) Any placement, sending or bringing of a child into a receiving state pursuant to any other interstate compact to which both the state from which the child is sent or brought and the receiving state are party, or to any other agreement between said states which has the force of law.
ARTICLE IX.
This compact shall be open to or joined by any state, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and, with the consent of Congress, the government of Canada or any province thereof. It shall become effective with respect to any such jurisdiction when such jurisdiction has enacted the same into law. Withdrawal from this compact shall be by the enactment of a statute repealing the same, but shall not take effect until written notice of the withdrawal has been given by the withdrawing state to the Governor of each other party jurisdiction. Withdrawal of a party state shall not affect the rights, duties and obligations under this compact of any sending agency therein with respect to a placement made prior to the effective date of withdrawal.
ARTICLE X.
The provisions of this compact shall be liberally construed to effectuate the purposes thereof. The provisions of this compact shall be severable and if any phrase, clause, sentence or provision of this compact is declared to be contrary to the constitution of any party state or of the United States or the applicability thereof to any government, agency, person or circumstance is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of this compact and the applicability thereof to any government, agency, person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby. If this compact shall be held contrary to the constitution of any state party thereto, the compact shall remain in full force and effect as to the remaining states and in full force and effect as to the state affected as to all severable matters.
SEC. 43-18-17. Placement by courts of delinquent children.
Any court having jurisdiction to place delinquent children may place such a child in an institution of or in another state pursuant to Article VI of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children and shall retain jurisdiction as provided in Article V thereof.
SEC. 43-21-105. Definitions.
The following words and phrases, for purposes of this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed herein unless the context clearly otherwise requires:
(a) "Youth court" means the Youth Court Division.
(b) "Judge" means the judge of the Youth Court Division.
(c) "Designee" means any person that the judge appoints to perform a duty which this chapter requires to be done by the judge or his designee. The judge may not appoint a person who is involved in law enforcement to be his designee.
(d) "Child" and "youth" are synonymous, and each means a person who has not reached his eighteenth birthday. A child who has not reached his eighteenth birthday and is on active duty for a branch of the armed services or is married is not considered a "child" or "youth" for the purposes of this chapter.
(e) "Parent" means the father or mother to whom the child has been born, or the father or mother by whom the child has been legally adopted.
(f) "Guardian" means a court-appointed guardian of the person of a child.
(g) "Custodian" means any person having the present care or custody of a child whether such person be a parent or otherwise.
(h) "Legal custodian" means a court-appointed custodian of the child.
(i) "Delinquent child" means a child who has reached his tenth birthday and who has committed a delinquent act or, while being required to attend an alternative school program provided under Section 37-13-92, willfully and habitually absents himself therefrom.
(j) "Delinquent act" is any act, which if committed by an adult, is designated as a crime under state or federal law, or municipal or county ordinance other than offenses punishable by life imprisonment or death. A delinquent act includes escape from lawful detention and violations of the Mississippi School Compulsory Attendance Law, violations of the Uniform Controlled Substances Law and violent behavior.
(k) "Child in need of supervision" means a child who has reached his seventh birthday and is in need of treatment or rehabilitation because the child:
(i) Is habitually disobedient of reasonable and lawful commands of his parent, guardian or custodian and is ungovernable; or
(ii) While being required to attend school, willfully and habitually violates the rules thereof or willfully and habitually absents himself therefrom; or
(iii) Runs away from home without good cause; or
(iv) Has committed a delinquent act or acts.
(l) "Neglected child" means a child:
(i) Whose parent, guardian or custodian or any person responsible for his care or support, neglects or refuses, when able so to do, to provide for him proper and necessary care or support, or education as required by law, or medical, surgical, or other care necessary for his well-being; provided, however, a parent who withholds medical treatment from any child who in good faith is under treatment by spiritual means alone through prayer in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination by a duly accredited practitioner thereof shall not, for that reason alone, be considered to be neglectful under any provision of this chapter; or
(ii) Who is otherwise without proper care, custody, supervision or support; or
(iii) Who, for any reason, lacks the special care made necessary for him by reason of his mental condition, whether said mental condition be mentally retarded or mentally ill; or
(iv) Who, for any reason, lacks the care necessary for his health, morals or well-being.
(m) "Abused child" means a child whose parent, guardian or custodian or any person responsible for his care or support, whether legally obligated to do so or not, has caused or allowed to be caused upon said child sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, emotional abuse, mental injury, nonaccidental physical injury or other maltreatment. Provided, however, that physical discipline, including spanking, performed on a child by a parent, guardian or custodian in a reasonable manner shall not be deemed abuse under this section.
(n) "Sexual abuse" means obscene or pornographic photographing, filming or depiction of children for commercial purposes, or the rape, molestation, incest, prostitution or other such forms of sexual exploitation of children under circumstances which indicate that the child's health or welfare is harmed or threatened.
(o) "A child in need of special care" means a child with any mental or physical illness that cannot be treated with the dispositional alternatives ordinarily available to the youth court.
(p) A "dependent child" means any child who is not a child in need of supervision, a delinquent child, an abused child or a neglected child, and which child has been voluntarily placed in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Children's Affairs by his parent, guardian or custodian.
(q) "Custody" means the physical possession of the child by any person.
(r) "Legal custody" means the legal status created by a court order which gives the legal custodian the responsibilities of physical possession of the child and the duty to provide him with food, shelter, education and reasonable medical care, all subject to residual rights and responsibilities of the parent or guardian of the person.
(s) "Detention" means the care of children in physically restrictive facilities.
(t) "Shelter" means care of children in physically nonrestrictive facilities.
(u) "Records involving children" means any of the following from which the child can be identified:
(i) All youth court records as defined in Section 43-21-251;
(ii) All social records as defined in Section 43-21-253;
(iii) All law enforcement records as defined in Section 43-21-255;
(iv) All agency records as defined in Section 43-21-257; and
(v) All other documents maintained by any representative of the state, county, municipality or other public agency insofar as they relate to the apprehension, custody, adjudication or disposition of a child who is the subject of a youth court cause.
(v) "Any person responsible for care or support" means the person who is providing for the child at a given time. This term shall include, but is not limited to, stepparents, foster parents, relatives, nonlicensed babysitters or other similar persons responsible for a child and staff of residential care facilities and group homes that are licensed by the Mississippi Department of Children's Affairs.
(w) The singular includes the plural, the plural the singular and the masculine the feminine when consistent with the intent of this chapter.
(x) "Out-of-home" setting means the temporary supervision or care of children by the staff of licensed day care centers, the staff of public, private and state schools, the staff of juvenile detention facilities, the staff of unlicensed residential care facilities and group homes and the staff of, or individuals representing, churches, civic or social organizations.
(y) "Durable legal custody" means the legal status created by a court order which gives the durable legal custodian the responsibilities of physical possession of the child and the duty to provide him with care, nurture, welfare, food, shelter, education and reasonable medical care. All these duties as enumerated are subject to the residual rights and responsibilities of the natural parent(s) or guardian(s) of the child or children.
SEC. 93-15-103. Factors justifying adoption; grounds for termination of parental rights; alternatives.
(1) When a child has been removed from the home of its natural parents and cannot be returned to the home of his natural parents within a reasonable length of time because returning to the home would be damaging to the child or the parent is unable or unwilling to care for the child, relatives are not appropriate or are unavailable, and when adoption is in the best interest of the child, taking into account whether the adoption is needed to secure a stable placement for the child and the strength of the child's bonds to his natural parents and the effect of future contacts between them, the grounds listed in subsections (2) and (3) of this section shall be considered as grounds for the termination of parental rights. The grounds may apply singly or in combination in any given case.
(2) The rights of a parent with reference to a child, including parental rights to control or withhold consent to an adoption, and the right to receive notice of a hearing on a petition for adoption, may be relinquished and the relationship of the parent and child terminated by the execution of a written voluntary release, signed by the parent, regardless of the age of the parent.
(3) Grounds for termination of parental rights shall be based on one or more of the following factors:
(a) A parent has deserted without means of identification or abandoned a child as defined in Section 97-5-1, or
(b) A parent has made no contact with a child under the age of three (3) for six (6) months or a child three (3) years of age or older for a period of one (1) year; or
(c) A parent has been responsible for a series of abusive incidents concerning one or more children; or
(d) When the child has been in the care and custody of a licensed child caring agency or the Department of Human Services for at least one (1) year, that agency or the department has made diligent efforts to develop and implement a plan for return of the child to its parents, and:
(i) The parent has failed to exercise reasonable available visitation with the child; or
(ii) The parent, having agreed to a plan to effect placement of the child with the parent, fails to implement the plan so that the child caring agency is unable to return the child to said parent; or
(e) The parent exhibits ongoing behavior which would make it impossible to return the child to the parent's care and custody:
(i) Because the parent has a diagnosable condition unlikely to change within a reasonable time such as alcohol or drug addiction, severe mental deficiencies or mental illness, or extreme physical incapacitation, which condition makes the parent unable to assume minimally, acceptable care of the child; or
(ii) Because the parent fails to eliminate behavior, identified by the child caring agency or the court, which prevents placement of said child with the parent in spite of diligent efforts of the child caring agency to assist the parent; or
(f) When there is an extreme and deep-seated antipathy by the child toward the parent or when there is some other substantial erosion of the relationship between the parent and child which was caused at least in part by the parent's serious neglect, abuse, prolonged and unreasonable absence, unreasonable failure to visit or communicate, or prolonged imprisonment; or
(g) When a parent has been convicted of any of the following offenses against
any child:
(i) rape of a child under the provisions of Section 97-3-65,
(ii) sexual battery of a child under the provisions of Section 97-3-95(c),
(iii) touching a child for lustful purposes under the provisions of Section 97-5-23,
(iv) exploitation of a child under the provisions of Section 97-5-31,
(v) felonious abuse or battery of a child under the provisions of Section 97-5-39(2),
(vi) carnal knowledge of a step or adopted child or a child of a cohabitating partner under the provisions of Section 97-5-41, or
(vii) murder of another child of such parent, voluntary manslaughter of another child of such parent, aided or abetted, attempted, conspired or solicited to commit such murder or voluntary manslaughter, or a felony assault that results in the serious bodily injury to the surviving child or another child of such parent; or
(h) The child has been adjudicated to have been abused or neglected and custody has been transferred from the child's parent(s) for placement pursuant to Section 43-15-13, and a court of competent jurisdiction has determined that reunification shall not be in the child's best interest.
(4) Legal custody and guardianship by persons other than the parent as well as other permanent alternatives which end the supervision by the Department of Human Services should be considered as alternatives to the termination of parental rights, and these alternatives should be selected when, in the best interest of the child, parental contacts are desirable and it is possible to secure such placement without termination of parental rights.
(5) When a parent has been convicted of rape of a child under the provisions of Section 97-3-65, sexual battery of a child under the provisions of Section 97-3-95(c), touching a child for lustful purposes under the provisions of Section 97-5-23, exploitation of a child under the provisions of Section 97-5-31, felonious abuse or battery of a child under the provisions of Section 97-5-39(2), or carnal knowledge of a step or adopted child or a child of a cohabitating partner under the provisions of Section 97-5-41, notice of the conviction shall be forwarded by the circuit clerk of the county in which the conviction occurred to the Mississippi Department of Human Services, Division of Social Services.
(6) In any case where a child has been removed from the parent's home due to sexual abuse or serious bodily injury to the child, the court shall treat such case for termination of parental rights as a preference case to be determined with all reasonable expedition.
SEC. 93-15-109. Termination of parental rights.
After hearing all the evidence in regard to such petition, if the chancellor, family court judge or county court judge is satisfied by clear and convincing proof that the parent or parents are within the grounds requiring termination of parental rights as set forth in this chapter, then the court may terminate all the parental rights of the parent or parents regarding the child, and terminate the right of the child to inherit from such parent or parents. The termination of the parental rights of one (1) parent may be made without affecting the parental rights of the other parent, should circumstances and evidence ever so warrant.
SEC. 93-17-1. Jurisdiction to alter names and legitimate offspring; legitimation by subsequent marriage.
(1) The chancery court or the chancellor in vacation, of the county of the residence of the petitioners shall have jurisdiction upon the petition of any person to alter the names of such person, to make legitimate any living offspring of the petitioner not born in wedlock, and to decree said offspring to be an heir of the petitioner.
(2) An illegitimate child shall become a legitimate child of the natural father if the natural father marries the natural mother and acknowledges the child.
SEC. 93-17-223. One birth parent prohibited from divulging identity of other parent.
In cases where only one (1) of the birth parents has authorized the release of identifying information, that birth parent shall be prohibited from divulging to the adoptee the identity, or any information reasonably calculated to lead to discovery of the identity, of the other birth parent, and shall execute a sworn affidavit stating that no such information shall be revealed. The refusal of any birth parent to comply with this prohibition shall constitute an act of bad faith under the terms of Secs. 93-17-201 through 93-17-223, and such birth parent shall be subject to civil liability for the release of such information.
SEC. 97-3-65. Rape; carnal knowledge of child under fourteen years of age.
(1) Every person eighteen (18) years of age or older who shall be convicted of rape by carnally and unlawfully knowing a child under the age of fourteen (14) years, upon conviction, shall be sentenced to death or imprisonment for life in the State Penitentiary; provided, however, any person thirteen (13) years of age or over but under eighteen (18) years of age convicted of such crime shall be sentenced to such term of imprisonment as the court, in its discretion, may determine. In all cases where the child is under the age of fourteen (14) years it shall not be necessary to prove penetration of the child's private parts where it is shown the private parts of the child have been lacerated or torn in the attempt to have carnal knowledge of the child.
(2) Every person who shall forcibly ravish any person of the age of fourteen (14) years or upward, or who shall have been convicted of having carnal knowledge of any person above the age of fourteen (14) years without such person's consent, by administering to such person any substance or liquid which shall produce such stupor or such imbecility of mind or weakness of body as to prevent effectual resistance, upon conviction, shall be imprisoned for life in the State Penitentiary if the jury by its verdict so prescribes; and in cases where the jury fails to fix the penalty at life imprisonment the court shall fix the penalty at imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for any term as the court, in its discretion, may determine.
(3) This section shall apply whether the perpetrator is married to the victim or not.
(4) The Department of Public Safety shall collect all data relating to spousal rape violations and convictions under this section. Such information shall include the name and age of all victims and violators of spousal rape under this section. The information collected under this subsection shall be subject to all confidentiality requirements imposed by law for criminal records. The Department of Public Safety shall provide such data excluding the identification of victims and unconvicted violators to the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate on January 1, 1994, and each year thereafter for a period of three (3) years.
: Added by Laws 2000, Ch. 379, Sec. 3, SB2604, eff. July 1, 2000.
