Housing grant to help foster children return to families

Multiple organizations across Mississippi have created a plan to help families experiencing homelessness

This plan will be especially beneficial in keeping children out of the foster care system.

Just in the lower 14 coastal counties, 165 children have been separated from their families for inadequate housing.

Studies have shown that when a child is taken into custody, it can be extremely disruptive to a child’s neurological and emotional development – meaning removal could cause more harm than good.

Previously, there was no other option than to remove the child for inadequate housing, but now, a grant will provide housing to 52 families for three years, giving these families an opportunity to be reunited.

“I say no child should ever be removed from their home just because their family is poor,” said Mississippi Supreme Court Judge Dawn Beam. “We call that non-willful neglect. Bad things happen to good people.”

Mississippi Department of Child Protection Service commissioner, Andrea Sanders, explains why it is important to keep children with their parents, “We know that when we take children into custody, it causes a lot of damage to the child and the family, no matter what kind of job we do. We know that a state agency is always going to be a poor substitute for a family.”

It costs about 40 thousand dollars a year to care for a child in custody. Reuniting these families helps relocate those funds and resources to children experiencing felony neglect who cannot return to their parents.