We updated you on legislation throughout the 2025 Mississippi session. Legislators adjourned the regular session on April 4. Regarding the bills Families as Allies followed during the session, we started with a 14-page list and ended with a final list that filled up less than a page.
These are highlights from our final list:
- House Bill 1387 expands the types of relative caregivers who can receive foster care payments.
- Senate Bill 2767 establishes a committee to advise how the state should spend opioid settlement funds. The committee now includes non-voting members with lived experience and members with expertise in treating opioid use disorders.
- House Bill 807 establishes a Division of Autism Services within the Mississippi Department of Mental Health.
- House Bill 924 creates an executive committee of the Interagency Coordinating Council for Children and Youth that excludes families and family-run organizations.
Our mission at Families as Allies is that families are partners in their children’s care. By this, we mean that Mississippi’s system of care will be family-driven. Mississippi state law mandates a family-driven system of care as well. Family-driven means “families have the primary role in decisions regarding their children as well as the policies and procedures governing the well-being of all children in their community, state, tribe, territory and nation.”
Legislators made family-driven strides in this session, as reflected in House Bill 1387, Senate Bill 2767 and House Bill 807. However, House Bill 924 is a tremendous setback to family-driven practice in Mississippi. We understand the concerns that led to it and look forward to addressing those concerns with everyone at the table.
Having everyone at the table, especially the people that the legislation is about, from the beginning of any piece of legislation is fundamental to its success. We saw some well-intentioned bills introduced this year, especially about children’s mental health. We knew, however, that what many of those bills proposed wouldn’t work. We knew that because we live those issues every day.
We urge all of our friends in the legislature: Before you draft any legislation about a group of people, reach out to organizations that represent that group. We want to work with you. We want good legislation as much, if not more than you do. It affects our very lives. It affects our children’s lives. Nothing matters more to us.
We also call on all state agency heads to ensure there is never any “about us without us” legislation. Any time you are sitting at a table about legislation, we should be there too. You know how to reach us. We want to work together with you. We want a family-driven system of care in Mississippi in reality, not just on paper. Our children deserve no less.
