18 Miss. Code. R. 6-1-G-II
The Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) is the agency designated, by MISS CODE ANN § 93-17-31 through 93-17-31 for establishing procedures for handling adoptions within Mississippi. MDHS has designated the Adoption Unit of the Division of Family and Children's Services (DFCS) to have responsibility for adoptive placements made by and through the DFCS .
The primary purpose of the DFCS's Adoption Program is to foster permanent connections for children whose permanent plan is adoption.
Responsibility for providing adoption services to children is authorized under Title IV-B and Title XX of the Social Security Act and MISS. CODE ANN. § 43-15-13. The State Statute places responsibility with the State Department of Human Services to establish policy and procedures designed to appropriately place children in permanent homes. This includes placing children in suitable adoptive homes approved by a licensed adoption agency or licensed social worker, in cases where restoration to the biological family is not safe, possible or appropriate.
Adoption services and resources for children will be provided without discrimination and such services cannot be based on race, color, national origin or religious affiliation.
Multi-Ethnic Placement Act (MEPA):
The Improving America's Schools Act ( P.L. 103-382 ) contains the Multi-Ethnic Placement Act of 1994 (MEPA). An amendment to this Act is part of the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 ( P.L. 104-188 ) and is known as the Interethnic Adoption Provisions Act of 1996 (IEP). MEPA-IEP prohibits agencies receiving Title IV-E foster care funds from deny[ing] any person the opportunity to be an adoptive or foster parent ... or delay[ing] or deny[ing] the placement of a child ... solely on the basis of race, color or national origin of the adoptive or foster parent or the child ...
( PL 103-382, § 553 a.1.A-B)
These factors must be applied on an individualized basis, not by general rule "in the best interest of the child."
Neither race, color, nor national origin (RCNO) of a child or prospective caregiver may be considered in the placement selection process for a foster child unless an individualized assessment reveals that such consideration is in the child's best interests. Culture may not be used as a proxy for RCNO. Placements may not be delayed or denied on the basis of RCNO of the child or the provider.
A Licensure Specialist and/or County of Responsibility (COR) Worker must document all factors considered in the selection of a placement for a child. MEPA is viewed in conjunction with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits recipients of federal financial assistance from discriminating based on race, color, or national origin in their programs and activities and from operating their programs in ways that have the effect of discriminating on the basis of race, color, or national origin.
MEPA as amended by IEP calls for the diligent recruitment of foster and adoptive families that reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of children in foster care. To comply with MEPA/IEP, DFCS shall focus its recruitment process on developing a pool of potential resource families who are willing and able to foster or adopt the children needing placement.
Each employee of DFCS is prohibited from both the participation in making an independent adoption placement and/or the independent adoption of any child known to the employee through his/her position with DFCS. Violation of this policy is a Group 3 offense and may result in termination of employment.
Adopt: To take by choice into a relationship; to take voluntarily (a child of other parents) as one's own child.
Involuntary Placement: Youth Court awards legal custody of a child to the MS Department of Human Services based on allegations of child abuse/neglect/exploitation.
Voluntary Placement: A legal parent requests placement of a child into foster care due to the parent's illness or hospitalization or the legal parent wants to make an adoptive plan for their child.
Adoption Disruption: An adoption process that ends prior to adoption finalization, resulting in the child's return to (or entry into) foster care or placement with new adoptive parents.
Adoption Dissolution: A reversal or voiding of an adoption after it has been legally finalized. This results in the child's return to (or entry into) foster care or placement with new adoptive parents.
Adoptive Placement: A social process carried out through the framework of law, whereby a legal parent/child relationship is created between the child and adoptive parent(s). Actual placement for adoption will not be made until the child is legally free for adoption as certified by the Attorney General's Office (AG).
Legal Risk Adoptive Placement: The placement of a child into a home for the purpose of adoption prior to the child being legally freed for adoption. These placements are shown as foster home placements, but a legal risk adoptive placement agreement is signed by the adoptive parents and Adoption Specialist. Legal risk adoptive placements may be made for Safe Babies, abandoned infants, infants whose biological mother has signed surrender and the father is unknown, or for any child whose permanent plan of adoption has been approved through youth court.
Interlocutory Decree: A court order granting legal custody or guardianship to the adoptive petitioners prior to the Final Decree of Adoption. DFCS may or may not recommend an Interlocutory Decree on a case by case basis. The Interlocutory Decree is often used when the adoptive parents must move out-of-state before DFCS can recommend final adoption or before the Chancellor deems it is appropriate to render a decision on final adoptions.
Final Decree of Adoption: The decree of the court granting and finalizing the adoption and vesting legal custody of the child with the adoptive parents.
Post Adoptive Services: Supportive Services provided to an adoptive family after the finalization of an adoption to assist in a wide range of issues such as explaining adoption issues for children, providing financial assistance through an adoption subsidy, linking the family to therapeutic services needed to meet the child's special needs, providing search assistance, etc. in order to strengthen and maintain the continuity of placement in the adoptive family.
MDHS has the following functions in carrying out its responsibilities for the care and protection of children in need of adoption:
18 Miss. Code. R. 6-1-G-II