Mississippi

Mississippi to join Trump Administration’s foster parent recruitment initiative

Published

4 weeks ago

March 13, 2026

Mississippi to join Trump Administration’s foster parent recruitment initiative

(AP) — For every 100 foster children in Mississippi’s custody, the state has only 52 foster homes. To recruit more families to care for these children, the state is joining the Trump Administration’s A Home for Every Child Initiative, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Tuesday.

Mississippi is the fifth state to join a pilot of the initiative behind Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Each state will be required to share updated data with the federal government about its child-to-home ratio, which will be shared on an online dashboard.

To incentivize states to opt in, the federal government is allowing these states to forgo tedious paperwork associated with Children and Family Services Reviews. These federal performance reviews of state child welfare programs look at metrics such as the percentage of cases in which states deployed appropriate risk and safety assessments or concerted efforts to prevent family separations.

Under those reviews, states develop Program Improvement Plans to address problem areas. But states who join the push will no longer be required to conduct these. The last PIP from Mississippi available on the federal website is from 2019.

The initiative is not tied to additional federal funding, but a federal representative said the reduction of red tape will allow the state to target funds for necessary casework.

“On average, states were sending us 300-page reports of mostly duplicated and recycled content across years that the federal agency did nothing with, frankly,” said Alex Adams, assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families under the U.S. Department of Human Services. “A lot of what this is doing is liberating the time and energy of the best caseworkers that they have to better deploy that time to actually benefiting kids as opposed to checking boxes and all those things that just sap time and energy.”

Reeves said the state’s child welfare agency, the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services, has already begun using data to determine where and what kind of foster homes are most needed across the state. Many children who come into state custody require therapeutic care requiring a higher level of licensing.

“Instead of broad recruitment efforts that don’t always meet specific needs, we are moving towards targeted recruitment, identifying the right families for the right types of placements,” Reeves said. “At the same time, we are working to cut unnecessary red tape that discourages qualified families from stepping up and stepping forward. Good people who want to help children should not be overwhelmed by bureaucracy.”

In the absence of licensed foster homes, some children who come into state custody end up in short-term rentals, hotels, Airbnbs or even in government offices, Adams added.

“This is a beautiful building, but I don’t know that government buildings are conducive to stable, loving, nurturing environments that every child deserves,” Adams said during the press conference at the Walter Sillers Building in downtown Jackson.

Andrea Sanders, director of CPS, said the agency is working on a modern, digital application process for prospective foster parents. She also said a new campaign to recruit foster families will launch soon.

“That’s part of the work that we’re doing to make sure that this becomes a transparent process where the agency is fulfilling its role to help support and provide information to foster parents,” Sanders said.

A federal announcement of the A Home for Every Child Initiative says it also aims to reduce the number of children entering the system by prioritizing other interventions.

“By investing in prevention, we can reduce unnecessary entrees into foster care while still protecting children who truly need intervention,” Reeves said.

The Tuesday announcement did not provide specific details about how Mississippi plans to increase prevention through the initiative.

The Family First Prevention Services Act, enacted in 2018 during Trump’s first term, was designed to pump unprecedented levels of funding into states to support the stability of biological families – such as mental health and substance abuse treatment and in-home parenting programs – to prevent the need for foster families.

It took years for Mississippi to submit a state plan to the federal government to start receiving these funds. The plan was approved last August, but the state has yet to fully launch the program.

A Home for Every Child is a product of HHS’s Administration of Children and Families. Laurie Todd-Smith, a deputy assistant secretary for that agency and former Gov. Phil Bryant’s senior policy advisor, recently visited Mississippi ahead of the announcement to assemble suitcases for foster children as part of a partnership with evangelical Christian parachurch organization, Focus on the Family.

The problem they sought to solve: Children carrying their belongings from home to home in trash bags. “Nationally, it’s 57 homes to every hundred children. In Mississippi, it’s 52 homes for every hundred children. So our goal is to get to a one-to-one ratio. A home for every child,” Todd-Smith said at the Jan. 14 suitcase event, WLBT reported.

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This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, Mississippi Today.

Tenn. mom invites son’s organ recipients to do his favorite activity, dance

Here’s a beautiful story of how one mother turned her grief journey into a gathering of gratitude… and organ donation awareness.

Robb Coles highlights a special event organized by Cari Hollis – whose 26-year old son Austin died two years ago. Austin agreed to be an organ donor – and that single gesture saved multiple lives.

Cari reached out to as many recipients she could find – several of whom traveled to Nashville for an emotional celebration in Austin’s honor. One woman – whose life was saved by receiving Austin’s lungs – put it simply: “He’s my angel”.

– Rhori Johnston

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Mississippi

Mississippi State football lands Ridgeland safety Trae’kerrion Collins

Published

29 minutes ago

April 10, 2026

Press Room

Mississippi State football lands Ridgeland safety Trae’kerrion Collins

STARKVILLE — Mississippi State football landed its first four-star in the 2027 recruiting class.

Ridgeland safety Trae’kerrion Collins committed to the Bulldogs on April 9.

“I am grateful to the entire coaching staff for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to continue my academic and athletic career in Starkville,” Collins wrote on X. “I’m ready to work, compete, and represent the Bulldog family with pride.”

He picked MSU after decommitting from Ole Miss on Nov. 30. Collins holds numerous offers from power conference teams including Alabama, Georgia Tech, LSU and Michigan.

Collins is ranked No. 404 nationally, No. 12 in Mississippi and as the No. 12 safety, according to the 247Sports Composite.

Collins recorded 62 tackles in 2025 with five interceptions, two tackles for loss and one fumble recovery. He also had four receptions for 45 yards and one touchdown, plus 11 carries for 111 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown. Ridgeland (11-2) lost to Warren Central in the MSHAA Class 6A semifinals.

Mississippi State football 2027 recruiting class

Collins is Mississippi State’s fifth commitment for the 2027 recruiting class:

S Trae’kerrion Collins
WR Javarious Griffin Jr.
CB Brandon Allen Jr.
S Hudson Fuqua
IOL Caleb Unger

The class ranks 32nd nationally and ninth in the SEC.

Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for The Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.

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Mississippi

No. 6 Arkansas softball preparing for ‘battle’ at No. 15 Mississippi State | Whole Hog Sports

Published

13 hours ago

April 9, 2026

Press Room

No. 6 Arkansas softball preparing for ‘battle’ at No. 15 Mississippi State | Whole Hog Sports

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Mississippi

Which bills has Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves vetoed?

Published

1 day ago

April 9, 2026

Press Room

Which bills has Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves vetoed?

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has vetoed four bills this legislative session, primarily targeting public health legislation.
Reeves rejected two medical marijuana bills, citing concerns about one potentially facilitating recreational use and stating the other was an unnecessary alteration.
The governor vetoed a disaster loan program bill due to a dispute over interest rates, though a revised version was later signed.
More vetoes are possible as Reeves reviews remaining legislation, including bills he has rejected in previous sessions.

The veto pen is among the most powerful tools of the Mississippi Legislature, and Gov. Tate Reeves has wielded it habitually in his tenure. This year, his vetoes have mostly been directed toward public health bills so far, with more likely to come.

Reeves can handle bills that passed both chambers in three ways. He can sign bills that he supports into law, and he can allow them to become law without his signature. He can also hit the brakes on pieces of legislation that he disagrees with, vetoing all or part of a bill and resigning it to a future legislative session.

He has vetoed four bills as of Wednesday, April 8, half as many as he did the previous two sessions, but Reeves will continue reviewing legislation and potentially reject more proposals over the coming days.

Medical marijuana

Reeves vetoed both of the medical marijuana bills that passed through the Legislature this session, issuing the fatal blow for bills that had already faced unfriendly chambers.

One of the bills, the “Right to Try Medical Cannabis Act,” had a single, specific provision that Reeves took issue with. The bill’s original intent, which Reeves described as commendable, was to extend the opportunity to try medical marijuana to those with debilitating conditions that fall outside of the current law’s scope.

Mississippi law identifies approximately two dozen qualifying conditions, but medical professionals, including state health officer Daniel Edney, argued that there were many other conditions that could benefit from medical marijuana. The bill would have allowed patients, with the support of their doctors, to apply for a limited treatment course to see whether marijuana might help them.

“I believe nearly all reasonable people would agree that a Mississippian suffering from a painful and debilitating terminal illness should be afforded an opportunity, subject to medical review,” Reeves wrote, “to try any medication or treatment to ease their suffering when they are near the end of life.”

The issue, Reeves wrote in his veto letter, came in the Senate, where the bill was amended to extend the right to try to “every person on the planet.” Legislators inserted a provision that would allow non-residents to participate in the program. Under the bill, people who live in Tennessee, where medical marijuana isn’t legal, could have pursued treatment across the state border.

“I share the State Health Officer’s concerns that the amendment of HB 1152 beyond its original intent has the potential to upset the tenuous balance struck by the Act,” Reeves wrote, “and poses an unreasonable risk of pushing the medical marijuana program in the direction of facilitating recreational use.”

Reeves generally supported the bill, he wrote, and would sign it if the Legislature filed it again with only the narrow changes included at the start.

The other bill took a tumultuous path from inception to Reeves’ denial. Its initial proposal would have loosened the state’s medical cannabis program restrictions, including by doubling the validity of medical user cards to two years and extending caretaker card validity to five years.

It also would have eliminated the requirement for a patient to follow up with their provider six months after receiving their medical cannabis card.

Nearly immediately, legislators pushed back against the House bill. Some senators, heeding advice from doctors and medical lobbyists, reined the provisions in.

Two years of user card validity reverted to one, and five years of caretaker card validity was clawed back to two instead. Both chambers approved the more modest changes in the amended bill and sent it to the governor’s desk, where Reeves slammed the door on the bill and, likely, most other proposed changes to medical marijuana law.

The Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act has been “largely successful,” Reeves wrote, and he believes “there is no reason to alter it now.”

The disaster loan program

Reeves’ first veto of the session targeted the disaster loan program, a legislative proposal meant to help cities and counties in Mississippi recover from the devastating winter storm that occurred at the start of the year.

With the veto and harshly worded veto letter, Reeves took aim at the state senate again, having previously attacked the chamber’s leadership after it killed the school choice initiative without discussion.

The loan program conflict emerged over interest rates and, as Reeves wrote, legality.

The program was simple enough on its face: the state would loan money out to needy municipalities and, when the loan was repaid, send more money back out to other places, doubling or tripling the impact of the fund.

Reeves said he and legislators compromised on a monthly 1% interest rate on recovery loans, down from the 2% rate he initially favored. That language made its way into the bill, but lawmakers decreased it to a 1% rate for the year instead.

Disagreement ensued. Reeves wrote in his veto letter that lawmakers went behind his back to change the bill sneakily, and potentially illegally, while members of the Legislature maintained that everything was done above board and the governor’s proposal would have crushed already vulnerable municipalities.

“The plainly unconstitutional (and possibly criminal) act of the person or persons that attempted to surreptitiously change a material (and negotiated) term of Senate Bill 2632 is unconscionable,” Reeves wrote, “and calls into question the validity of every bill that I have signed into law this session.”

Writing that it “plainly violates multiple provisions of the Constitution,” Reeves vetoed the bill. The veto came during the session, though, so lawmakers added the loan program, now with a 3% annual interest rate, in a different bill. Reeves signed the second attempt on April 6.

Will there be more vetoes?

Based on numbers from previous years, there is a chance that Reeves will veto more bills in the coming days. He has five days to reject or sign a bill after it hits his desk, otherwise allowing the law to go into effect without his participation.

Some provisions that he has vetoed in the past, including a government efficiency bill and $13 million grant for LeFleur’s Bluff State Park, are back on the table this session. In both bills, the language that Reeves identified as problematic last year has been altered, potentially indicating that it has a better chance of passing into law.

Bea Anhuci is the state government reporter for the Clarion Ledger. She covered the 2026 Mississippi legislative session and the decisions that lawmakers made. Email her at banhuci@usatodayco.com.

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