Left to right, Rep. Angela Cockerham, Rankin County Court Judge Josh McCrory and Lafayette County Court Judge Tiffany Kilpatrick listen to consultants speaking via Zoom during the Sept. 15 meeting of the Family Services Forum for Mississippi Children, Youth and Families. Rep. Cockerham and Judge Kilpatrick were elected co-chairs of the Family Services Forum.
The newly created Family Services Forum gathered on Sept. 15 to begin a legislatively mandated mission to improve services and support for children, youth and families.
Rep. Angela Cockerham of Magnolia and Lafayette County Court Judge Tiffany Kilpatrick of Oxford were selected by the members to serve as co-chairs of the forum. The multi-disciplinary forum, which includes 30 people representing 10 agencies and representatives from the Governor’s office, judges and legislators, held its first meeting at the Gartin Justice Building in Jackson. The Family Services Forum for Mississippi Children, Youth and Families was created by the Youth Court Reform Act in July 2026.
The forum set to work on plans to create a statewide resource directory of community-based services for at risk youth and families, and began discussion of ways to maximize funding from federal, state and philanthropic organizations to protect the well-being of children.
Representatives of numerous organizations around the room noted that they have their own local or agency-focused resource directories. The Department of Human Services, Department of Child Protection Services, CASA and intervention courts across the state, among others, have created resource directories. These directories include health care and mental health providers, social services and non-profit or church sponsored programs such as food pantries and places that provide clothing, beds and household goods for families in need of those supports.
One of the legislative mandates for the forum is to develop and maintain a statewide resources directory. Elucidata Solutions founder and lead researcher Audrey Reid of Amory, meeting via Zoom, talked about resource mapping so that people in all counties can find local services.
Resource mapping also can identify what’s lacking, said Youth Court Director Vicki Lowery. “We know there are deserts. We just don’t know how bad they are.”
The forum also must identify and implement strategies to better coordinate and leverage federal funding from Medicaid, the Family First Prevention Services Act, Title IV-E of the Social Security Act and state funding sources to support and pilot evidence-based, community-based alternatives to placement programs for youth at risk of entering foster care or juvenile justice placement.
Part of the difficulty is variations in the way local assistance programs work. Attorney Chad King of Madison, outside counsel for the Department of Child Protection Services, said, “We have 82 different ways of doing things. With federal funding, you can’t have 82 different ways.”
Sen. Brice Wiggins of Pascagoula said that uniformity is key. “If we are wanting state funding, we need consistency. This commission can help with that,” said the Senate Judiciary A Chairman.
Joseph Sclafani, Policy Advisor and Counsel for the Governor, said that building a model of uniformity would help the state to draw down federal funding. He asked if changes are needed in state statutes to maximize draw down of federal funds.
Judge Kilpatrick said, “I’m all about uniformity.”
Rep. Cockerham, Vice-Chair of the House Appropriations A Committee, said that whatever strategy the forum develops needs to be coordinated with the Legislative Budget Office.
Consultants Jerry Milner and David Kelly, co-directors of the Family Justice Group, are working with the Mississippi Administrative Office of Courts. Milner is former Acting Commissioner of the U.S. Children’s Bureau, Department of Health and Human Services. Kelly spent more than a decade overseeing the Children’s Bureau’s work with the legal and judicial community.
Speaking via Zoom, Milner emphasized the importance of making resources available in local communities to help struggling families and avoid placement of children in state custody. “The first and foremost commitment has to be that we really do value keeping families together,” Milner said. “The welfare of children and the welfare of families means their well-being. We spend a lot of our resources and our time trying to correct things that we could have prevented.”
Kelly said, “The common denominator for all of your work is child and family well-being.” There is also a broader effect. When federal funds are spent in local communities, “the returns on these investments benefit the local economy.”
The next meeting of the Family Services Forum will be on Oct. 8 at the Gartin Justice Building in Jackson. The forum’s first report to the Legislature is due Dec. 15.