Senate Bill 3024

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI MEDICAL CENTER TO CREATE A CENTER OF EXCELLENCE TO PROVIDE CARE FOR ABUSED AND NEGLECTED CHILDREN AT THE BLAIR E. BATSON HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN IN JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI; TO AUTHORIZE THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI MEDICAL CENTER TO CONTRACT WITH THE CENTER TO CONDUCT MAJOR RESEARCH INITIATIVES IN CHILD MALTREATMENT AND CONDUCT EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS AND TELE-MEDICINE CONSULTATIONS THROUGH THE CENTER; TO CREATE A CHILD ABUSE REFERRAL AND EXAMINATION (CARE) CLINIC FUND FOR THE TRANSFER OF FUNDS RETURNED TO THE STATE BY THE MISSISSIPPI CHILDREN'S JUSTICE CENTER TO BE APPROPRIATED BY THE LEGISLATURE FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE CENTER; TO AMEND SECTION 43-21-605, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCLUDE THE CENTER AS A DISPOSITIONAL ALTERNATIVE IN CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT CASES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. (1) The University of Mississippi Medical Center is authorized and empowered to establish a Center of Excellence (Center) to provide care for abused and neglected children at the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children located in Jackson, Mississippi, at which all suspected victims of child maltreatment will receive comprehensive physical examinations conducted by a physician who specializes in child maltreatment. The University of Mississippi Medical Center shall enter into cooperative agreements with the Center and shall promulgate such rules, regulations and policies as may be necessary and desirable to carry out the programs of the Center. The Center shall serve as a central advocacy program for child protection, and shall coordinate statewide services for the assessment, investigation and prosecution of child abuse and neglect, in conjunction with the Department of Human Services and the youth court system.

(2) The Department of Pediatrics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center shall contract with the Center to establish a fellowship in child maltreatment under national guidelines requiring children's hospitals to provide care to abused and neglected children. The Department of Pediatrics may use the center to continue educational and outreach programs, tele-medicine consultations and develop satellite clinics in other locations in the state, and to conduct major research initiatives in child maltreatment.

(3) The Center of Excellence shall provide services to high risk and medically underserved children and comply with national certification standards as necessary to provide services to the Department of Human Services, the youth courts and law enforcement officers.

(4) There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special fund to be known as the Child Abuse Referral and Examination (CARE) Clinic fund. The State Treasurer shall transfer into said special fund any funds returned to the State Treasury by the MCI World Com Settlement by the Mississippi Children's Justice Center pursuant to agreement with the State Auditor. The University of Mississippi Medical Center shall expend funds pursuant to appropriation therefor by the Legislature for the support and maintenance of the Center. The University of Mississippi Medical Center is authorized to accept any and all grants, donations or matching funds from private public or federal sources in order to add to, improve and enlarge the physical facilities of the Center and to expend any such funds for the support and maintenance of the Center.

SECTION 2. Section 43-21-605, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

43-21-605. (1) In delinquency cases, the disposition order may include any of the following alternatives:

(a) Release the child without further action;

(b) Place the child in the custody of the parents, a relative or other persons subject to any conditions and limitations, including restitution, as the youth court may prescribe;

(c) Place the child on probation subject to any reasonable and appropriate conditions and limitations, including restitution, as the youth court may prescribe;

(d) Order terms of treatment calculated to assist the child and the child's parents or guardian which are within the ability of the parent or guardian to perform;

(e) Order terms of supervision which may include participation in a constructive program of service or education or civil fines not in excess of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or restitution not in excess of actual damages caused by the child to be paid out of his own assets or by performance of services acceptable to the victims and approved by the youth court and reasonably capable of performance within one (1) year;

(f) Suspend the child's driver's license by taking and keeping it in custody of the court for not more than one (1) year;

(g) Give legal custody of the child to any of the following:

(i) The Department of Human Services for appropriate placement; or

(ii) Any public or private organization, preferably community-based, able to assume the education, care and maintenance of the child, which has been found suitable by the court; or

(iii) The Department of Human Services for placement in a wilderness training program or the Division of Youth Services for placement in a state-supported training school, except that no child under the age of ten (10) years shall be committed to a state training school, and no first-time nonviolent youth offenders shall be committed to a state training school until all other options provided for in this section have been considered and the court makes a specific finding of fact that commitment is appropriate.

The training school may retain custody of the child until the child's twentieth birthday but for no longer. When the child is committed to a training school, the child shall remain in the legal custody of the training school until the child has made sufficient progress in treatment and rehabilitation and it is in the best interest of the child to release the child. However, the superintendent of a state training school, in consultation with the treatment team, may parole a child at any time he may deem it in the best interest and welfare of such child. Twenty (20) days prior to such parole, the training school shall notify the committing court of the pending release. The youth court may then arrange subsequent placement after a reconvened disposition hearing, except that the youth court may not recommit the child to the training school or any other secure facility without an adjudication of a new offense or probation or parole violation. The Department of Human Services shall ensure that staffs create transition planning for youth leaving the facilities. Plans shall include providing the youth and his or her parents or guardian with copies of the youth's training school education and health records, information regarding the youth's home community, referrals to mental and counseling services when appropriate, and providing assistance in making initial appointments with community service providers. Prior to assigning the custody of any child to any private institution or agency, the youth court through its designee shall first inspect the physical facilities to determine that they provide a reasonable standard of health and safety for the child. No child shall be placed in the custody of a state training school for a status offense or for contempt of or revocation of a status offense adjudication unless the child is contemporaneously adjudicated for having committed an act of delinquency that is not a status offense. A disposition order rendered under this subparagraph shall meet the following requirements:

1. The disposition is the least restrictive alternative appropriate to the best interest of the child and the community;

2. The disposition allows the child to be in reasonable proximity to the family home community of each child given the dispositional alternatives available and the best interest of the child and the state; and

3. The disposition order provides that the court has considered the medical, educational, vocational, social and psychological guidance, training, social education, counseling, substance abuse treatment and other rehabilitative services required by that child as determined by the court;

(h) Recommend to the child and the child's parents or guardian that the child attend and participate in the Youth Challenge Program under the Mississippi National Guard, as created in Section 43-27-203, subject to the selection of the child for the program by the National Guard; however, the child must volunteer to participate in the program. The youth court shall not order any child to apply or attend the program;

(i) (i) Adjudicate the juvenile to the Statewide Juvenile Work Program if the program is established in the court's jurisdiction. The juvenile and his parents or guardians must sign a waiver of liability in order to participate in the work program. The judge will coordinate with the youth services counselors as to placing participants in the work program;

(ii) The severity of the crime, whether or not the juvenile is a repeat offender or is a felony offender will be taken into consideration by the judge when adjudicating a juvenile to the work program. The juveniles adjudicated to the work program will be supervised by police officers or reserve officers. The term of service will be from twenty-four (24) to one hundred twenty (120) hours of community service. A juvenile will work the hours to which he was adjudicated on the weekends during school and weekdays during the summer. Parents are responsible for a juvenile reporting for work. Noncompliance with an order to perform community service will result in a heavier adjudication. A juvenile may be adjudicated to the community service program only two (2) times;

(iii) The judge shall assess an additional fine on the juvenile which will be used to pay the costs of implementation of the program and to pay for supervision by police officers and reserve officers. The amount of the fine will be based on the number of hours to which the juvenile has been adjudicated;

(j) Order the child to participate in a youth court work program as provided in Section 43-21-627;

(k) Order the child into a juvenile detention center operated by the county or into a juvenile detention center operated by any county with which the county in which the court is located has entered into a contract for the purpose of housing delinquents. The time period for detention cannot exceed ninety (90) days, and any detention exceeding forty-five (45) days shall be administratively reviewed by the youth court no later than forty-five (45) days after the entry of the order. The youth court judge may order that the number of days specified in the detention order be served either throughout the week or on weekends only. No first-time nonviolent youth offender shall be committed to a detention center for a period of ninety (90) days until all other options provided for in this section have been considered and the court makes a specific finding of fact that commitment to a detention center is appropriate. However, if a child is committed to a detention center ninety (90) consecutive days, the disposition order shall meet the following requirements:

(i) The disposition order is the least restrictive alternative appropriate to the best interest of the child and the community;

(ii) The disposition order allows the child to be in reasonable proximity to the family home community of each child given the dispositional alternatives available and the best interest of the child and the state; and

(iii) The disposition order provides that the court has considered the medical, educational, vocational, social and psychological guidance, training, social education, counseling, substance abuse treatment and other rehabilitative services required by that child as determined by the court; or

(l) Referral to A-team provided system of care services.

(2) If a disposition order requires that a child miss school due to other placement, the youth court shall notify a child's school while maintaining the confidentiality of the youth court process.

(3) In addition to any of the disposition alternatives authorized under subsection (1) of this section, the disposition order in any case in which the child is adjudicated delinquent for an offense under Section 63-11-30 shall include an order denying the driver's license and driving privileges of the child as required under Section 63-11-30(9).

(4) If the youth court places a child in a state-supported training school, the court may order the parents or guardians of the child and other persons living in the child's household to receive counseling and parenting classes for rehabilitative purposes while the child is in the legal custody of the training school. A youth court entering an order under this subsection (4) shall utilize appropriate services offered either at no cost or for a fee calculated on a sliding scale according to income unless the person ordered to participate elects to receive other counseling and classes acceptable to the court at the person's sole expense.

(5) Fines levied under this chapter shall be paid into the general fund of the county but, in those counties wherein the youth court is a branch of the municipal government, it shall be paid into the municipal treasury.

(6) Any institution or agency to which a child has been committed shall give to the youth court any information concerning the child as the youth court may at any time require.

(7) The youth court shall not place a child in another school district who has been expelled from a school district for the commission of a violent act. For the purpose of this subsection, "violent act" means any action which results in death or physical harm to another or an attempt to cause death or physical harm to another.

(8) The youth court may require drug testing as part of a disposition order. If a child tests positive, the court may require treatment, counseling and random testing, as it deems appropriate. The costs of such tests shall be paid by the parent, guardian or custodian of the child unless the court specifically finds that the parent, guardian or custodian is unable to pay.

(9) The Mississippi Department of Human Services, Division of Youth Services, shall operate and maintain services for youth adjudicated delinquent at Columbia and Oakley Training Schools. The program shall be designed for children committed to the training schools by the youth courts. The purpose of the program is to promote good citizenship, self-reliance, leadership and respect for constituted authority, teamwork, cognitive abilities and appreciation of our national heritage. The Division of Youth Services shall issue credit towards academic promotions and high school completion. The Division of Youth Services may award credits to each student who meets the requirements for a general education development certification. The Division of Youth Services must also provide to each special education eligible youth the services required by that youth's individualized education plan.

(10) There is created a study committee to determine what entity should be responsible for providing the educational services within detention centers to ensure that detained youth receive adequate educational services. The study is also to include, but is not limited to, the examination of the costs of providing such educational services. The study committee shall consist of the following ten (10) members:

(a) The Chairperson of the House of Representatives of the Juvenile Justice Committee;

(b) The Chairperson of the Senate Judiciary B Committee;

(d) The Chairperson of the Senate Education Committee or his or her designee;

(e) Three (3) members from the House of Representatives, appointed by the Chairperson of the Juvenile Justice Committee; and

(f) Three (3) members from the Senate, appointed by the Chairperson of the Senate Judiciary B Committee.

At its first meeting the study committee shall elect a chairperson and vice chairperson from its membership and shall adopt rules for transacting its business and keeping its records.

By October 31, 2006, the study committee shall make a report of its work and recommendations.

(11) The youth court may order the child to the custody of the Center of Excellence at the Batson Children's Hospital Child Abuse Referral and Examination (CARE) Clinic for examination and treatment of abused and neglected children in order to receive specialized services for child maltreatment. These services shall be provided under an agreement with the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2007.