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Phil Bryant on Families & Children
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Pro-active on needs of foster children
Three years ago, you joined me in seeing the need to establish Child Protection Services as its own agency, accountable directly to the governor. For those families who are reunited, CPS is working in proactive ways to better assist them,
such as developing new methods to help parents released from incarceration better support their children. Perhaps the most incredible success has occurred with adopted families. The number of adoptions has more than doubled in just one year.
Source: 2019 State of the State address to Mississippi legislature
, Jan 15, 2019
$34M for new Department of Child Protection Services
Last year I made a bold request of this Legislature and its leadership to create a new state agency for the singular purpose of managing our foster care system. For almost a decade Mississippi has been under a federal court mandate to improve the
way we care for our foster children. The reality is we did little to improve this system until you agreed to create the Department of Child Protection Services and invest $34 million into improving the effort.
Today we are serving more foster children than ever. The most innocent among us who have struggled with neglect and abuse are receiving proper care.
The improvements were sufficient in this first year as to compel the federal court to allow a less restrictive set of requirements and remove Mississippi from the oversight of a court monitor for the first time since 2008.
Source: 2017 State of the State address to Mississippi Legislature
, Jan 17, 2017
Support Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs
The governor called on the Legislature to send the Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs Act to his desk: "Mississippi children with special needs, and their parents, deserve nothing less.""I can assure you from personal experience, this
response to dyslexia will result in direct benefits. This reading disorder is the number one reason children drop out of school. If we confront it aggressively, we can see a dramatic decrease in our state's dropout rate and help turn around our reading
scores for thousands of Mississippi children.
"This year, we must also do all in our power to help children with special needs. The Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs Act will empower parents with educational choice to get their children
the services they need. When only 22.5% of special needs children graduate from high school, something is terribly wrong. I call on you to send this bill to my desk. Mississippi children with special needs, and their parents, deserve nothing less."
Source: State of the State address to 2015 Mississippi Legislature
, Jan 21, 2015
Healthy Teens for a Better Mississippi: 2-parent families
[One of our] objectives for success should be for every Mississippian to be born into a mature, two-parent family. Our Healthy Teens for a Better Mississippi program has conducted community meetings and seminars all across the state. We have involved
schools, churches, families, health care professionals and, most importantly, teens, in community discussions regarding decision-making and healthy behavior.We have started making a difference. According to the annual report of the Mississippi State
Department of Health, our state's teen pregnancy rate declined by 10.3% in 2012.
I believe we have also done an admirable job in protecting our children, both born and unborn. By strengthening the Child Protection Act and by requiring that
abortionists obtain admitting privileges at local hospitals, we are protecting women's health. But let me be clear, on this unfortunate anniversary of Roe versus Wade, my goal is to end abortion in Mississippi.
Source: 2014 State of the State Address to Mississippi legislature
, Jan 22, 2014
Page last updated: Apr 18, 2020
