JACKSON — Mississippi legislators approved a sweeping overhaul of the state’s youth court system Wednesday, advancing legislation that would open many youth court proceedings to the public, creating full-time youth court judges and restore access to confidential court records. 

The legislation comes after a provision allow youth court records to be shared with parents, attorneys, Child Protective Services and others involved in cases expired July 1. Without that exception, documents such as case plans and discovery materials could no longer be shared under state law, prompting legal challenges and emergency action from the Mississippi Supreme Court. 

As the July 1 deadline approached, the Office of the State Public Defender sued the Administrative Office of Courts seeking emergency relief. Separately, after the Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services, or MDCPS, petitioned the Mississippi Supreme Court, the court issued a temporary administrative order preserving the disclosure provisions through July 24 to give lawmakers time to act. Gov. Tate Reeves called lawmakers into special session July 15 to address the issue and pursue broader reforms to the youth court system. 

Lawmakers considered two bills, SB 2001 and SB 2002. SB 2001 passed the Senate 25-10 and includes broad changes to the state’s youth court system. SB 2002, which would have reenacted and amended several youth court statutes — including the confidentiality exception clause — died in committee. 

Among its changes, SB 2001 would open youth court proceeding to the public, eliminate the requirement for a court order before records can be shared with attorneys, families and others involved in youth court proceedings, and create additional chancery judges to handle youth court cases. The legislation also established more full-time youth court judges, though Reeves said the transition to the new system will not begin until 2027. 

“This legislation will give Mississippi a stronger foundation. It provides full-time judges. It moves us toward consistency statewide. It strengthens due process and transparency,” Reeves said. “It expands opportunities for early intervention while increasing secure capacity for violent offenders, and it gives children and families, law enforcement and child welfare professionals a system better equipped to do its job.” 

State Public Defender André De Gruy said he anticipates moving to dismiss the lawsuit if the Senate versions of the bills pass through the House Judiciary committees without major changes. 

“I’ll count chickens after the ink is dry,” De Gruy wrote. 

MDCPS, which petitioned the Supreme Court for emergency relief, acknowledged the difficulty of implementing the changes. 

“The agency recognizes that navigating significant statutory changes presents challenges and uncertainty, particularly when those changes affect long-standing child welfare practices involving multiple agencies and partners,” said MDCPS director of communications Alex Gilbert.

Advocates for reform, including De Gruy and foster parent Kim Jordan, say confidentiality rules and inconsistencies among counties are among the youth court system’s biggest problems. 

As someone who has attended youth court proceedings across the state, Jordan said every court is different. Many Mississippi youth courts rely on part-time referees rather than full-time judges. She said the lack of consistency sometimes creates difficulties for her and other court participants. 

“Jackson County has an incredible (court-appointed) guardian. She works there full time. She is the best,” Jordan said. “Then you can go to some other counties where you don’t know who you’re going to get. They have three or four (judges), and they’re hard to reach, and you don’t know which one you have because every youth court’s different.” 

De Gruy said courts with referees often have difficulty meeting regularly, leading to major delays in judgments for families. 

“We have youth courts that meet once a month, and so that delays being able to get matters before them,” De Gruy said. “You couldn’t have motion hearings on a regular basis (without a full-time judge).” 

While youth court proceedings generally have been closed to the public under Mississippi Law, SB 2001 would make many of those proceedings public. Supporters say greater transparency and consistency would improve accountability and due process throughout the system. 

Youth court confidentiality laws were originally intended to protect minors’ privacy. Advocates argue that publicly accessible records can surface in background checks years later, even when they are outdated or inaccurate. According to a 2016 report by the Juvenile Law Center, only 10 states, including Mississippi, provide blanket confidentiality in their youth court systems. All other states have provisions allowing some or all youth court records to be publicly accessible. 

While De Gruy acknowledged confidentiality is intended to protect children’s privacy, he said withholding information in practice causes more harm than good. 

“It’s developed into something that is actually being used against children and families in the sense of (the courts) have evidence they claim supports the government’s action in taking the child, but by not sharing it, the family can’t defend against it or the child can’t defend against it,” he said. 

Confidentiality requirements affect life outside the courts as well. Jordan, who has fostered 39 children across Mississippi, said her ability to advocate for them is hampered by the law’s confidentiality requirements. She said, in addition to the typical consequences for breaking confidentiality, judges can strip foster parents of their right to foster. 

“It’ll get me in trouble as a foster parent for talking about specific cases that come up because they’re identifiable and there’s secrecy there,” Jordan said. “If I can’t even talk about something terrible that happened to a child under my care … there’s nobody to stand up for them.”