Analysis: Lawmakers pass third child-protection bill

By Jack Elliott
Sun Herald
April 27, 2014

http://www.sunherald.com/2014/04/27/5526993/analysis-lawmakers-pass-third.html

JOHN FITZHUGH/SUN HERALD Tonya McCaw of Birmingham hugs her adopted son, Lonnie Smith, during the Crime Victims' Rights Ceremony at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Ocean Springs on Tuesday April 8, 2014. McCaw helped care for--and later adopted--Smith after he was the victim of child abuse. Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2014/04/27/5526993/analysis-lawmakers-pass-third.html#storylink=cpy

AMANDA McCOY/SUN HERALDTanya McCaw, left, holds her new son, Lonnie Smith, 8, while sitting with her other children, Whitney Stutzman, center, and Madison Stutzman, 14, during Jackson County's mass adoption celebration on Nov. 8. McCaw and her husband, Greg, met Smith nearly five years ago while visiting him in the hospital. The Lonnie Smith Act, which was named for him and reformed the felony child abuse law in the state, was signed by Gov. Phil Bryant earlier this year. Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2014/04/27/5526993/analysis-lawmakers-pass-third.html#storylink=cpy

JACKSON -- Beginning July 1, Mississippi mental-health professionals will report if a committed person has children or has visitation with minors. The information goes the Mississippi Department of Human Services, the agency responsible for child-protection issues.

The new law is the third in three years enacted by lawmakers for the protection of children.

Rep. Nick Bain, D-Corinth, said the new law can help prevent children from being left in the care of a mentally ill parent. Bain, the lead sponsor of House Bill 810, describes it as another means of reporting possible child-endangerment situations.

It took a tragedy in Alcorn County to spur action.

Eleven-year-old Andrew Loyd, after whom the new law is named, was killed by his father, Billy Loyd, in their Farmington apartment in 2012. Bain said the killing occurred about three days after Loyd was released from the community mental-health center. Loyd took his own life after killing his son.

Just months before the killing, Loyd was involved in a standoff with police at their Farmington apartment while Andrew was at home. Loyd voluntarily checked into a mental-health clinic after surrendering, but was cleared and left a few days later to return to the home he shared with his son.

"We're aiming to find out on the front end whether someone going through the commitment process has children," Bain said. "It is just another question the person screening an individual will ask."

Human Services spokeswoman Julia Bryan said the agency is "making sure our policy is in line with the intent of the legislation and will be fully prepared to implement any changes necessary."

Bain said the law addresses when someone is committed, when they go through a pre-evaluation, and under the bill, the patient must answer more questions than they do now.

"It asks if you're married and stuff like that, but it doesn't ask if you have any children. So we mandate now for it to ask if you have any children and your access to them," Bain said. "Basically we're just trying to get the notice out."

Under current law, the Human Services department has authority to investigate and determine if the child is in danger and should be placed in protective custody or with another relative.

"In my view, there is not enough reporting when it comes to protecting children," Bain said.

Bain's bill comes on the heels of child-protection legislation enacted in 2012 and 2013.

Gov. Phil Bryant signed the Child Protection Act in 2012. The law specifies child abuse is suspected, "mandatory reporters" such as any "health care practitioner, clergy member, teaching or child care provider, law enforcement officer, or commercial image processor" must report their suspicions to police.

Any mandatory reporter who fails to report suspected child sexual abuse will be fined $500 on first offense. Penalties rise to $5,000 fines and one year in jail for third and any subsequent offenses.

Bryant signed the "Lonnie Smith Law" in 2013. The law was named for the Jackson County boy who is a wheelchair user for life after his mother put him in a bathtub of scalding water several times in 2008.

Supporters of the law said it bridges the gap between the medical and legal definitions of child abuse.

It takes a stair-step approach to penalizing those found in violation of the law. It also ties the criminal act with the injury suffered by the child to reach an appropriate legal punishment.

Sylvia Smith, the boy's mother, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.