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Mississippi moves from last to 33rd in developmental screenings of kids

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Mississippi moves from last to 33rd in developmental screenings of kids

by Sara DiNatale, Mississippi Today
April 20, 2023

For years, Mississippi children were more likely to miss out on early childhood development screenings than anywhere else in the country.

But after a $17-million federal grant and the work of a state health childhood development project, Mississippi’s early childhood screening rate shot up from dead-last to No. 33, according to ranking by the National Health Foundation. This means more children are receiving screenings designed to catch delays before they turn into serious problems later.

Dr. Susan Buttross, the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s director of the child development clinic, called it an unprecedented improvement.

“But we’re not done yet,” Buttross said.

Ultimately, most kids in Mississippi, and nationwide, still aren’t being screened.

Despite the end to the five years of federal funding that created the project to grow the number of early childhood screenings – dubbed Mississippi Thrive! – Buttross and her team are continuing their work as the Early Childhood Development Coalition. Buttross, the director of the coalition, said she’s garnered enough financial support to keep their work going while seeking more stable funding over the next year. 

“Many times when we get grant money to work on a project, the work is done in a sort of silo fashion,” Buttross said. “The grant goes away and the work stops. But one of the benefits with this project was that part of the project was to really collaborate and work with other entities in the state.” 

That means even with the official project over, the mission is still well alive. 
That level of collaboration the project fostered, Buttross said, is what led Mississippi from having only 17% of children undergo developmental screenings in 2016 to 34.1% in the most recent data set available. At that rate, Mississippi is less than a single percentage point away from the national average. 

“There is a great deal of data that shows children do better if they enter school healthy and ready to learn,” Buttross said. “The earlier you discover speech or language delay … and the earlier you correct them, the child is going to be way better off.” 

The “Thrive!” project was a joint effort between the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University to educate pediatricians, nurse practitioners, social workers, childcare providers and parents on the importance of developmental screenings and how to conduct them.

The screenings are most commonly done by pediatric physicians. Ideally, doctors are checking with parents at their babies’ 3, 18 and 30-month checkups. Physicians are working off a checklist of age-appropriate milestones from eye contact to leg kicks, according to Dr. Ruth Patterson, a pediatric specialist at UMMC in the coalition with Buttross. 

“A screening does not make a diagnosis,” Patterson said. “But it discerns if a child is at risk for a developmental delay.”

Often, speech delays are tied to hearing problems – but without the screening questions, a parent might not realize their child isn’t meeting the appropriate language benchmarks. 

Titanna Brown holds her daughter, 9-month-old Nova Brown, during a childhood development screening at the Batson Kids Clinic in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, April 18, 2023.

During the five-year project, Buttross, Patterson and others created a hands-on pilot program to show how much working directly physicians could improve screening rates and outcomes. The pilot focused on 31 physicians in six clinics between Jackson and the Gulf Coast. 

The physicians who underwent that training improved their developmental screening rate to 85%. 

“We went directly to these primary care provider offices to make sure we provided them with tools and training,” Patterson said. “We know the capability is there if the providers are provided with the right support.” 

Some pediatricians in the state were trained years ago, and simply aren’t aware of the latest screening methods and tools.

Ideally, the screenings take place in a doctor’s office, said pediatric nurse practitioner Lauren Elliott. 

“But we have engaged across communities, in whatever circles parents are in, we are trying to engage them,” Elliott said. “We have them complete a questionnaire to give them an idea.”

If parents find their child isn’t meeting the benchmarks mentioned on the form, they’re more likely to get into a doctor’s office. But even those with the best intentions are likely to face barriers. 

In Mississippi, many children don’t have a primary care doctor. Some counties in the Delta don’t have a single pediatrician, and parents don’t have the means to travel far with their children for checkups. An urgent care or emergency room is handling a specific emergent health issue, not checking in on milestones. 

Even if a physician screens a child, it may be difficult to get a referral to a specialist.

White children, insured children, children from an English-speaking household, or a higher-income home are all more likely to be screened, according to the National Health Foundation.

In Mississippi, federally funded child care centers called Head Start centers fill some of those gaps, completing 30% of the state’s overall screenings despite comprising only 10% of the state’s childcare center, according to a 2021 study by the Children’s Foundation of Mississippi. 

Despite the five-year project concluding, much of the work is just starting, according to the coalition.  

The Legislature, Buttross said, allocated funds to support a fellowship to train early childhood specialists, something federal funds once covered. The $1.2 million appropriation to UMMC supported fellows who will graduate this June. The same funding was approved again this most recent session to train another eight fellows arriving in the coming academic year, though the bill has not yet been signed by the governor. 

The “Thrive!” website is still active and a trove of information for both parents and physicians with support from the state’s human services office. 

All positive steps, Buttross said, but not enough. 

“There has not been enough funding to our early intervention programs,” she said. “We fund it with far less dollars than any of the surrounding states.”

And it’s the children who lose out without early intervention. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

1964: Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party was formed

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April 26, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-26 07:00:00

by Jerry Mitchell, Mississippi Today
April 26, 2025

April 26, 1964

Aaron Henry testifies before the Credentials Committee at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

Civil rights activists started the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge the state’s all-white regular delegation to the Democratic National Convention. 

The regulars had already adopted this resolution: “We oppose, condemn and deplore the Civil Rights Act of 1964 … We believe in separation of the races in all phases of our society. It is our belief that the separation of the races is necessary for the peace and tranquility of all the people of Mississippi, and the continuing good relationship which has existed over the years.” 

In reality, Black Mississippians had been victims of intimidation, harassment and violence for daring to try and vote as well as laws passed to disenfranchise them. As a result, by 1964, only 6% of Black Mississippians were permitted to vote. A year earlier, activists had run a mock election in which thousands of Black Mississippians showed they would vote if given an opportunity. 

In August 1964, the Freedom Party decided to challenge the all-white delegation, saying they had been illegally elected in a segregated process and had no intention of supporting President Lyndon B. Johnson in the November election. 

The prediction proved true, with white Mississippi Democrats overwhelmingly supporting Republican candidate Barry Goldwater, who opposed the Civil Rights Act. While the activists fell short of replacing the regulars, their courageous stand led to changes in both parties.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Mississippi River flooding Vicksburg, expected to crest on Monday

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April 25, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @alxrzr – 2025-04-25 16:04:00

by Alex Rozier, Mississippi Today
April 25, 2025

Warren County Emergency Management Director John Elfer said Friday floodwaters from the Mississippi River, which have reached homes in and around Vicksburg, will likely persist until early May. Elfer estimated there areabout 15 to 20 roads underwater in the area.

A truck sits in high water after the owner parked, then boated to his residence on Chickasaw Road in Vicksburg as a rising Mississippi River causes backwater flooding, Friday, April 25, 2025.

“We’re about half a foot (on the river gauge) from a major flood,” he said. “But we don’t think it’s going to be like in 2011, so we can kind of manage this.”

The National Weather projects the river to crest at 49.5 feet on Monday, making it the highest peak at the Vicksburg gauge since 2020. Elfer said some residents in north Vicksburg — including at the Ford Subdivision as well as near Chickasaw Road and Hutson Street — are having to take boats to get home, adding that those who live on the unprotected side of the levee are generally prepared for flooding.

A rising Mississippi River causing backwater flooding near Chickasaw Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.
Old tires aligned a backyard as a deterrent to rising water north of Vicksburg along U.S. 61, Friday, April 25, 2025.
As the Mississippi River rises, backwater flooding creeps towards a home located on Falk Steel Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

“There are a few (inundated homes), but we’ve mitigated a lot of them,” he said. “Some of the structures have been torn down or raised. There are a few people that still live on the wet side of the levee, but they kind of know what to expect. So we’re not too concerned with that.”

The river first reached flood stage in the city — 43 feet — on April 14. State officials closed Highway 465, which connects the Eagle Lake community just north of Vicksburg to Highway 61, last Friday.

Flood waters along Kings Point Road in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

Elfer said the areas impacted are mostly residential and he didn’t believe any businesses have been affected, emphasizing that downtown Vicksburg is still safe for visitors. He said Warren County has worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to secure pumps and barriers.

“Everybody thus far has been very cooperative,” he said. “We continue to tell people stay out of the flood areas, don’t drive around barricades and don’t drive around road close signs. Not only is it illegal, it’s dangerous.”

NWS projects the river to stay at flood stage in Vicksburg until May 6. The river reached its record crest of 57.1 feet in 2011.

The boat launch area is closed and shored up on Levee Street in Vicksburg as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
The boat launch area (right) is closed and under water on Levee Street in Vicksburg as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
City of Vicksburg workers shore up the bank along Levee Street as the Mississippi River rises, Friday, April 25, 2025.
The old pedestrian bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Vicksburg, Friday, April 25, 2025.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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With domestic violence law, victims ‘will be a number with a purpose,’ mother says

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24 hours ago

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April 25, 2025

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mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-25 15:07:00

by Mina Corpuz, Mississippi Today
April 25, 2025

Joslin Napier. Carlos Collins. Bailey Mae Reed. 

They are among Mississippi domestic violence homicide victims whose family members carried their photos as the governor signed a bill that will establish a board to study such deaths and how to prevent them. 

Tara Gandy, who lost her daughter Napier in Waynesboro in 2022, said it’s a moment she plans to tell her 5-year-old grandson about when he is old enough. Napier’s presence, in spirit, at the bill signing can be another way for her grandson to feel proud of his mother. 

“(The board) will allow for my daughter and those who have already lost their lives to domestic violence … to no longer be just a number,” Gandy said. “They will be a number with a purpose.” 

Family members at the April 15 private bill signing included Ashla Hudson, whose son Collins, died last year in Jackson. Grandparents Mary and Charles Reed and brother Colby Kernell attended the event in honor of Bailey Mae Reed, who died in Oxford in 2023. 

Joining them were staff and board members from the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the statewide group that supports shelters and advocated for the passage of Senate Bill 2886 to form a Domestic Violence Facility Review Board. 

The law will go into effect July 1, and the coalition hopes to partner with elected officials who will make recommendations for members to serve on the board. The coalition wants to see appointees who have frontline experience with domestic violence survivors, said Luis Montgomery, public policy specialist for the coalition. 

A spokesperson from Gov. Tate Reeves’ office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Establishment of the board would make Mississippi the 45th state to review domestic violence fatalities. 

Montgomery has worked on passing a review board bill since December 2023. After an unsuccessful effort in 2024, the coalition worked to build support and educate people about the need for such a board. 

In the recent legislative session, there were House and Senate versions of the bill that unanimously passed their respective chambers. Authors of the bills are from both political parties. 

The review board is tasked with reviewing a variety of documents to learn about the lead up and circumstances in which people died in domestic violence-related fatalities, near fatalities and suicides – records that can include police records, court documents, medical records and more. 

From each review, trends will emerge and that information can be used for the board to make recommendations to lawmakers about how to prevent domestic violence deaths. 

“This is coming at a really great time because we can really get proactive,” Montgomery said. 

Without a board and data collection, advocates say it is difficult to know how many people have died or been injured in domestic-violence related incidents.

A Mississippi Today analysis found at least 300 people, including victims, abusers and collateral victims, died from domestic violence between 2020 and 2024. That analysis came from reviewing local news stories, the Gun Violence Archive, the National Gun Violence Memorial, law enforcement reports and court documents. 

Some recent cases the board could review are the deaths of Collins, Napier and Reed. 

In court records, prosecutors wrote that Napier, 24, faced increased violence after ending a relationship with Chance Fabian Jones. She took action, including purchasing a firearm and filing for a protective order against Jones.

Jones’s trial is set for May 12 in Wayne County. His indictment for capital murder came on the first anniversary of her death, according to court records. 

Collins, 25, worked as a nurse and was from Yazoo City. His ex-boyfriend Marcus Johnson has been indicted for capital murder and shooting into Collins’ apartment. Family members say Collins had filed several restraining orders against Johnson. 

Johnson was denied bond and remains in jail. His trial is scheduled for July 28 in Hinds County.  

He was a Jackson police officer for eight months in 2013. Johnson was separated from the department pending disciplinary action leading up to immediate termination, but he resigned before he was fired, Jackson police confirmed to local media. 

Reed, 21, was born and raised in Michigan and moved to Water Valley to live with her grandparents and help care for her cousin, according to her obituary. 

Kylan Jacques Phillips was charged with first degree murder for beating Reed, according to court records. In February, the court ordered him to undergo a mental evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial, according to court documents. 

At the bill signing, Gandy said it was bittersweet and an honor to meet the families of other domestic violence homicide victims.

“We were there knowing we are not alone, we can travel this road together and hopefully find ways to prevent and bring more awareness about domestic violence,” she said.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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