Several children are being adopted by their long-time foster parents as part of a mass adoption event this week, including 9-year-old McKyla Marie Myers of Jackson. The adoption was overseen by Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Tiffany Grove.
She says “How special that I get to sign this on Valentine's Day, a day that we express love. Let’s celebrate the Myers family.”
McKyla is being adopted by her now-father, Robert Myers. He says McKyla has been with his family for around seven years and is proud of her growth in that time.
“She knows how to communicate in various environments because of the interaction that she’s had with myself, my family, as well as CPS. It has turned her into a real gem,” says Myers. “She is magical in her own blessed way.”
The Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services has partnered with the Mississippi College School of Law and the Hinds County court system to expedite the process for adoption as part of a year-long effort to get children into permanent homes. CPS Commissioner Andrea Sanders says the legal process behind adoptions can often be drawn out and inefficient.
“We’ve clustered several cases so the court can carve out docket space, and the spaces are not just waiting on the next available spot. And M.C. Law has again brought like six students that are learning how to do this kind of work, the importance of the work, and also are actually helping make adoptions happen,” says Sanders.
Several bills in Mississippi’s legislature could help further expedite the adoption process and grant CPS more autonomy as an agency.
