The agency was monitored in 113 areas, including properly investigating reports about children in foster care and providing timely medical attention to them. In 2018, 37 of these requirements were met by the agency. CPS didn’t fulfill 37 of those requirements in 2018. According to the report, this failure “creates blindspots that impair MDCPS Management’s ability to manage the Department and ensure safety, well-being, and permanence of children consistent with (its agreements),” said Wayne Drinkwater, cocounsel for Bradley Arant. Although the agency admitted its weaknesses, it said that it had not been given the resources or time to meet the requirements. Lea Anne Brandon (director of communications at CPS), stated that Mississippi’s leading child welfare agency had made substantial improvements in its efforts to protect at-risk, abused, and neglected children. However, she acknowledged that it still needs to do more to meet the requirements of the settlement agreement in long-standing Olivia Y litigation. Since its inception, the agency has argued that it is underfunded. The Senate Appropriations Committee was shocked to hear from Jess Dickinson, the agency commissioner. He stated that CPS had a $39million deficit for 2018. However, attorneys for plaintiffs questioned whether Mississippi was doing enough with the $39 million it had received. They suggested that the court appoint an external receiver to manage the agency. Marcia Lowry, an attorney representing plaintiffs, stated that although we don’t know where money for Mississippi’s foster care system is going it is certain not going to protect children. “It’s now that the federal court must act. We will provide documentation showing how unsafe and unprotected Mississippi children are today.” This report is a major blow to an agency which has been through a number of high-profile battles in the past two years. Lowry wrote the court in March 2018 a letter of non compliance. He claimed that the agency failed to have enough caseworkers to monitor children in foster care. Buck Clarke (R-Hollanddale), Senate Appropriations Chair, stated in January that the deficit of nearly $40 million was “just kind of blowing us away.” “Everything that we had heard up until that point was that this agency was fine.” This report outlines the issues with child supervision that are the root cause of the original Olivia Y. lawsuit. Six children in foster care sued Mississippi in 2004 for failing to provide adequate care for their children in state custody. Olivia Y., a 3-year old girl, was so neglected by her foster parents that she weighed 22 pounds when the state intervened. The plaintiffs, collectively known as Olivia Y., were ruled in favor of the federal court. The settlement completely remade the agency and made staffing requirements one pillar of the new agency. The new Department of Child Protection Services was created by the Legislature in 2016. From all appearances, the agency appeared to be on the right track. In the following year, David Chandler, the former commissioner, received a national award to improve the state system. Gov. Phil Bryant praised Dickinson and the agency. Lowry has made it clear that she is concerned about Dickinson’s leadership. She also requested that Dickinson be replaced by the governor in 2018. Gov. Bryant declined to accept the position and expressed his confidence in the commissioner’s leadership. “We were optimistic about the progress in 2015 and 2016, but Jess Dickinson took office late 2017, and a very strong management team has resigned, and the state seems to be moving backwards.”