CHILD WELFARE | JudgeDickinson.com

Making a Difference - Eight Years of Progress!

CHILD WELFARE

Became a Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) Practitioner through Texas Christian University (2021).
Serves on the Commission on Children’s Justice.
Serves on the Judicial Leadership Council for National CASA/GAL.
Serves on the State Intervention Court Advisory Committee.
Appointed by the Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court to serve as a member of the Mississippi Task Force on Foster Care and Adoption, created by the Mississippi Legislature in 2023.
Selected as a 2023 recipient of the Angels in Adoption award by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.

Secured Harrison County's first $828,000 Family Intervention Court Grant (2020) from Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to address parental substance use in child abuse and neglect cases.
Purchased a Transportation Van to assist families who struggle with transportation challenges.
Hired a Peer Support Specialist with personal experience in substance use disorder.
Established Harrison County's first Visitation Center/Playground and Resource Center, enabling parents to have extended visits with their children for longer than CPS’s two hours per month limit.
Secured Harrison County's first $65,000 Plans of Safe Care Grant (2025) with New Allies, Youth Villages and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.
Implemented the Life Skills Reimagined Program to teach essential life skills to parents and juveniles.
Implemented the nationally recognized Safe At Home Approach in child welfare cases, integrating in-home service for biological families’ homes, resulting in the safe reduction of Harrison County children in CPS custody from 792, to under 240.
Established Harrison County's first Resource and Assessment Center (the first of its kind in the State of Mississippi) and collaborated with Choices to create a screening tool for children to be assessed, referred, and connected with needed services.
Partnered with CASA of South Mississippi to bring a Courthouse facility dog to Harrison County, supporting minors testifying in Youth Court and Circuit Court.
Partnered with Judge Trent Favre (Hancock County Youth Court), CASA of South Mississippi, and Texas Christian University to bring Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.