A New Chapter for Sunnybrook
For more than 60 years, Sunnybrook Children’s Home has provided stability for Mississippi’s most vulnerable youth.
“Now, with a new state license in hand, Sunnybrook is ready to expand that care to not only more children but also to families across the state,” says Sunnybrook’s Interim Executive Director Ron Veazey.
In September, the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS) awarded a contract to Sunnybrook to serve as a licensed foster care agency. The designation means Sunnybrook is now part of a select group of partner organizations entrusted with recruiting, training, and licensing foster families statewide.
The partnership expands foster care capacity in an already maxed-out system and marks an important step toward much-needed reform.
A Step Toward Reform
MDCPS Commissioner Andrea Sanders said the contract represents more than expansion:
“It represents innovation and collaboration at a time when Mississippi needs it most. Sunnybrook’s leadership and vision reflect the kind of forward-thinking partnership required to transform outcomes for our most vulnerable children. Together, we are building a foundation of hope, healing, and stability.”
This new licensing allows Sunnybrook to be a model for foster care reform in Mississippi.
Policy Changes to Support Families
To make foster care more accessible for Mississippi families, MDCPS has enacted several policy changes designed to lower barriers for prospective foster parents, including:
- Expanded online training options
- Updated household guidelines, dropping the requirement that foster parents be married and welcoming single, married, and divorced applicants
- Increasing the total number of children allowed in a foster home to six (including biological, adopted and foster children)
- Removing the fingerprinting requirement for children ages 14-17
- Streamlining the licensing process overall
Sunnybrook plans to build on these changes—and the expected increase in licensed foster families—by offering wraparound training, trauma-informed care, mentorship programs, and community-based supports that extend beyond licensure.
Building a Support Network for Foster Families
Ron also underscored that in Mississippi, the average foster parent’s involvement lasts only about eight months because families simply aren’t receiving the support they need. As a result, finding and retaining enough foster families for the more than 4,000 children in care remains a significant challenge.
And Mississippi is not alone.
“Every child protective services organization in every state faces the same issue and that is how to care for the thousands of children in their custody as well as how to care for the foster parents before they reach burnout.”
Veazey continued, “Our goal is to help foster families serve longer by giving them access to the resources, amenities, quality services, and community support they otherwise would not have—strengthening their commitment, sustaining their involvement, and ultimately creating better outcomes for the children in their care.”
Rick and Kim Jordan—teachers, longtime foster parents, and part of Sunnybrook’s pilot foster family community living on campus—have fostered 36 children. They emphasized how essential additional organizations like Sunnybrook are to the system.
“CPS is a massive organization, and they are great, but they can only do so much. Having Sunnybrook come alongside them is huge,” Kim Jordan said.
What Sunnybrook’s Role Looks Like
By partnering with MDCPS as a licensed agency, Sunnybrook is stepping up not only to license foster homes but to redefine how children and families are supported across the state.
As partners, Sunnybrook will take on an expanded role providing caseworkers, conducting annual inspections, and managing yearly certifications for the families and children that they serve.
“We are so excited because we can do that,” Veazey said. “We have the bandwidth, and our campus has amenities that make it a one-stop, hub campus.”
Sunnybrook’s Foster Family Campus (FFC) Ministry is strengthening the pipeline of volunteers and foster families to reduce burnout, sustain capacity, and improve outcomes for foster parents and youth in Mississippi’s foster care system.
“This is about more than paperwork,” Veazey said. “It’s about surrounding foster families with the same love, care, and resources that we ask them to provide, and working toward a future where every child in Mississippi has a safe place to call home.”
Expanding the Mission
Although the contract covers the entire state, Sunnybrook will begin focusing on three surrounding counties, with the goal of licensing at least 10 families within the first year. From there, the organization will expand statewide, meeting key benchmarks along the way.
“Sunnybrook’s mission has always been to create safe, stable, and nurturing environments for children,” said Dwayne Blaylock, President of Sunnybrook’s Board of Directors. “This new role allows us to multiply our impact by equipping families, building community pipelines, and meeting one of Mississippi’s most urgent needs with faith, excellence, and compassion.”
Sunnybrook has already begun licensing its first families, each representing another child who can find safety, stability, and belonging. This new chapter reflects Sunnybrook’s unwavering commitment to restoring hope and building stronger families, one home at a time.
For more information on how to get involved, please contact us at sunnybrookms.org/contact.