Whether the product of petty retribution in what was a publicly contentious legislative session or due to lawmakers sincerely believing some things should not become law, plenty of bills died at the Mississippi capitol during the waning days of the regular session.
Of those bills that will more than likely have to wait until next year to be brought up again, the failure of legislation allowing parents of adults with developmental disabilities to continue receiving child support after the age of majority has Sen. Nicole Akins Boyd “frustrated in all kinds of ways.” The Republican from Oxford, who is the mother of a child with special needs, wrote the bill after hearing concerns from other parents within her community.
According to Boyd, divorce rates among families in Mississippi who have disabled children is as high as 87%. This often results in one parent bearing primary caretaker duties and the other paying child support until their child turns 21, which under state law is the age of majority and when a person gains full adult status. As is the case in many situations, people with developmental disabilities are unable to carry out the adulthood responsibilities required of someone with no developmental disabilities, meaning they often continue living with their parents or family members well into, if not for the entirety of, their adulthood.
Thus, parents are tasked with financially supporting their disabled children for much longer than parents of children with no disabilities. In the case of a divorced couple with a disabled child, the one required by a judge to pay child support only has to pay until the child reaches the age of 21, leaving the primary caretaker to front the entire financial burden for however long afterward.
“We have to make sure people are taking care of their children. I’m outraged a little bit,” Boyd said after the bill died. “This is not right in the state of Mississippi. I’m frustrated in all kinds of ways. Simply because your child turns 21, that doesn’t mean their disability goes away. That disability continues.”
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