Gulfport, Miss. — Children in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services have been kept for weeks, months and in some cases more than a year in hotel rooms watched by hired sitters, some of whom were never background-checked by the state. One 14-year-old girl walked away from a Gulfport hotel and, she later told investigators, was kidnapped, raped and trafficked for about four months. On Oct. 5, the Harrison County Board of Supervisors declared an emergency.
The resolution, adopted unanimously, says “children are dying and being sold into human trafficking and not being protected,” according to WXXV News 25. It asks Gov. Tate Reeves, the state attorney general and the MDCPS commissioner to act immediately.
$34 million on hotel rooms and sitters
A WLOX investigation published Sept. 23 found MDCPS has spent more than $34 million since 2022 on hotel rooms and the private companies that staff them. Four private caregiver companies have billed the state nearly $32 million since 2023, and one company’s contract cap rose from $6 million to $18 million to $28 million in under two years, WLOX reported.
One company, Care4All, does not appear on the state transparency site; MDCPS told WLOX it has no contract with the firm because sitter services are paid by invoice. Its owner, Sandi Seymour, said MDCPS never required background checks for her caregivers. She was blunt about the business.
These children are really like prisoners of the state.
Sandi Seymour, owner of Care4All, to WLOX
If I’m being very honest, as a business person, it absolutely works in my benefit.
Sandi Seymour, to WLOX
What the federal monitor found inside Mississippi hotel placements
A report by the court-appointed monitor in the long-running Olivia Y. v. Reeves case, filed July 29, found at least 155 children spent time in a hotel or motel during a nine-month window of 2025, across 260 stays, WLOX reported. Stays ran from one day to 479 days. Children as young as 7 were held; all eight children ages 7 to 10 had diagnosed special needs. Safety issues were resolved on time in just 10.4% of 346 cases.
The incidents in the report read like a list of everything a child should never face in state care:
- A sitter supervising a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old used illegal drugs on duty, took the youths on an unapproved visit, and later tested positive for cocaine and methamphetamine.
- An 18-year-old alleged she was sexually assaulted by a 16-year-old after sitters let them wander into woods near a hotel; the accused teen denied it, and the sitters were found to have neglected supervision.
- A sitter reportedly waited about eight hours to contact authorities after a 17-year-old left a hotel room in the early morning.
- An 18-year-old with significant mental health needs had 15 hotel stays in 2025, one lasting seven months.
Mississippi Public Broadcasting reported the monitor identified 48 children maltreated while in state custody during the reporting period, while the agency itself had reported only 25 to 30. Marcia Lowry, the attorney who brought the lawsuit, told MPB: “And these are all items the state agreed to do. And the state is not doing that.”
The Gulfport girl who vanished from a CPS hotel
According to the Harrison County resolution, as reported by WXXV and WLOX, a 14-year-old girl was reported missing from CPS custody on Sept. 29, 2025, near Highway 49 in Gulfport. She and her brother had reportedly been staying in a hotel with a CPS caregiver. A Gulfport police officer found her on Jan. 22, 2026, in a room at the Red Roof Inn. She told investigators she had been kidnapped, raped and trafficked by a group of adults for roughly four months. Seven adults have been arrested on charges including human trafficking, kidnapping, extortion and forcible rape.
Harrison County says no one told them
MDCPS describes hotel stays as “emergency placements” used only when no other bed is available. Commissioner Andrea Sanders declined WLOX’s interview requests. County leaders said the practice was hidden from them.
Nobody knew about it. I didn’t know they were housing children in hotel rooms.
Tim Holleman, Harrison County board attorney, to WLOX
Supervisor Rebecca Powers told WLOX that “CPS spends millions to hold these children like prisoners in hotel rooms all around us.” According to the resolution, children in these rooms cannot leave without supervision and some cannot attend school. As of WLOX’s Oct. 6 report, the governor’s office, the attorney general and MDCPS had not responded.
FAN’s view is simple: the state took these children from their families promising safety, then left them in hotel rooms with paid strangers. Every one of them deserves to know why removal was necessary in the first place, and why kin and family were not the first call.
Key facts
- Agency: Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS)
- Spending: More than $34 million since 2022 on hotel rooms and private sitter companies (WLOX)
- Scale: At least 155 children, 260 hotel stays in nine months of 2025; longest stay 479 days
- Harm: Monitor found 48 children maltreated in custody; agency had reported 25 to 30 (MPB)
- Trafficking: 14-year-old missing from a Gulfport hotel placement; seven adults charged
- Response: Harrison County Board of Supervisors declared an emergency Oct. 5, 2026
Sources
- WLOX — ‘Held like prisoners’: State spends millions keeping kids in hotels, fails to keep some safe (2026-09-23)
- WXXV News 25 — Harrison County Board of Supervisors asks for State CPS audit (2026-10-05)
- WLOX — Harrison County declares CPS ’emergency,’ demands state action following WLOX investigation (2026-10-06)
- Mississippi Public Broadcasting — Mississippi monitor warns foster children remain at risk as state seeks to end federal oversight (2026-08-04)
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