With one effort that might have helped Natchez’s Sunshine Shelter dead in the state Legislature, Director Gail Healy is still optimistic about the shelter’s future.

Still, she said the shelter has operating money only through the rest of the year. After that, the shelter’s board of directors might have to consider other options for services.

The Sunshine Shelter for Abused and Neglected Children has been open since January 1999, and has been accepting children since May.

But the shelter, built to house up to 12 children ages infant to 12 for 45 days at a time, has never been filled. The shelter serves a 14-county area, including Adams County.

Healy believes children in allegedly abusive situations are being placed with other family members before a suitable background check is performed.

For example, she said, &uot;My concern is that places like Lincoln County, which has the highest number of reported incidents (of child abuse) hasn’t sent a single referral.&uot;

So this year Sen. Bob M. Dearing, D-Natchez, proposed a bill that would have made mandatory background checks for people – even family members – who take in suspected abused children. But the bill died in committee.

Dearing said he and Healy met with state Department of Human Services officials who said the background checks are enforced now.

&uot;Criminal background checks have to be done by the FBI and they could take up to a week,&uot; Dearing said.

But under federal law, Dearing said, children must be placed in the &uot;least restrictive environment&uot; – which most often is the nearest relative.

And while most relatives will offer a safe environment, Healy’s fear is the exception to the rule – a relative who would provide an environment as bad as the one the child is taken from.

One person opposed to the bill, Jim McCullough of Pike County Volunteers for Children, said the bill would have limited options for Department of Human Services and Youth Court workers, even in an emergency situation.

He said he doesn’t want to see children &uot;whisked away to Natchez&uot; to stay in the shelter temporarily.

&uot;It’s already traumatic enough for a child to be taken out of the home,&uot; he said.

McCullough’s group is working to build an emergency shelter for children ages infant to 18 that would serve Pike, Walthall and Marion counties.

He said he wished Natchez’s Sunshine Shelter could take children over age 12.

But Healy said her shelter isn’t big enough to handle children in an older age group – and she wants to save the younger children before they become older delinquents.

But despite the bill’s failure to make it to a vote, Healy is staying optimistic about the shelter.

&uot;We’re going to keep the shelter open until the end of the year,&uot; Healy said. &uot;That’s what my budget allows. Then I will definitely think about redirecting our services.&uot;

Operated by the non-profit Fertile Ground Inc., the Sunshine Shelter project was born in 1998 with a $150,000 donation from Doris Buffett Bryant’s Sunshine Lady Foundation. Trinity Episcopal Church serves as Fertile Ground’s non-profit charter. The shelter receives $55 a day for each child and also gets financial help through donations and sales at the SunDay Best thrift store.

The shelter is one of two shelters in Mississippi exclusively for children ages infant to 12.

Healy said the shelter has been housing more children in the last two months. Last week, nine were living there.

&uot;I’m encouraged because the social workers of Adams County are beginning to utilize us,&uot; Healy said. &uot;It’s a step in the right direction.&uot;