South MS home with mentally ill residents needs to get licensed or close, lawsuit says

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South MS home with mentally ill residents needs to get licensed or close, lawsuit says

A Gulfport woman is operating a personal care home for vulnerable adults without a license, says a nonprofit group that has filed a lawsuit asking that a judge order her to get licensed within 60 days or close.

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has filed the lawsuit in Harrison County Circuit Court in Gulfport. The group wants the judge assigned to the case, Larry Bourgeois, to permanently stop Debra Fox from operating an unlicensed personal care home on 39th Street in Gulfport. Disability Rights also filed a lawsuit against Fox in 2022, asking that she be forced to license or close two other personal care homes in the city.

Fox never responded to the first lawsuit, according to Circuit Court records. As a result, Judge Lisa Dodson entered a default judgment, ordering that the two homes be licensed or closed. It’s unclear if they are still operating in Gulfport.

The attorney for Disability Rights Mississippi, Greta Kemp Martin, said in an interview Friday that her group has no legal authority to enter the homes without permission and they’ve been unable to gain access to the Fox homes that were the subject of the previous lawsuit.

Martin said her group is hoping state law will change so that a law enforcement agency with regulatory teeth, such as the Attorney’s General’s Office, can force entry to homes operating statewide without licenses. Martin said the homes are supposed to get licenses if they are caring for four or more adults.

She said many unlicensed personal care homes take in intellectually disabled or mentally ill residents, charge for room, board and care, then fail to take care of them, even denying them enough to eat. She was not specifically referring to Fox.

“This is a statewide issue,” she said. “It’s hard to put a number on unlicensed personal care homes because they pop up so frequently.”

Lawsuit cites personal care home issues

Disability Rights was appointed by the governor to serve as the state’s protection and advocacy system for Mississippians with disabilities. But the agency has no regulatory authority. Even so, Martin has been filing lawsuits to try and force homes to get licenses, with 12 active lawsuits in various parts of the state.

“With this lack of licensure comes the freedom to treat residents as they see fit, shirk any responsibility to maintain appropriate documentation and dodge any requirements to report its operations,” the lawsuit filed against Fox says.

Kemp said in the interview: “It’s hard to put a number on unlicensed personal care homes because they pop up so frequently.”

Fox is operating through nonprofits called Alpha Generation Ministries or X-Generation Ministries, the lawsuit says. The two nonprofits are also defendants in the current lawsuit.

A representative of Disability Rights was allowed entry to the 39th Street home on a date the lawsuit doesn’t disclose. The home had five residents, the lawsuit says, but only two bedrooms. Reports indicated that up to seven residents had lived at the home, the lawsuit says.

Communications with residents and reports to the Mississippi Health Department, which licenses personal care homes, indicated the home accepted money for room, food and care. However, “residents report that the home lacks food and medical supplies despite these payments.,” the lawsuit says.

It indicates the home provides personal care to residents, including those who are functionally impaired and require mental health services.

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