The state’s system for protecting abused and neglected children is broken. And a series of stories in the Sun Herald newspaper highlighted just how terrible things are.

The newspaper spent over a year interviewing people whose lives were torn apart by the Department of Human Services. Some of their stories are beyond believable.

One Hancock County couple had their five children taken from them for assigning “too much homework” to their daughter. The caseworker told the couple they were isolating the 6-year-old by requiring her to spend too much time on homework, the newspaper reported.

The couple’s method of disciplining their daughter when she didn’t want to do homework was directed by a child psychiatrist from the state, according to the story.

The state never fully explained why the other four children were taken from them. The saddest part of this incredibly sad story is that all five children were taken to different foster homes. A family was ripped apart by a state system that not only fails abused or neglected children, but families that have no business being in the system.

Think about how horrible it would be to have your children taken from you and placed in the homes of strangers because you tried to make your daughter do her homework.

The couple recorded a conversation with their caseworker. The newspaper reported it in the series. Below is a snippet of that conversation.

Caseworker: “But if your children are honor roll, gifted children and one child is not doing her homework in a 30-minute time frame but she meets all other criteria, why take away a snow cone, why take away recess?”

The parents’ reply: “Are you serious?”

This conversation actually happened, and the people who lead DHS should take a hard look at how it trains its caseworkers and how they are supervised.

Parents have every right to take away a snow cone or recess as a method of disciplining their children. That the state would think otherwise and remove children from their parents because of it is government intrusion at its worst.

Fortunately, the youth court in Hancock County ordered CASA (court appointed special advocates) to look into the case. Fortunately, someone at CASA saw the mistake and urged the court to rectify it. The children were returned to their parents but only after spending four months in the foster care system.

The Sun Herald deserves credit for bringing this story — and the others in the series — to light.

This should be a wake-up call to those who think the broken system doesn’t affect them. It affects all of us. Mississippi’s families deserve better than this.