If you want to face the people who run Alabama’s child welfare system, there is only one room where you can do it. It is not in your county. It is in Montgomery, and it only opens four times a year. This is how to get in, what to expect when you do, and how to walk out having actually been heard.
Why Montgomery, and why it matters
Alabama DHR does not hold county-wide meetings. There is no Houston County meeting, no Dale County meeting, no local room where you can walk in and face the people who run your case. The State Board of Human Resources, the board that governs the whole system, hires the commissioner, and approves the budget, meets in Montgomery. That room is the only place citizens can stand before it.
The board meets quarterly, four times a year, which is why every single meeting matters so much. Miss one, and you wait months for the next chance. There is no option to join this meeting virtually, even though it is 2026, and no recording is posted after unless someone in the room streams it themselves. If you are not in that room, you do not hear it, and you are not heard.
That is why we drove to Montgomery, and why we are asking you to plan to drive, or carpool with someone from your community, next time.
Where and when
The meeting is held in the Board Room of the Gordon Persons Building, 50 North Ripley Street, Montgomery, Alabama 36130. Meetings have started at 10:00 a.m. Central Time.
The next meeting date has not been announced yet. We checked the Alabama Open Meetings site, and as of October 26, 2026, no future DHR board meeting notice was posted. Sign up for updates through the link at the end of this guide, and we will share the next date as soon as it is announced.
Before you go
Come early, and come patient. Parking near the building is limited, and paid parking is the norm. Bring a photo ID. You need it to get a name badge, and without the badge, we do not believe you can get in.
Bring water, a pen, and your notes. Write down what you want to say in three minutes or less, because that is all the time you will get. If you have documents, bring copies, and keep your originals.
What happens when you arrive
You will go through security, including metal detectors, then check in at the information desk in the lobby. Public visitors wait in the lobby until they are called in. At the October 22, 2026 meeting, the sign-in sheet showed only a few names at 9:55 a.m., media were taken in first at 10:02 a.m., and the public was called in at about 10:06 a.m.
Once inside, staff walk you down a hall and through a locked door into a room with only so many seats. Sign the list if you want to speak. You get three minutes, and names are called in the order people signed in.
About the seats, read this before you go
There are only so many seats, and more citizens want in than the room holds. Once you have spoken and heard what you came to hear, if you are ready to go, please consider offering your seat to someone who has never been, so they can hear it for themselves.
Just know this before you do: once you walk out, you do not get back in for that meeting, even if there are empty chairs. At the October meeting, five people who left could not return. Make it a gift you mean, not a kindness you regret. Pass the seat to a first-timer, and let them hear what you just heard.
Do not expect an agenda
The public does not get an agenda at this meeting. Asking for a copy was like pulling teeth, and it never happened. Do not count on a printed program to follow along. Bring your own notes, and write down what is said while you are in the room, because there will be no recording to check later.
Our honest take
We tell you all of this so you walk in ready, not so you stay home. The room was not full. It should be.
It is open to the public, yet it is very much controlled. It still toes the line of private, and it is heavy with deterrents to the community. The parking, the badge, the locked door, the few seats, the missing agenda: every step is a filter, and every filter keeps somebody home. That is exactly why we must continue to show up and speak up, and let the individuals who sit at that table know that we know the game they are playing. They hold the power to address the local offices planted in our communities, and they refuse to. They claim they have no control over what these offices are doing, and we are here to tell you that is a flat out lie. We see it, we name it, and we will keep walking into that room until they answer for it.
Plan for the next meeting
Sign up for updates here: https://familiesvsdhr.com/email-list/
We will share the next meeting date as soon as it is announced, plus everything you need to walk in ready. Join us as we Unmask Alabama DHR.
If DHR has hurt your family, or if you tried to report and nothing happened, share your story here: https://familiesvsdhr.com/submit-your-story/
Note: Gov. Kay Ivey chairs the State Board of Human Resources now. After the November 3 election, the next governor will chair that board, either Tommy Tuberville or Doug Jones, the two leading candidates for governor.