September 24, 2026
For a parent who has spent months trying to get someone to listen, Montgomery can feel a long way away.
The phone calls, the meetings, the paperwork and the court dates usually happen somewhere closer to home. Families sit across from county workers, attorneys and judges and try to make sense of a system that can quickly become overwhelming. By the time their concerns reach the state level, many parents are exhausted from trying to be heard.
That is why the upcoming meeting of the Alabama State Board of Human Resources is worth paying attention to.
The State Board is scheduled to meet Thursday, October 22, 2026, at 10 a.m. at the Gordon Persons Building Board Room, 50 N. Ripley Street in Montgomery. The meeting information is posted on the Alabama Department of Human Resources website.
A flyer being circulated ahead of the meeting carries a message directed toward families and community members: “Your Voice Matters.”
The flyer encourages people affected by Alabama’s child welfare system to attend the meeting and explains that the purpose is not to ask the Board to decide individual court cases. Instead, it describes attendance as a way to bring greater visibility to concerns that families say can otherwise remain at the county level and never reach Montgomery.
That distinction matters.
The State Board is not a family court, and attending a meeting does not give the Board authority to change an individual judge’s order. But the Board is part of the state’s DHR structure, while DHR itself describes its programs as being administered through county offices with support from the state office in Montgomery.
For families who have spent years dealing with the child welfare system, that can make the state level feel important in a different way.
It is one thing to tell your story inside a county office.
It is another thing to walk into a state building in Montgomery and sit among the people responsible for overseeing the agency that operates those offices.
The current State Board is chaired by Governor Kay Ivey and includes Wayne Sellers, Leslie D. Sanders, Kathy Sawyer, Charles R. Nash, Ed.D., Joseph Morton, Ph.D., and Elizabeth C. Smithart.
There is no promise that simply attending a meeting will resolve a family’s concerns. There is no guarantee that every complaint will result in an investigation or a change in policy.
But there is something significant about being present.
Families have questions. Some have concerns about how their cases were handled. Others want to understand how decisions are made, who is responsible for oversight and where they are supposed to turn when they believe something has gone wrong.
Those questions do not disappear simply because a case leaves the county office.
For the families who choose to make the trip to Montgomery, October 22 will be an opportunity to see the state board’s work firsthand and to make themselves visible in a room where statewide DHR business is taking place.
The next Alabama State Board of Human Resources meeting is:
Thursday, October 22, 2026
10:00 a.m.
Gordon Persons Building Board Room
50 N. Ripley Street
Montgomery, Alabama 36104
Families vs. DHR will continue to follow the meeting and share information as it becomes available.
For some families, showing up may mean a long drive, a day away from work or simply walking into a room where they have never been before.
But sometimes, before anyone hears what you have to say, they have to see that you are there.
