Mississippi Code
Miss. Code Ann. § 97-5-1 (2026)
Abandonment of child under age six
✓ current as of July 2026
If the father or mother of any child under the age of six years, or any other person having the lawful custody of such child, or to whom such child shall have been confided, shall expose such child in any highway, street, field, house, outhouse, or elsewhere, with intent wholly to abandon it, such person shall, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not more than seven years, or in the county jail not more than one year.
Codes, Hutchinson's 1848, ch. 64, art. 12, Title 3 (32); 1857, ch. 64, art. 57; 1871, § 2528; 1880, § 2752; 1892, § 1001; 1906, § 1078; Hemingway's 1917, § 805; 1930, § 824; 1942, § 2050.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 14
cases, 1997–2016 · leading case: Gunter v. Gray, 876 So. 2d 315 (Miss. 2004).
Gunter v. Gray, 876 So. 2d 315 (Miss. 2004). “[5] Abandonment under Miss.Code Ann. § 97-5-1 makes it a crime to leave a child on the street, or elsewhere, with the intent to abandon it.”
In re the Adoption of a Minor Child, 931 So. 2d 566 (Miss. 2006). “Section 93-15-103, includes not only the defined criminal offense of abandonment, see Miss. Code Ann. § 97-5-1 , but also includes “any conduct by a parent which evinces a settled purpose to forego all duties and relinquish all parental claims to the child.”
Brown v. State, 102 So. 3d 1087 (Miss. 2012). “, Miss.Code Ann. §§ 97-5-1 (abandoning a child under six), 97-5-3 (deserting, neglecting, or refusing to support child under eighteen), 97-9-55 (threatening or influencing judges), 97-27-14 (endangerment by bodily substance), 97-29-61 (voyeurism).”
May v. Harrison Cnty. Dep't of Human Servs., 883 So. 2d 74 (Miss. 2004). “2003) provides, in pertinent part, the grounds for termination of parental rights: (3) Grounds for termination of parental rights shall be based on one or more of the following factors: (a) A parent has deserted without means of identification or abandoned a child as defined in…”
Henderson v. State, 89 So. 3d 598 (Miss. Ct. App. 2011). “2006) and of child abandonment under Mississippi Code Annotated section 97-5-1 (Rev. 2006), for having left Polk’s nine-month-old child alone in a vehicle with the child’s deceased mother.”
Hillman v. Vance, 910 So. 2d 43 (Miss. Ct. App. 2005). “Mississippi Code Annotated Section 93-15-103 outlines the grounds which may be considered in terminating parental rights as follows: (3) Grounds for termination of parental rights shall be based on one or more of the following factors: (a) A parent has deserted without means of…”
Pritchett v. Pritchett ex rel. in the Interest of Pritchett, 161 So. 3d 1106 (Miss. Ct. App. 2015). “[[Image here]] (3) Grounds for termination of parental rights shall be based on one or more of the following factors: (a) A parent has deserted without means of identification or abandoned a child as defined in Section 97-5-1, or (b) A parent has made no contact with a child…”
Dr. K.B. v. J.G., 9 So. 3d 1124 (Miss. 2009). “Section 93-15-103(3) provides, in relevant part, the following as criteria for involuntary termination of parental rights: (a)A parent has deserted without means of identification or abandoned a child as defined in Section 97-5-1, or (b) A parent has made no contact with a child…”
McGrew v. State, 733 So. 2d 816 (Miss. 1999). “1998), and §§ 97-5-1 et seq. (Rev.1994 & Supp. *820 1998)), be eligible for expungement when an arrest was made, the person arrested was released and the case was dismissed or the charges were dropped or there was no disposition of such case.”
H.D.H. v. Prentiss Cnty. Dep't of Human Servs. ex rel. Malone, 979 So. 2d 6 (Miss. Ct. App. 2008). “2004) provides the following grounds on which termination of parental rights shall be based: (a) A parent has deserted without means of identification or abandoned a child as defined in Section 97-5-1, or (b) A parent has made no contact with a child under the age of three (3)…”
Barbara Ann Gunter v. Theresa Dawn Hill Gray (Miss. 2001). “5 Abandonment under Miss. Code Ann. § 97-5-1 makes it a crime to leave a child on the street, or elsewhere, with the intent to abandon it.”
Adams v. Tupelo Child.'s Mansion, Inc., 185 So. 3d 1070 (Miss. Ct. App. 2016). “[[Image here]] (3) Grounds for termination of parental rights shall be based on one or more of the following factors: (a) A parent has deserted without means of identification or abandoned a child as defined in Section 97-5-1, or (b) A parent has made ho contact with a child…”
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