Professor Wins 2025 CAST Crusader Award for Child Advocacy

Digby, an instructional assistant professor of social work at the University of Mississippi, helped develop the university's child advocacy studies minor program, known as CAST. She also recently helped launch the CARES (Child Advocacy Response and Education for Scholars) Club to engage students in supporting children and families affected by abuse and neglect.

Her work has been instrumental in building the Ole Miss program and the Mississippi Academic Pathways Title IV E Program, said Keith Anderson, chair of the Department of Social Work.

"Her work and dedication over her career to the children and families of Mississippi will reverberate for years to come and she is so deserving of this prestigious award," Anderson said.

The MAP program is a grant through the Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services and part of a collaboration of seven public universities. It uses federal funding to assist college students majoring in social work.

It also provides internship opportunities with the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services at no cost for taxpayers, according to the Magnolia Tribune.

Digby's career began in 1984, when she joined the Department of Child Protective Services. After eight years, she moved to a private agency specializing in therapeutic group homes, foster care and adoption services for two decades.

In 2012, she began training veteran and new CPS social workers through a grant from the university. She joined the Ole Miss faculty in 2017 and teaches at the university's Tupelo regional campus.

Students keep Digby motivated, she said.

"I really love the students," she said. "I love working with them, watching their desire grown to learn about child abuse and neglect. They learn what to look for, as far as signs and symptoms, and hopefully this knowledge will allow them to make a difference in eradicating child abuse and neglect."

As part of CAST, students gain hands-on experience in simulation labs at the Tupelo and Oxford campuses. They conduct mock interviews with actors portraying caregivers in labs that simulate clients' homes in scenarios.

The labs may include substance abuse materials such as pill bottles, alcohol and paraphernalia, items that a social worker walking into a home should notice to assess risk to children and families.

"We also do simulations in a hospital setting – furnished by our community partners – where a child may come in for bruising or life-threatening situations, and then social worker was called in to assess whether or not the child is in danger," Digby said. "We also go to court with the local youth court judge who presides over the child abuse/neglect cases.

"We have also visited the local Children's Advocacy Center and observed a mock forensic interview of a child. These experiences have just been amazing for these students in partnership with the child advocacy center."

Digby works to encourage more students to pursue careers in child protective service work. The state faces a large backlog of cases and more professional social workers are needed to help families and children in Mississippi.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts a deficit of 74,000 social workers each year for the next decade, highlighting a critical need for solutions, according to the Columbia School of Social Work.

"These children and families need professional social workers who have a heart for the job and these students can be that professional person a lot of times," Digby said. "We need more people in social work, especially child welfare.

"We need more people working to help with abuse and neglect and a lot of people think they can't do it, but you can, and CAST helps students realize the need."

Top: CAST students from the university's Tupelo regional campus congratulate Patricia Digby (center, white dress) on winning the 2025 CAST Crusader Award at the One Loud Voice Conference at the Beau Rivage Conference Center. The Children’s Advocacy Centers of Mississippi presented the award in honor of Digby's decades of work in child welfare and social work education in the state. Photo by Breanna Little/Children’s Advocacy Centers of Mississippi