Summerville Journal Scene ®

With all the discussion in the media centered on the stimulus debate, I wanted to take a moment to bring to your attention a bill that passed the General Assembly this year that is good for our most vulnerable citizens – children in our foster care system. On June 2, 2009, Governor Sanford signed the Responsible Birthfather Registry Act into law. This new law should shorten the amount of time that foster children remain in the DSS system and consequently save the state millions in foster care support payments.    In South Carolina, there are over 6,000 children in our foster care system because of alleged abuse or neglect. Sadly, many of these children have fathers whose whereabouts are unknown because that father has not taken an active parental role in that child’s life.  Often DSS adoptions are delayed for…

Task Force on Children in Foster Care and Adoption Services

Submitted to Governor Mark Sanford

February 1, 2008

Executive Summary

Children who are abused, neglected, or abandoned by their parents or children whose parents’ personal problems prevent them from providing adequate care, may enter the foster care system. The State of South Carolina currently has over 5,400 children in foster care. Each case represents tragedy in various forms – but mostly to the children who are torn from their normal surrounds, suddenly separated from their birth parent and sent to live in foreign circumstances while the adults and courts spend months or years deciding where these children should be. These children often experience emotional, behavioral, and health problems that are reflective of their dysfunctional home life. Systemic…