Foster Kids Count Reports grew out of a need to provide the public with a more vivid and accurate picture of the foster care system in South Carolina. Please select the South Carolina Foster Kids Count report information you would like to view:
2003 Reports:
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23 Largest Counties Now Available:
Aiken Anderson Beaufort Berkeley Charleston Chesterfield
Colleton Darlington Dorchester Florence Greenville Horry
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For 2003 information about the remaining 23 counties, check the Facts About Foster Kids section.
2002 Reports:
- South Carolina State report for 2002
- Individual County reports for 2002
- County Ranking Sheets for a Selected Topic
About Foster Kids Count:
- Foster Kids Count Introduction
- Historical Development of the Foster Care Review Board
- Organization of the Foster Care Review Board
- Glossary
- Acknowledgements
Additional Information
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever does." Margaret Mead
Who was important to you growing up? For most of us, the answer is simple: the people in our family. Unfortunately, many children in South Carolina do not have this simple answer. Through no fault of their own, family becomes a confusing concept with many different meanings and many different faces. Although foster care was designed to be a temporary situation for children who must be removed from their homes, too many of these children lose their childhood waiting for permanent families.
The Foster Care Review Board provides an external system of accountability and advocacy for children and families involved with the foster care system. The Review Board looks at the entire system affecting the children and their families, identifies deficiencies, and advocates for due process and quality service delivery. Post-review referrals and advocacy are made to address identified concerns and to advocate for permanence for children in our foster care system.
To recruit more advocates for children and families we will all need to give the public a more vivid and accurate picture of the foster care system in South Carolina. When all is said and done, each one of us must become personally responsible for these children's lives. We must realize that these children become a part of the future we have planned for our own children. If we value an atmosphere of trust and understanding, then we must first choose to create such an atmosphere for our children: all of our children.
To do this, we must work together. Only then will we make a difference in the lives of children and families across South Carolina.THE FOSTER KIDS COUNT REPORTS
The Foster Kids Count report profiles the status of children in out-of-home placements in five major areas: length of stay in care, number of placements experienced while in care, recidivism rates, whether permanency is achieved upon leaving care, and areas of concern cited by the local Review Board members at childrens' reviews. Additionally, the reports provide demographic information concerning the age, gender and race of children in out-of-home placements.The report shows that these children still need everyone's help. Too much of their childhood is being spent in out-of-home placements. Too many children move from one placement to another. Too many children return to care. Too many children age out of the system. And too many children do not get a "forever family" when they leave the system.
The report tells us:
- Children are spending nearly 1/5th of their childhood in out-of-home placements, damaging their normal development as stable, secure individuals.
- Children are living in 5 different places while in care, further affecting their ability to learn, establish relationships and develop normally.
- 32.7% of South Carolina's children in out-of-home placements leave care without being placed in a family environment, the single most important influence in a child's life.
- Of the children 16 years of age or older who left care, 74.5% aged out of the system.
- Girls were more likely to age out of the system, comprising 60% of the children aging out, compared to 40% of the boys.
- 1 in 5 children in out-of-home placements had been in care before.
- 3 in 4 children had at least one area of concern cited by Review Board members at their review.
No single factor causes children to stay longer in care than necessary, or change placements or not achieve permanency. The reasons are many, and therefore, the opportuntites for making improvements are many. We as child advocates can make a difference in the lives of these children. . . one child at a time.
SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
Foster Kids Count defines and describes the status of South Carolina children in out-of-home placements to provide an accurate and up-dated picture of these children to the public. It is hoped that these reports will provide policy makers and child advocates with the necessary information to better the lives of these children.
DATA DEVELOPMENT
Foster Kids Count quantifies the situation of children in out-of-home placements in terms of absolute numbers and percentages by age, race and gender subgroups. The Foster Kids Count data comes directly from information obtained by Review Board Members and staff at individual case reviews of children who are in the child welfare system. This information is updated every six months, or whenever a child's case comes up for review. Additional information is provided from the Health and Demographics section of the Office of Research and Statistics, in the South Carolina Budet and Control Board.
THE FOSTER KIDS COUNT PARTNERSHIP
The Review Board remains committed to working collaboratively with South Carolina Kids Count, the Department of Social Services, Guardian ad Litem programs, local Foster Parent Associations, Department of Health and Human Services, and other child welfare entities to address systemic issues impacting the child welfare system.
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ORGANIZATION
There are thirty-seven local review boards across the state that conduct semi-annual case reviews of all children who have resided in foster care more than four consecutive months. There is at least one local review board in each judicial circuit. The number of boards is determined by the number of children who are in foster care in each circuit. Each local board is comprised of five members who must be residents of the circuit they represent. The 185 local board members are appointed to serve on local boards by the Governor upon the recommendation of their legislative delegations. Utilizing local citizens in the review process for children in foster care promotes community awareness and responsibility for addressing the problem of child abuse and neglect.
The Foster Care Review Board is supported by a seven member State Board. The State Board meets quarterly and is responsible for reviewing and coordinating the activities of the local review boards and making recommendations in an annual report to the Governor and the General Assembly with regard to foster care policies, procedures, and identified deficiencies of agencies which arrange for foster care of children. The State Board makes recommendations regarding the foster care system based on trends noted subsequent to the statistical analysis of deficiencies identified during individual case reviews conducted by local review boards. The State Board is also responsible for promulgating regulations, upon recommendation of the Division Director, to carry out the mission of the organization.
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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
During the early 1970's in South Carolina, many child welfare professionals and citizen groups began advocacy efforts on behalf of children in the foster care system. These efforts began as a result of their concern over the plight of the child adrift in the foster care system. The ultimate accomplishment of these efforts was the establishment of the South Carolina Children's Foster Care Review Board System in 1974, the first such organization in the nation.
Six major private organizations between 1970 and 1974 spearheaded the initial efforts to obtain permanent homes for children in foster care. These organizations were the American Civil Liberties Union, the South Carolina Council for Human Rights, the South Carolina League of Women Voters, the Midlands Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, the South Carolina Youth Workers Association and Helping Hands of Aiken County. Child psychiatrists, child psychologists, social work professors, law professors, and various church leaders also participated as private citizens to help give direction to the project.
Research to document the condition of foster care in South Carolina was a primary focus of these organizations. Four studies were done in cooperation with Representative Carolyn Frederick, Vice-Chairperson of the South Carolina General Assembly's Study Committee on Legal and Legislative Matters Pertaining to Children. The results of these four studies showed the following:
- Seventy-six percent (76%) of the children in the Department of Social Services foster care program would neither return home nor be adopted under the existing system. Services were not being provided to the parents by the system to facilitate return home, and no efforts were made to free many children eligible for adoption under the abandonment statute.
- A survey of fourteen private and three public institutions, formerly known as orphanages, showed that the Department of Social Services placed forty-three percent (43%) of the children while private placements accounted for fifty-seven percent (57%) of the children placed. Twenty to fifty percent (20-50%) of these children were eligible for adoption under the abandonment statute; however, none of these institutions stated that adoption was one of their services. In addition, most of these institutions offered no services to families to enable these children to return home.
- Forty-three percent (43%) of the children in foster care had been in two or more foster placements and eighteen percent (18%) had been in three or more.
- No method existed to keep track of children in foster care. The courts expressed concern about children being lost in the system. Even when children were freed for adoption, the courts had no way of knowing if the children had been placed adoptively.
- The cost to taxpayers for keeping children in foster care was growing steadily with no resolution in sight.
- Children were suffering irreparable psychological damage as victims of foster care drift.
The findings from these studies clearly indicated the need for a system to monitor the cases of children in foster care to achieve appropriate permanent placements for these children. Thus, a statewide foster care review board system was legislated by the 1974 General Assembly. In March of 1975, Governor James Edwards, by Executive Order, established the Office of Child Advocacy as a division of the Office of the Governor. This Executive Order charged that the Office of Child Advocacy establish and coordinate the Children's Foster Care Review Board System and act as ombudsman on behalf of the abused, neglected, abandoned, and dependent children of the State. The initial funding for the Review Board System, as part of the Office of Child Advocacy, was shared by the State and the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation.
The Children's Foster Care Review Board System was fully funded by the General Assembly as a separate state agency in 1977. The Office of Child Advocacy existed as a program of the Review Board System until 1980, at which time it was returned to the Governor's Office. While a part of the Review Board System, the Office of Child Advocacy conducted an ombudsman program for children in general and a training program in the prevention and identification of child abuse and neglect for hospitals and other organizations upon request.
In 1985, the Review Board System was placed under proviso legislation in order to restructure and reorganize the Agency. Permanent legislation and regulations passed by the General Assembly in 1986 restored the Agency to permanent status. South Carolina state government restructuring in July 1993 returned the Foster Care Review Board to the Governor's Office as a separate division under the Office of Executive Policy and Programs.
The Division of Foster Care Review is currently comprised of a staff of twenty-one serving thirty-six review boards across the State. The Review Board System reviews the cases of approximately 5,000 children in foster care bi-annually; statistically evaluates the state of foster care in South Carolina; and makes recommendations to the Governor, the General Assembly and child-caring facilities as outlined by South Carolina law.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Foster Care Review Board would like to take this opportunity to express their appreciation to Dr. A. Baron Holmes, Kim Hazel , Anne Wilson and Yoanna Yoon at the SC Kids Count Project for their support, assistance and encouragement in the development of the Foster Kids Count reports.
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LINKS
- Children's Defense Fund - http://www.childrensdefense.org
- National Kids Count Project - http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/index.htm
- South Carolina Guardian ad Litem Program - http://www.govoepp.state.sc.us/children/guardian.htm
- South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services - http://www.dhhs.state.sc.us
- South Carolina Kids Count Project - http://www.ors.state.sc.us/kc.html
- South Carolina Department of Social Services - http://www.state.sc.us/dss
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