DSS: Lawsuit over SC kids’ basic needs should be dismissed

Social services officials are seeking dismissal of a lawsuit accusing South Carolina’s child welfare agency of endangering children in its care.

“Plaintiffs’ claims are nothing more than a veiled attempt at asking this Court to instruct the Governor and the Director how to manage the Department and to order the South Carolina General Assembly to allocate additional funds to the Department,” attorneys for the Department of Social Services wrote in court papers filed this week.

Attorneys for director Susan Alford also said federal courts have no jurisdiction over the issues. The children mentioned in the suit, they noted, all have active family court cases, and it’s there that complaints should be handled. In a separate filing, Gov. Nikki Haley says she should be dismissed from the case because she doesn’t oversee DSS and only appoints its director.

Last year, two advocacy groups – Children’s Rights and the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center – sued DSS and Haley, saying the agency failed to provide 11 children with basic health care and the right kind of attention.

One 16-year-old girl has been through at least a dozen placements in about eight years, according to the lawsuit, and was told by a caseworker that she was in a group facility because the agency didn’t have enough foster homes. Other children were reportedly denied necessary therapy for months, abused by caretakers and kept from siblings also in the system.

According to the lawsuit, South Carolina’s caseloads can be two or three times those of national and state standards, with some caseworkers having 60 or 70 children at a time.

The lawsuit echoed findings in an October Legislative Audit Council report, which said DSS relied heavily on unreliable data, failed to request extra money and ignored growing problems. The audit also said the agency didn’t do enough to ensure children are placed in safe homes.

The audit also found DSS failed to properly investigate abuse allegations and child deaths. DSS said last fall it was aware of problems and welcomed any help it can get.

Alford was easily confirmed earlier this year to lead the agency. Amid bipartisan calls for her ousting, former director Lillian Koller resigned last year, insisting for years she didn’t need additional money or manpower.

In this year’s budget request, the agency had sought for its child-welfare division money for 277 additional employees – 73 percent of them caseworkers and supervisors. It also requested money for 35 additional vulnerable adult caseworkers and 22 more people to inspect daycare providers.

The House’s budget proposal, approved last week, pays for less than half the requested additional child-welfare workers. The House plan instead funds 120 caseworkers total, as well as the 22 daycare inspectors. But the proposal doubles employees’ pay raises.

This story was originally published March 20, 2015 at 8:19 PM with the headline "DSS: Lawsuit over SC kids’ basic needs should be dismissed."