Editorial: SC leaders must overhaul crumbling DSS
THE CRISIS at the S.C. Department of Social Services isn’t as bad as we thought. It’s worse.
The child-welfare agency is incapable of providing consistent, reliable, credible protection of our state’s children. That’s the regrettable takeaway from a Legislative Audit Council report released last week. Given the findings, it is difficult to express any real confidence in the agency’s ability to save children from abuse and neglect — or worse.
Gov. Nikki Haley and the Legislature must make overhauling the agency a priority. The governor must acknowledge that the agency is crumbling and in need of a permanent director with strong leadership skills and expertise in child welfare. She and the Legislature also must acknowledge that DSS long has been starved of money and support needed to carry out its difficult mission. And lawmakers must be willing to make changes in law that allow the agency to do its job more effectively.
It is urgent that we correct the failings that leave cracks in the protection system through which far too many children and families are falling.
The cracks are significant:
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While we believe former director Lillian Koller contributed to the current problems at DSS and needed to resign, we’re well aware of the complexities of running this agency and of the fact that things didn’t get into this dire situation overnight.
First of all, DSS is a difficult agency to run. In the best of circumstances, children are going to be hurt; some are going to die. But the state must minimize tragedy by eliminating bad policies, preventable errors and breakdowns in the system.
Secondly, this state’s leaders have ignored clear signs of trouble at DSS — from budgetary woes to policy, operational and personnel problems — for years. While that neglect had taken its toll, the agency’s decline accelerated under Ms. Koller’s leadership.
Previous audits found some of the same deficiencies included in this most recent report; it is inexcusable that those problems have been allowed to linger and, in some cases, worsen. But those who would suggest that a failure to do the right thing in the past somehow justifies failing to do what is right now are dead wrong.
Yesterday is gone. It is imperative that today’s leaders seize this opportunity to confront and resolve what has become one of this state’s most shameful problems. And they must do it in a hurry while acting with due care so as not to make make long-lasting mistakes or create new problems.
We understand the paradox in that statement, but that is the fix this state has put itself in: Some of the changes needed at DSS will take time and thoughtfulness, but taking too long further endangers children’s lives.
This story was originally published October 8, 2014 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Editorial: SC leaders must overhaul crumbling DSS."