By Expanding Family Support, South Carolina Aims to Reduce Use of Foster Care

This blogpost profiles the efforts of the South Carolina Department of Social Services to reform its child welfare system as part of the Thriving Families, Safer Children initiative. This initiative blends resources from the U.S. Children’s Bureau, philanthropies, and non-profits to create collaborative solutions that promote equity, strive to meet families’ needs, and aim to bolster child and family well-being. The South Carolina model, funded in part by the 2018 Family First Prevention Services Act, has three goals: lower the number of youth in foster care by enhancing local prevention strategies, support kinship caregivers in the absence of parents, and reduce the use of group placements (otherwise known as congregate care).