EPIC FAIL

Back in September this website reported on the initial failure of a new foster home licensing unit run under the auspices of the scandal-scarred South CarolinaDepartment of Social Services (SCDSS).

Theunit a centerpiece of then-governor Nikki Haleys administration intendedto license 1,500 new foster families in the Palmetto State by the end of the 2016-2017 fiscal year.

That deadline arrives tomorrow

How did SCDSS do? Not well although lets be honest, considering this agencys long history of abysmal outcomesdid anyone expect them to hit the mark?

Of course not

Sources within the agency tell us new foster home licensing fell well shy of the 1,500-mark. In fact, one source told us they would be surprised if the agency managed to license 250 new homes under the program announced by the ex-governor.

Lawmakers familiar with the program told us privately that SCDSS wound up far below the original goal set by Haley although in fairness one legislator acknowledged the former governors target was unrealistic.

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Translation? This was a political promise designed to generate positive media headlines not something Haley ever intended to actually do.

According to the SCDSS website, there are currently 1,544 foster homes in the Palmetto State and nearly 3,000 children in need of placement. More relevant to our reporting, documents obtained from sources at the agency showa shortage of 1,347 homes in regular care and another 200 in therapeutic care. Add those numbers together and you are looking at roughly the same number of new homes Haleys licensing program was supposed to approve.

Despite multiple invitations to offer comment or provide information on a host of recent stories, SCDSS has consistentlyrefused to acknowledge this websites existence which we suppose we canunderstand. Weve been very hard on the agency over the years, so its not surprising that its leaders are not especially eager to accommodate our requests.

If we do not hear back from the agency by the end of the week, though, we will submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking specificdata related to this program.

Of further interest? SCDSS seems to be scrambling in an effort to pick up the pieces related to this failed program. According to an internal agency communicationobtained by this website, the new licensing unit is being broken up into regions and every region is getting (its own) placement center.

What a mess not to mention an expensive internal restructuring job.

SCDSS received $713.5 million in the budget for the fiscal year that ends tomorrow (June 30). Thats an increase of a little over three percent from the previous fiscal years budget of $692.1 million. In the coming fiscal year beginning July 1, the agency is slated to receive $734.6 million a roughly identical percentage increase.

None of those totals include the estimated $1.3 billion the agency doles out annually in food stamps, either. That particular line item was surreptitiouslyremoved from the state budget by lawmakers back in 2014.

SCDSS was an unmitigated disaster under Haley most notably as it related to multiple instances in which vulnerable children wererepeatedly placed in abusive homes. But the agencys failure has been much bigger and broader than that even after the former governorwas forced to fire her first rock star agency director.

Stay tuned we plan on continuing to investigate this latest SCDSS debacle and providing our readers with as much information as we are able to uncover.

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SC Foster Care Debacle - FITSNews