S. 154 (Act 24) Interscholastic Activities – (2015-2016) Allowed the State Board of Education to grant waivers of the requirements if a student’s ineligibility to participate in interscholastic activities is due to a long-term absence as a result of a medical condition.
S. 198 (Act 2) Beginner’s Permit, Instruction Permit, or Driver’s License for Minors – (2017-18) Helps foster parents get their foster kids a driver’s permit. Deleted the term “Instruction Permit” and revised the list of persons who must sign the application of any unemancipated minor for a Beginner’s Permit or Driver’s License to include a representative of the Department of Social Services if the minor is in state custody.
S. 805 (Act 160) Department of Children’s Advocacy – (2017-18) Created the SC Department of Children’s Advocacy and consolidated the following divisions into the department: Continuum of Care, the Cass Elias McCarter Guardian Ad Litem Program, and the Foster Care Review Board.
S. 196 (Act 33) Underage Marriage – (2019-20) Raised the minimum age of marriage to 16 years old with parental consent and abolished the “pregnancy loophole” for younger minors.
S. 222 (Act 168) Kinship Care Program – (2021-22)
Allows relatives and fictive kin (an individual who is not related by birth, adoption, or marriage to a child/family but who has an emotionally significant relationship with the child/family), to become a kinship foster parent and provides for a process to enable relatives and fictive kin to become licensed foster parents.
S. 1025 (Act 212) Birth Certificates for Foster Kids – (2021-22)
Provides a process by which DSS may obtain birth certificates for foster children on behalf of the foster parent to assist with necessary functions like registering for school, enrolling in sports, and other programs. It further helps with the identification of homeless youth through this process.
S. 342 (Act 23) Homeless Youth Definitions – (2023)
This legislation adds three definitions related to homeless youth to the Children’s Code. including “unaccompanied homeless youth”, “homeless child or youth”, and “youth at risk of homelessness. These definitions will help us accurately identify, count, and provide services to these youth so that they can avoid the path to human trafficking which is far more likely when you are not on our radar and can more easily disappear between the cracks.
S. 380 (Act 25) Kinship Guardianship Assistance – (2023)
The Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program (GAP) expands upon the Kinship Care legislation passed in the 2021-22 session and signed into law. This makes it even easier for those kinship care families to take on a child, even if, for various reasons, they are unable or unwilling to seek the termination of parental rights and adopt the child. This adds a tool to the toolbox to help keep kids in a safe and healthy environment.