Some children spending less time in foster care, By Ron Barnett, October 17, 2012, Greenville News: “The state Department of Social Services has stepped up the rate of moving long-term foster children back with their parents or to adoptive families by 50 percent in the past fiscal year, a trend that has drawn both praise and criticism. DSS increased the number of foster children moving into permanent homes from 789 in 2010-11 to 1,184 in the 12-month cycle that ended June 30. Nearly two-thirds of the children who left long-term foster care during the year went to adoptive families rather than being reunited with their biological family, according to DSS figures. Faster movement through the foster care system is part of a national trend, but South Carolina had the second-highest percentage drop in the nation in the number of children in foster care between July 2011 and July 2012, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services…”
Tag: South Carolina
Welfare-to-Work Program – South Carolina
DSS: SC welfare-to-work program exceeded goal, By Seanna Adcox (AP), October 2, 2012, The State: “The director of South Carolina’s social services agency said Tuesday more of its clients are getting jobs and coming off welfare rolls. But an advocate for the poor says that doesn’t mean they’re making a livable wage. Department of Social Services Director Lillian Koller said nearly 12,300 people stopped receiving welfare payments between September 2011 and June through its welfare-to-work program. That’s more than double the number during those months a year earlier and exceeds Koller’s goal by 22 percent. Koller said the more important figure is the 21,000 children whose parents are now working and can break the cycle of poverty…”
Welfare-to-Work Program – South Carolina
More welfare recipients transitioning to employment, By Gina Smith, August 9, 2012, The State: “An increasing number of South Carolinians are getting off welfare and into jobs, according to the S.C. Department of Social Services, which oversees the state’s welfare-to-work program. More than 10,600 South Carolinians got off welfare and got jobs in the 10-month period that ended June 30, according to the agency. That is more than double the 5,060 individuals who transitioned from assistance to work in 2010. Doubling the number was a top goal of new Social Services director Lillian Koller, who told the agency’s staff to change the way it was serving welfare clients…”