Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect

Two recent unpublished termination of parental rights opinions that should have been published

Posted Thursday, April 2nd, 2015 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions

Within the past week the South Carolina Court of Appeals has issued two unpublished opinions reversing two family court decisions to terminate a parent’s parental

Court of Appeals highly critical of Charleston County’s Abuse and Neglect proceedings’ procedures

Posted Wednesday, September 3rd, 2014 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific

The September 3, 2014 Court of Appeals decision in SCDSS v.  Hogan, 410 S.C. 120, 763 S.E.2d 219 (Ct. App. 2014), is highly critical of the method

Adult protective services opinion has implications for abuse and neglect cases

Posted Friday, May 9th, 2014 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific

The April 30, 2014 South Carolina Supreme Court opinion in the case of In the Interest of Jane Doe, 407 S.C. 623, 757 S.E.2d 711 (2014), provides

Supreme Court reverses sexual abuse finding based on improperly admitted forensic child interviews

Posted Thursday, September 26th, 2013 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific

A split decision in the September 25, 2013 South Carolina Supreme Court opinion in SCDSS v. Pringle, 405 S.C. 608, 749 S.E.2d 301 (2013), reserved a finding

When abuse and neglect and private custody cases overlap

Posted Thursday, March 21st, 2013 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Child Custody, Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Family Court Procedure, Not South Carolina Specific, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys

Not infrequently a claim of abuse or neglect against one parent will lead another parent to seek custody.  Other times a private custody case will

Supreme Court holds foster parents lack standing to seek or challenge adoption when child is placed with DSS for purpose of placing child for adoption

Posted Friday, March 8th, 2013 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Adoption/Termination of Parental Rights, Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific

The March 8, 2013 Supreme Court opinion in Youngblood v. DSS, 402 S.C. 311, 741 S.E.2d 515 (2013), holds that once the South Carolina Department of Social Services

The difficulty of bringing tort claims against the Department of Social Services

Posted Sunday, March 3rd, 2013 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific

On December 2, 2015, the South Carolina Supreme Court reversed this Court of Appeals decision in Bass v. SCDSS, 414 S.C. 558, 780 S.E.2d 252 (2015).

Court of Appeals makes minor changes to year-old opinion

Posted Wednesday, September 12th, 2012 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Child Custody, Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific

Today’s [September 12, 2012] advance sheet notes a refiled opinion in the case of South Carolina Department of Social Services v. Mary C.  Oddly enough

Court of Appeals reverses permanency plan of termination of parental rights where Mother remedied conditions that led to removal

Posted Friday, December 23rd, 2011 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Adoption/Termination of Parental Rights, Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific

In the December 16, 2011 opinion in SCDSS v. Mother and Father, 396 S.C. 390, 720 S.E.2d 920 (Ct. App. 2011), the Court of Appeals reversed a

One hundred things I don’t know about South Carolina family law

Posted Monday, November 14th, 2011 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Alimony/Spousal Support, Attorney's Fees, Child Custody, Child Support, Contempt/Enforcement of Orders, Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Divorce and Marriage, Equitable Distribution/Property Division, Family Court Procedure, Jurisprudence, Mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, Of Interest to General Public, Paternity, South Carolina Specific

This blog is inspired by myriad important family law issues that current South Carolina case law and statute don’t adequately answer.  None of these questions