Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect

Will the Recent Changes to the Abuse and Neglect Statute Make These Cases Harder to Settle?

Posted Sunday, July 18th, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Guardians Ad Litem, Litigation Strategy, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific

I received an email from a recently licensed attorney noting a previous blog and asking whether I thought she, as the guardian ad litem in

Recent changes to South Carolina “Child Protection and Permanency” statute make it harder for parents to obtain return of their children

Posted Friday, June 18th, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Adoption/Termination of Parental Rights, Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Specific

On May 12, 2010, South Carolina enacted Senate bill 1172, which makes changes to the Child Protection and Permanency statute.  Among the highlights: The revisions

State of Abuse

Posted Sunday, May 23rd, 2010 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Law and Culture, Of Interest to General Public, South Carolina Specific

The first in a series on Child Protective Services in South Carolina was published in today’s Charleston Post & Courier:  State of Abuse.   This initial

Updated abuse and neglect materials

Posted Friday, March 26th, 2010 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 Specific

Less than a year after undertaking extensive research in 2007 to draft materials for lectures on representing parents in abuse and neglect cases, South Carolina’s

Court of Appeals finds reversible error to go forward with DSS Judicial Review Hearing when incarcerated mother had order of transport and the Department of Corrections failed to transport her to hearing

Posted Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 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

Today the Court of Appeals, in Department of Social Services v. Laura D., 386 S.C. 382, 688 S.E.2d 130 (2009), reversed and remanded a family court’s decision

In a DSS abuse and neglect case, when the treatment plan is resolved, should the guardian ad litem have an opinion on the merits?

Posted Friday, November 13th, 2009 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Guardians Ad Litem, Mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution, Of Interest to Family Court Litigants, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, Of Interest to General Public, South Carolina Specific

I have mediated a couple of DSS child abuse and neglect cases recently in which the treatment plan was resolved (that is, everyone agreed what the

Despite guilty plea to simple assault and battery on child at issue, Court of Appeals reverses family court finding that defendant abused child

Posted Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 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 Court of Appeals’ decision in South Carolina Department of Social Services v. C.H., L.K., T.M. and D.M., 386 S.C. 58, 685 S.E.2d 835 (2009), reversed the

Abuse and neglect mediations

Posted Saturday, October 17th, 2009 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution, Of Interest to General Public, South Carolina Specific

The Chief Administrative Judge for the Charleston County Family Court, F.P. Segars-Andrews, has instituted mandatory mediation for all DSS abuse and neglect cases.  Volunteers, such

Former foster parents who declined to adopt child lack standing to bring subsequent adoption proceeding; Judge Lockemy concerned that DSS deceived foster parents

Posted Friday, October 2nd, 2009 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Adoption/Termination of Parental Rights, Department of Social Services/Child Abuse and Neglect, Of Interest to Family Law Attorneys, South Carolina Appellate Decisions, South Carolina Specific

The Court of Appeals’ decision in Michael P. v. Greenville County Department of Social Services, 385 S.C. 407, 684 S.E.2d 211 (2009), has all the makings of