Foster Care Residential Assignment by Birth Sex

H5354 adds Section 63-7-2355 to the South Carolina Code and takes effect upon approval by the Governor. The American Council supports this bill and urges every member of the General Assembly to vote for its passage.

Section 63-7-2355(A) establishes the core requirement: any residential facility licensed by the Department of Social Services for the placement of children in foster care shall assign residents to housing units, sleeping quarters, and other sex-specific facilities based strictly upon the individual's anatomical sex at birth as recognized on their original birth certificate. The same subsection prohibits those facilities from taking into consideration the gender identity of the child when making such assignments. Both the affirmative duty and the prohibition apply together; neither can be satisfied without the other.

Section 63-7-2355(B) places monitoring and enforcement responsibility squarely with the Department of Social Services. The Department is not merely permitted to act on complaints; the text says it is responsible for monitoring compliance and enforcing the provisions of this section, which we read as an active, ongoing obligation rather than a reactive one. We note that the bill does not specify the procedures or timeline by which the Department must carry out that monitoring, which is a gap the Department will need to address through regulation or policy.

Section 63-7-2355(C) sets the penalty framework for noncompliance. Any residential facility found to be in willful violation of this section is subject to administrative penalties, up to and including licensing sanctions. Two qualifiers matter here and must not be dropped: the violation must be willful, and the penalties described are a ceiling (up to and including licensing sanctions), not a mandatory minimum. The bill does not specify what lesser administrative penalties below that ceiling are available or how they are to be calibrated; that determination is left to the Department.

Section 63-7-2355(D) defines the scope of the term residential facility for purposes of this section. The core definition covers a group home, residential treatment center, or other facility that, pursuant to a contract with or a license or permit issued by the department, provides residential services to children in the custody of the department. The definition then extends by a non-exhaustive list to include, but is not limited to, child caring institutions, emergency shelters, group homes, wilderness therapeutic camps, and organizations with supervised individual living facilities. The phrase includes but is not limited to means the enumerated categories illustrate rather than exhaust the definition; any facility meeting the core contractual or licensure nexus with DSS and providing residential services to DSS-custody children falls within scope even if not named on the list.

The American Council believes that children in state custody, who are among the most vulnerable people in our community, deserve clear, consistent, and protective placement standards. Faith and reason alike call us to provide order and safety in the institutions that stand in the place of a family for these children. H5354 establishes a clear, administrable rule for residential assignments and gives DSS the authority and responsibility to enforce it. We ask every South Carolinian of conscience to contact their legislator and urge a yes vote on H5354.