Streamlining Adoption and Permanency for SC Children

Every child bears inherent dignity and deserves a stable, loving home without unnecessary delay. S0121 addresses that urgency directly by amending Section 63-7-1700(A) to move the first permanency planning hearing from no later than one year to no later than nine months after a child enters foster care. The bill also amends Sections 63-7-1700(F) and (H) to reduce the maximum reunification extension from eighteen months to fifteen months. These are not administrative fine-tunings; they are a concrete commitment that the state will not allow procedural drift to extend a child's time in legal limbo beyond what is genuinely necessary.

The bill reinforces that urgency with accountability measures at the petition stage. As amended in Sections 63-7-1700(E) and 63-7-1710, the Department must complete and file with the court a background investigation and report regarding the child within sixty days of the filing of a petition to terminate parental rights. Under amended Section 63-7-1700(I), a termination of parental rights hearing may serve as the next permanency planning hearing only if it is held no later than nine months from the date of the previous hearing, and permanency planning hearings must be held quarterly rather than annually after a TPR hearing. Together these provisions keep the court and the Department on a defined, supervised timeline.

The bill also strengthens the integrity of the process for every party. Amended Section 63-7-2550 requires that an unmarried biological father receive service of a termination of parental rights action. Amended Section 63-7-2570 adds the requirement that before a court may find TPR to be in a child's best interest, it must affirmatively find that the child's parental home is not safe for the child's return at the time of the hearing. Amended Section 63-9-730 allows publication of the summons when personal service of an adoption notice cannot be effected, specifying that the summons must set forth the requested relief of termination of parental rights, adoption, or both. These provisions protect due process and make final decrees more durable.

Two provisions address the period after adoption is finalized. Amended Section 63-9-760 clarifies that a final adoption decree is not affected by a post-adoption agreement entered into before or after the adoption. New Section 63-9-765 makes post-adoption contact agreements enforceable when the parties agree to them. These provisions give adoptive families and birth families a lawful, stable framework for ongoing contact without placing the adoption itself at risk, which can increase the pool of willing adoptive placements for children who have existing bonds worth preserving.

The bill's safe-haven amendment and tax credit address access at the front and back ends of the adoption pipeline. Amended Section 63-7-40(B) requires that a safe haven offer the person leaving an infant information concerning the legal effect of that decision, while also directing the Department to publish explanatory information on its website. New Section 12-6-3595 creates a state income tax credit for any resident taxpayer who claims the federal tax credit for qualified adoption expenses related to a domestic adoption. Qualified adoption expenses are defined by reference to the federal credit, so the state credit tracks an established, familiar standard. Reduced financial barriers mean more families can step forward, and better-informed safe-haven surrenders reduce the legal disputes that return children to uncertainty. Taken together, S0121 reflects a coherent, faith-consistent vision: move with urgency proportional to what a child's life requires, protect the rights of every party through fair procedure, and remove practical obstacles that keep willing families from answering the call.