What’s next for troubled child welfare agency in South Carolina?
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - Gov. Henry McMaster says the departure of the man who oversees South Carolina’s child welfare agency is the latest warning sign that system needs urgent fixes.
Department of Social Services Director Michael Leach is stepping down in January after leading the agency for more than five years – and making strides to improve it.
McMaster told reporters he and his staff tried to do everything they could to convince Leach to stay in his job.
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But they couldn’t – and now the governor warns this is another signal the state’s child welfare system is coming to a breaking point.
“Right now, it is clear that there are some deficiencies in our system, and we’re going to have to fix it,” McMaster said.
One of those deficiencies, the governor says, is finding a place for kids and teens in need to stay.
Sometimes, that means a foster home.
Other times, the juvenile justice system is the appropriate place.
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But there’s often nowhere for them to go – with the Department of Juvenile Justice saying it’s at capacity and foster options unavailable.
DSS has to find a place for them to stay – with kids and teens coming to them at all hours of the day and night.
“They end up in the only place that’s available ... the offices of DSS, and that is not the right place for it to happen,” McMaster said.
“It’s clear we have a problem that we cannot handle with the resources devoted to it today, so we are going to have to make some changes,” he said.
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In his resignation letter, Leach says he believes he was destined to be at DSS “during a chaotic time when people needed help more than ever.”
He didn’t give a specific reason for his departure after 5½ years, but says he didn’t make this decision lightly.
“He’d been doing this for so long. He has a young, growing family. They miss their daddy,” McMaster said.
McMaster says all options are on the table to solve this problem – but that it’ll likely require more funding that could go toward housing or even as an incentive to counties to reopen youth detention centers.
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“We’ve been working for a long time to try to answer this, as well as the DJJ situation, so all these things with the young people, and it’s clear they are not getting better, and this is just one more warning signal of how bad it is right now, and the need to act is clear and present,” the governor said.
McMaster said leaders will also have to figure out who to nominate to replace Leach as DSS director – saying it’ll be difficult to find anyone as experienced or better in this role than Leach.
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