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DSS proposes updates for adoption investigators including fingerprint checks and modest fee increases
Summary
The Department of Social Services proposed regulatory updates to adoption-investigator qualifications that would add educational alignment to human-services fields, require fingerprint and central-registry checks, and increase certification fees modestly.
The South Carolina Department of Social Services told the Senate Subcommittee on Child Welfare it proposes regulatory revisions to the certification and oversight of adoption investigators that would update educational qualifications, add mandatory fingerprint-based background checks and central abuse-and-neglect registry checks, and raise nominal certification fees.
Conley Ann Ragley, chief of external affairs for the Department of Social Services, told the committee the proposal (document 5303) updates citations and education and training requirements for certified adoption investigators who perform home studies and placement assessments. "We wanna make sure that those that are investigating homes for adopting potential children from foster care that they have a human service field background," Ragley said.
Ragley said the department is adding a required fingerprint background check and a check of the state central registry for child abuse and neglect for certified adoption investigators, aligning the requirement with other categories of childcare and foster-care workers. She also described modest fee changes: the certification fee for an adoption investigator would increase from $15 to $20; the fee for certification for persons obtaining consents or relinquishments would rise from $15 to $20; and a combined certification would move from $20 to $35.
The department reported no estimated fiscal impact from the changes. Ragley said some of the adoption‑investigator regulations had not been updated since the 1990s and that the changes reflect updates to Title 63 following the comprehensive rewrite of the children's code in 2008.
The committee moved the regulation package forward to the full committee by voice vote without recorded opposition. Ragley said the department will provide comparative information on fees in other states if the committee requests it.
