Subcommittee advances bill to shorten foster-care timelines, speed adoptions

A South Carolina Senate Family and Veteran Services subcommittee on a voice vote advanced bill S240 to the full committee after testimony from the bill sponsor, adoption attorneys and the state child advocate and agreement on several subcommittee amendments.

Senator Billy Garrett, sponsor and senator from Greenwood County, told the panel the bill is intended to “shorten the time it takes to get permanency planning so we can get a child adopted.” Garrett said the proposal would reduce the maximum reunification timeline from 18 months to 15 months and move the mandatory permanency-planning hearing earlier in the case.

The bill’s sponsors and witnesses framed the changes as aligning state practice with federal timelines and reducing how long children spend in foster care. “All the statistics say that getting them out of foster care, getting them into an adoptive care is the way to handle that. And the sooner you can do it, the better it is for the child,” Garrett said.

Attorney Jim Thompson, who practices adoption law and testified as a witness, described technical inconsistencies in South Carolina law and practice. Thompson said federal guidance created a 15‑month benchmark while state statute and court practice had allowed an 18‑month period in some cases, producing a three‑month gray area. He told senators the 15‑month trigger starts when a child enters foster care and that “15 months is long enough” for an earnest parent to work a reunification plan.

Amanda Whittle, state child advocate and director of the Department of Children’s Advocacy, gave data and procedural context. She outlined the sequence of hearings that follow a child’s removal — a…