State child advocate reports system improvements, rising complaints and new psychiatric facility funding

Amanda Whittle, the state child advocate and director of the South Carolina Department of Children’s Advocacy, told the Legislative Oversight Subcommittee that her office has implemented several system changes since its 2019 launch, expanded complaint and critical-incident intake, and helped secure state funding for a psychiatric residential treatment facility for justice-involved youth. She presented the updates at the subcommittee’s resumed Department of Children’s Advocacy hearing.

Whittle said the agency created an online secure referral form for the continuum-of-care program, replaced an aging SQL case management database with a nationally recognized system, and expanded staff in its investigations and system improvement units. She also described work to recruit guardian ad litem volunteers, to support the foster care review boards and to strengthen interagency coordination across nine child-serving agencies.

The agency’s changes aim to improve permanency, ensure timely court reviews and respond faster to child-specific problems, Whittle told the panel. She said the continuum-of-care and juvenile-justice wraparound work “helps children with serious emotional and behavioral issues to keep them in their homes, schools and communities when safely possible,” and that the foster care review process checks placements and services for children in care.

Whittle described specific…