South Carolina sends its youngest foster children into group homes and institutions at a higher rate than any other state in the country, even though experts agree that these facilities may subject some children to severe abuse and neglect and that they don’t provide the kind of emotional support most children need. Post and Courier
Reporter Lauren Sausser decided to investigate the group homes industry late last year. The results, published in a three-day series titled “Warehousing our Children” in July, were alarming. In short, an untold number of foster children in South Carolina custody are neglected, over-medicated with powerful psychotropic drugs, beaten and sexually abused in group homes and institutions every year.
The state warehouses them for millions of dollars a year at taxpayer expense, but state laws shield group homes from almost any scrutiny. The public has no real way to evaluate where children are kept healthy and safe. Meanwhile, as other states have reduced their reliance on group homes by expanding foster family programs or finding relatives for these children to live with, South Carolina has largely resisted change. That’s just the way this state has always done it, some experts said.