Nearly 800 children in DSS custody remain unaccounted for

Officials with South Carolina’s Dept. of Social Services (DSS) say those 780 children are ones its agency staff, school personnel and law enforcement officers have not physically seen in person despite multiple attempts in some cases to reach them.

In late July, DSS officials began welfare checks on students unaccounted for after receiving a list of such students from the S.C. Dept. of Education. The list initially identified 3,234 children who had not been engaged with their respective schools since the pandemic began.

Michael Leach, DSS director, told Senators on the Children’s Services and Personal Protective Equipment Subcommittee Wednesday that his office set about trying to contact those students after receiving the list on July 22.

Leach said with the help of law enforcement, DSS staff has reached 2,295 of the children, and been in contact with families of 159 others who confirmed the children in question no longer live at their previously known addresses.

As for the remaining 780 uncontacted students, Leach said 409 are those who haven’t been located despite multiple attempts.

Attempts have not yet been made to contact the other 371, but DSS and law enforcement agents are planning to attempt contacting them soon in coordination with law enforcement.

Leach told Senators a variety of factors could be contributing to the inability to reach the uncontacted students, with some potentially being children of migrant workers, and others whose family may have moved out of state.

Katie Nilges, Director of Governmental Affairs for the S.C. Dept. of Education, told the Senators the state department is awaiting information from a federal database on migrant students to help determine their whereabouts.

UNCONTACTED CHILDREN BY COUNTY

Multiple Failed Contact Attempts

• Aiken – 2
• Anderson – 39
• Barnwell – 7
• Beaufort – 28
• Berkeley – 18
• Cherokee – 5
• Chesterfield – 1
• Clarendon – 8
• Darlington – 12
• Dorchester – 4
• Edgefield – 2
• Fairfield – 1
• Georgetown – 1
• Greenville – 14
• Greenwood – 4
• Hampton – 1
• Horry – 51
• Jasper – 12
• Kershaw – 1
• Lancaster – 8
• Laurens – 2
• Lexington – 34
• Marion – 18
• Marlboro – 3
• Newberry – 3
• Oconee – 3
• Orangeburg – 8
• Pickens – 1
• Richland – 43
• Spartanburg – 29
• Sumter – 2
• Union – 6
• York – 37
• Other – 1
• TOTAL – 409

Pending Contact Attempts

• Anderson – 74
• Berkeley – 1
• Charleston – 66
• Colleton – 120
• Florence – 80
• Orangeburg – 3
• Richland – 20
• York – 7
• TOTAL – 371

*Source: S.C. Dept. of Social Services