DSS Audit Released, Reveals Reality of Problems

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — “It hit me to the core, the problems we’ve had, ” said Senator Joel Lourie, D- Richland County Through a S.C. Legislative Audit Council report, we’ve learned between the years 2009-2013, 152 child deaths of violent, unexpected, or unexplained means, went unreported and were not in the Department of Social Services database. The S.C. Legislative Audit Council cites 104 of those were not reported by county coroners and in 48 of those cases at least an attempt was made to try and report the deaths. Another reason given for the deaths not being reported was coroners’ confusion over age cut-offs. But, that fact is just part of the scathing review. We’ve also learned the reality of overloaded caseworkers. In Lexington county alone, according to the report, two caseworkers had over 100 children. “I’m absolutely convinced the dysfunction of this agency has resulted in more abuse and loss of life. I think the numbers will point to that” said Sen. Lourie However, the S.C. Legislative Audit Council reports the data reported to the General Assembly in regards to child mistreatment deaths is not reliable and therefore that conclusion can’t be verified. “Since June of this year, we’ve been working on an aggressive hiring plan to bring in more caseworkers,” says Amber Gillum, Acting State Director for the South Carolina Department of Social Services Gillum testified the agency is looking to hire 279 new employees, 202 of those will be caseworkers and 67 will be caseworker assistants. “The governor is committed to getting the resources to DSS that it needs to do the job,” said Tedd Pitts, Chief of Staff to Governor Nikki Haley Pitts confirmed the DSS employee plan will be part of the Executive Budget. “We agree with you, the most important issue facing the state is to help get caseloads down,” said Pitts Pitts’ confirmation was followed by a heated exchange with Senator Joel Lourie when Pitts mentioned a 2006 audit by the S.C. Legislative Audit Council that reportedly revealed issues with caseloads and salaries. For now, it appears there is a lot of work to do. But Senator Lourie seems hopeful. “Wherever we’re gonna be in 20-30 years, I wanna look back at this issue and say, you know what, we really did something good for the children of South Carolina and this is our chance to do it,” said Lourie Friday’s hearing marks the 10th DSS Oversight Hearing.