A Victory For South Carolina Families!

Grandparents Rights bill Passes!

House Bill H-3464 which was introduced last January by Rep. Rita Allison, and was cosponsored by almost 30 other Representatives, has now passed both the House and Senate in South Carolina.  Both chambers unanimously approved the bill.

Once signed by Governor Haley, it will immediately become law, and grandparents will have standing in the Family Court system in cases involving DSS.  The law is intended to strongly encourage the courts to place at risk children with grandparents or other close relative rather than simply sending them into the foster system. In the past, many attorneys, and Family Court judges have assumed that grandparents "have no rights" simply because they were not actually mentioned in the statutes that apply to DSS cases. This is now no longer the case. Not only that, but the new South Carolina law also preserves the priority authority of the parents unless they are proven to be unfit.

This is a small, but extremely important step forward for all families in South Carolina.  This legislation has been in the works for well over three years, and now that this is accomplished, we can work much harder toward family preservation. 

Here is a link to the actual bill:  H-3464