Vincent Sheheen and the Democrats have been slinging stones at the governor over the problems in DSS, as you may have noticed.
In this release this morning, Sheheen shifts to saying what he would do differently:
Sheheen Releases Plan of Action for Children & Families
Gubernatorial candidate lays out plan to address problems at DSS that have led to children dying and being kept in danger in order to lower the agency’s numbers
Camden, SC. – Today, Sen. Vincent Sheheen released his plan of action for children and families in South Carolina to address the crisis at the Department of Social Services (DSS). The plan lays out a course of action to prevent any more children from dying or being put in danger as a result of misplaced priorities, arbitrary quotas, and failed leadership at DSS.
Sen. Sheheen’s plan to protect children includes immediate steps that he will begin work on in the State Senate, and actions he would take as Governor of South Carolina.
In the coming weeks, he will introduce legislation in the Senate to institute whistleblower protections for social workers, sponsor legislation to have coroners send child fatality cases to state law enforcement, and fight for adequate funding to support staff and increase training at DSS during the budget debate. As governor, he will re-focus priorities on child safety, and start by appointing a competent department head who will be transparent and accountable.
This plan of action comes on the heels of Sen. Sheheen’s series of roundtable discussions with women around the state, where voters repeatedly raised the problems at DSS as major concerns and were frustrated with the lack of leadership from the governor’s office on this issue.
View Sen. Sheheen’s plan of action for children and families as well as his other ideas for how to improve leadership and accountability in South Carolina at www.vincentsheheen.com. His book, “The Right Way: Getting the Palmetto State Back on Track” is free and also available online, here.
Leadership for South Carolina’s Children & Families
Right now too many children across South Carolina are growing up without loving homes, and what’s worse – they are being abandoned by the state when they are most in need. Shuttled between foster homes, placed with relatives ill-equipped to handle the challenges of parenting, or sent back to an abusive home without support system to protect them, our state is doing wrong by these children. Why? Because of misplaced priorities and failed leadership at the Department of Social Services under the Haley administration.
Over the past several months, investigations have turned up disturbing reports: Children are dying and being left in dangerous situations as a result of incompetence at the Department of Social Services and the push to lower the agency’s numbers. Children who should be protected after multiple reports of abuse are being ignored and moved out of the system in order to make numbers in a government report look better.
As a prosecutor, Vincent saw what families and victims went through as the result of abuse or crimes and fought to hold abusers accountable. In his private practice he’s seen it even further in the fight to protect children and mothers from abuse. And as the father of three boys in South Carolina, the thought that even one child could be killed as the result of government dysfunction and incompetence is unbearable.
Our state’s children need decisive leadership from the top of state government through the ranks of our state agencies to ensure that child safety is our top priority. The people of South Carolina deserve real accountability from their governor. They deserve a leader who won’t defend a failed appointee who has allowed children to die and be kept in danger in order to meet artificial quotas. It’s time to act.
Vincent’s plan of action:
Re-Focus on Child Safety
- Double the size of SLED Special Victims Unit, which investigates child fatalities.
- Ensure that allegations of abuse and neglect are investigated by DSS within 24 hours.
- Improve & increase training for DSS staff to ensure cases aren’t being ignored
- Expand services and programs for children in foster care: support mentoring programs for children aging out of foster care and transitional housing options for young adults.
- Build support for in-state adoptions through public service announcements, partnerships with non-profits to increase community awareness.
Increase Accountability
- Institute whistleblower protections for social workers at DSS.
- Appoint a qualified leader to head DSS, who will increase transparency and prioritize child safety.
- Require a full audit of DSS to get the real numbers of children and families in need, and the actual caseload statistics at DSS.
- Treat cases being handed off to consultants or partner organizations as open cases at DSS and set benchmarks for checking in on progress.
- Increase consistency in law so that coroners are sending child fatality cases to SLED.
- Utilize public-private partnerships so that when services can be better provided by a non-profit or faith-based entity, they are allowed to partner with the government to do so.
- Improve training and resources for foster and adoptive parents to keep kids placed in safe and loving homes.
View this document online, here.
###
Related Posts
He was so concerned about the dying children that he waited how long to introduce these bills? It wouldn’t have anything to do with a campaign marketing plan, right? Just happened to coincide with a series of staged photo ops with women’s groups. What stopped him from doing this six months ago? or four years ago?
Politicians need to start doing what is right right now not when their political consultants determine they can maximize media exposure to win votes.
Doug, when Sheheen just criticizes Haley, you complain that he doesn’t come forward and say what HE would do.
When he DOES come forward and say what he would do, you fault him for not having done it sooner.
He just can’t win with you, can he?
It’s not like Sheheen’s been twiddling his thumbs. The governor just signed the bill doing away with the Budget and Control Board, a Sheheen plan that he pushed for years through the immovable object that is the SC General Assembly.
Now, because of things we’ve learned recently, he’s turning his attention more toward this. What’s wrong with that?
Right… it’s not part of some campaign strategy… not at all. He (or should I say his campaign staff) don’t release ANYTHING unless it contains some over the top hyperbole about Haley.
If he thinks children are dying because of Haley’s actions or inaction, he should be making that his number one priority every day.
This is just campaign fodder. Pick an issue, release a statement, slam Haley, hope to dupe a few more voters.
As the de facto leader of the Democrat Party in South Carolina, he sure doesn’t have much power to lead.
I mean, seriously, do you really think this isn’t about sending a message to voters versus fixing the problem? Seriously?
I think it’s both. And there’s nothing at all wrong with it being both.
It seems like a great place to start.
I guess it just occurred to him to get started this week.
Doug, can you say anything about Sheheen that is unqualifiedly positive?
I’ll swing at that one. Sheheen has good personal hygene. He does not stink of B.O. and cigarettes.