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South Carolina

Who is mandated to report?

Are all health clinicians mandated to report?

  • Yes.

Who else is a mandated reporter?

  • Any medical, emergency medical services, mental health, or allied health professionals
  • Social or public assistance workers
  • Substance abuse treatment staff
  • Child care workers in a child care center or foster care facility

For more information, refer to Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect at the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

When is the reporting duty triggered?

What is the standard?

  • A report is required when a reporter, in his or her professional capacity, receives information that gives him or her reason to believe that a child has been or may be abused or neglected.

For more information, refer to Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect at the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

What must be reported?

How does state law define child abuse and neglect for reporting purposes?

  • Mandated reporters must report abuse or neglect as defined by South Carolina statute 63-7-20 and legal guidance interpreting the statutes.
    • “Child abuse or neglect” or “harm” occurs when:
    • The parent, guardian, or other person responsible for the child’s welfare (see 63-7-20):
      • Inflicts or allows to be inflicted upon the child physical or mental injury or engages in acts or omissions which present a substantial risk of physical or mental injury to the child, including injuries sustained as a result of excessive corporal punishment, but excluding corporal punishment or physical discipline which:
        • Is administered by a parent or person in loco parentis;
        • Is perpetrated for the sole purpose of restraining or correcting the child;
        • Is responsible in manner and moderate in degree;
        • Has not brought about permanent or lasting damage to the child; and
        • Is not reckless or grossly negligent behavior by the parents’
      • Commits or allows to be committed against the child a sexual offence as defined by the laws of this State or engages in acts or omissions that present a substantial risk that a sexual offence is defined in the laws of this State would be committed against the child;
      • Fails to supply the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or education as required under Article 1 of Chapter 65 of Title 59, supervision appropriate to the child’s age and development, or health care though financially able to do so or offered financial or other reasonable means to do so and the failure to do so caused or presents a substantial risk of causing physical or mental injury. However, a child’s absences from school may not be considered abuse or neglect unless the school has made efforts to bring about the child’s attendance, and those efforts were unsuccessful because of the parents’ refusal to cooperate. For the purpose of this chapter “adequate health care” included any medical or nonmedical remedial health care permitted or authorized under state law’
      • Abandons the child’
      • Encourages, condones, or approved the commission of delinquent acts by the child including, but not limited to, sex trafficking or exploitation, and the commission of the acts are shown to be the result of the encouragement, condonation, or approval; or
      • Has committed abuse or neglect as described in previous subsections of this definition such that a child who subsequently becomes part of the person’s household is at substantial risk of one of those forms of abuse or neglect; or
    • A child is a victim of trafficking in persons as defined in Section 16-3-2010, including sex trafficking, regardless of whether the perpetrator is a parent, guardian, or other person responsible for the child’s welfare. Identifying a child as a victim of trafficking in persons foes not create the presumption that the parent guardian, or other individual responsible for the child’s welfare abused, neglected, or harmed the child.

Are child molestation, sexual abuse, rape, statutory rape, incest, intimate partner violence, sexual exploitation and/or trafficking of a minor reportable as child abuse or neglect and if so, how are they defined and what is reportable?

For the most current definitions of these terms, refer to the South Carolina Code of Laws at the South Carolina Legislature website.

How to report:

What is the method of reporting?

  • Reports may be made orally by telephone or otherwise to the county Department of Social Services or to a law enforcement agency in the county where the child resides or is found.

For more information, refer to Making and Screening Reports of Child Abuse and Neglect at the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

What is the timeline in which to report?

  • A mandated reporter shall report to the Department of Social Services or a law enforcement agency when the reporter has reason to believe that a child may have been abused or neglected. The report is made to a law enforcement agency when abuse is committed by someone other than a person responsible for the child's welfare.

For more information, refer to Making and Screening Reports of Child Abuse and Neglect at the Child Welfare Information Gateway.  

To whom are reports made?

  • Reports of child abuse or neglect may be made orally by telephone or otherwise to the county Department of Social Services or to a law enforcement agency in the county where the child resides or is found.

For more information, refer to Making and Screening Reports of Child Abuse and Neglect at the Child Welfare Information Gateway.  

State/County Hotline?

Confidentiality:

What federal confidentiality laws apply to health information collected during a Title X visit?

  • Title X regulations 42 CFR 59.11
  • HIPAA 45 CFR 164.502  

Is there an exception in federal confidentiality law that allows a clinician to comply with mandatory child abuse reporting laws?

  • Yes.