South Carolina H 5548: South Carolina Indian Child Welfare Act

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 5548 Text of Previous Version (Apr. 16, 2026) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 5548

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH 
CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING CHAPTER 23 TO TITLE 63 SO AS TO ESTABLISH 
REQUIREMENTS FOR CHILD WELFARE PROCEEDINGS INVOLVING INDIAN CHILDREN; TO GRANT 
INDIAN TRIBES EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION IN CERTAIN CHILD CUSTODY PROCEEDINGS 
INVOLVING INDIAN CHILDREN, WITH EXCEPTIONS; TO REQUIRE STATE COURTS AND THE 
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES TO COMPLY WITH CERTAIN INQUIRIES AND PROCESSES IN 
CHILD CUSTODY PROCEEDINGS INVOLVING INDIAN CHILDREN; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES; BY 
ADDING SECTION 63-9-45 SO AS TO MAKE THE SOUTH CAROLINA ADOPTION CODE 
INAPPLICABLE TO THE ADOPTION OF INDIAN CHILDREN, WITH EXCEPTIONS; BY AMENDING 
SECTIONS 63-15-302 AND 63-15-306, BOTH RELATING TO CHILD CUSTODY PROCEEDINGS, 
SO AS TO MAKE CONFORMING CHANGES; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Title 63 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

CHAPTER 23

South Carolina Indian Child Welfare Act

 Section 
63-23-10. As used in this chapter:

 (1) 
"Active efforts" means affirmative, thorough, and timely efforts made to 
maintain or reunite an Indian child with his family, which, if the department 
or another agency is involved in the child custody proceeding, must involve 
assisting the parent or Indian custodian with the steps of a case plan and with 
accessing or developing the resources necessary to satisfy the case plan. 
Active efforts are to be tailored to the facts and circumstances of the case 
and may include, but are not limited to, the following:

 (a) 
conducting a comprehensive assessment of the circumstances of the Indian 
child's family, with a focus on safe reunification as the most desirable goal;

 (b) 
identifying appropriate services and helping parents to overcome barriers, 
including actively assisting parents in obtaining services;

 (c) 
identifying, notifying, and inviting representatives of the Indian child's 
tribe to participate in providing support and services to the Indian child's 
family and in family team meetings, permanency planning, and resolution of 
placement issues;

 (d) 
conducting or facilitating a diligent search for the Indian child's extended 
family members, and contacting and consulting with extended family members to 
provide family structure and support for the Indian child and the Indian 
child's parents;

 (e) 
offering and employing all available family preservation strategies and 
facilitating the use of remedial and rehabilitative services provided by the 
Indian child's tribe;

 (f) 
taking steps to keep siblings together whenever possible;

 (g) 
supporting regular visits with parents or Indian custodians in the most natural 
setting possible as well as trial home visits of the Indian child during any 
period of removal, consistent with the need to ensure the health, safety, and 
welfare of the Indian child;

 (h) 
identifying community resources, including housing, financial, transportation, 
mental health, substance abuse, and peer support services and actively 
assisting the Indian child's parents or, as appropriate, the Indian child's 
family, in utilizing and accessing those resources;

 (i) 
monitoring any progress and participation in services; and

 (j) 
providing postreunification services and monitoring.

 (2) 
"Agency" means a nonprofit, for-profit, or governmental organization and its 
employees, agents, or officials that performs or provides services to 
biological parents, foster parents, or adoptive parents to assist in the 
administrative and social work necessary for foster, preadoptive, or adoptive 
placement.

 (3)(a) "Child custody proceeding" means a 
legal proceeding that may result in one of the following outcomes:

 (i) 
foster care placement, which means the removal of an Indian child from his 
parent or Indian custodian for temporary placement in a foster home, 
institution, or the home of a guardian or conservator, in which the parent or 
Indian custodian cannot have the child returned upon demand but in which 
parental rights have not been terminated;

 (ii) 
termination of parental rights, which means the termination of the parent-child 
relationship;

 (iii) preadoptive placement, which 
means the temporary placement of an Indian child in a foster home or 
institution after the termination of parental rights but prior to or in lieu of 
adoptive placement; or

 (iv) 
adoptive placement, which means the permanent placement of an Indian child for 
adoption, including any action resulting in a final decree of adoption.

 (b) 
If a child is placed in an out-of-home placement as the result of a status 
offense, as defined in Section 63-1-40, that status offens