(A) If the department denies, disqualifies, terminates, or suspends a child from participation in the extended foster care program created pursuant to this article, the department shall notify the child in writing of the right to appeal the adverse decision through the department’s fair hearings procedures, unless there is a case pending before the family court that can dispose of the issue. Such notice must be served by certified mail. The notice must explain the fair hearings procedures and must inform the child that notice of intent to appeal must be submitted within thirty days of receipt of the adverse decision. If the department denies, disqualifies, terminates, or suspends a child from participation in the extended foster care program, that child is automatically entitled to representation by a South Carolina licensed attorney. If the child does not have private representation, an attorney can be requested by the child and provided by the Commission on Indigent Defense under the Rule 608 contract program or Rule 608 of the South Carolina Appellate Court Rules.

(B) Judicial review of a final agency decision is in the family court. A child seeking judicial review shall file a petition in the family court within thirty days after the final decision of the department. The child shall serve a copy of the petition upon the department. The family court shall conduct a judicial review in accordance with the standards of review provided for in § 1-23-380. The court may enter judgment upon the pleadings and a certified transcript of the record which must include the evidence upon which the findings and decisions appealed are based. The judgment must include a determination of whether the decision of the department to disqualify, terminate, or suspend the child from participation in the extended foster care program should be affirmed or reversed. The child is not entitled to a trial de novo in the family court.

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 63-7-2790

  • Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
  • Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
  • Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
  • Child: means a person under the age of eighteen. See South Carolina Code 63-7-20
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Court: means the family court. See South Carolina Code 63-7-20
  • Department: means the Department of Social Services. See South Carolina Code 63-7-20
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
  • Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
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