Poverty shouldn't be an obstacle

Family Court Judge Lisa Kinon called a woman up to the front of the courtroom to shake her hand.

"We've had two success stories in a row," Kinon said. "It's been such a good day."

A lawyer from an earlier success story that day - a father who made enough progress to regain custody of his daughter - playfully yelled that he should be offended that the judge didn't shake his client's hand, too.

"Yes, we've had three success stories today," Kinon returned.

One of the cases late last week concerned a mother who completed a court-ordered and S.C. Department of Social Services-administered treatment plan that included a variety of requirements, including parenting and other classes as well as drug and alcohol screening.

A family member had custody of the kids while the mother completed the plan. The kids had witnessed a murder.

Another woman regained custody of a daughter after meeting the requirements, but will still be drug tested until another hearing in the fall.

The judge struck a celebratory tone because too many defendants in Family Court don't follow through, which makes family reunification - a DSS priority backed up by tons of research showing it is in the long-term best interest of children when major problems can be removed or mitigated - less likely.

DSS is always under pressure. It has more than a billion-dollar annual budget but lost roughly $100 million between 2008 and 2009 from budget cuts and matching funds.

Individual decisions by case workers, their supervisors, Family Court judges and guardians ad-litem are also critical in resolving a case.

Much of it relies upon treatment plans. Some defendants don't complete the plans because they are too addicted, don't understand the system or are too apathetic. Some don't have effective legal representation.

Others, like a grandmother I know, lose custody of children primarily because they can't afford to follow the court's dictates. Still others exhaust most of what little income they have to fight what amounts to a losing battle.

Still, it was good to sit in on a Family Court session in which success became one of the over-arching themes of the day.

But until poverty no longer plays a significant role in determining if a family is allowed to reunite - or to remain together at the initial sign of trouble - making that level of success the norm in South Carolina will remain an elusive goal.