Children’s Trust Urges Investments that Support Children and Families
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Critical child and family well-being measures show minimal progress for kids in South Carolina, according to the 2025 KIDS COUNT® Data Book, a 50-state report of recent data developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation analyzing how children and families are faring in post-pandemic America. South Carolina ranks 38th in the annual report.
This improved national ranking, compared to last year’s rank of 40, reflects how South Carolina’s children measure up against other states rather than indicating real progress for children and their families. Health and poverty indicators are particularly concerning.
“With too many children lacking health insurance and too many living in areas of concentrated poverty, children and their families are vulnerable in our state,” said Sue Williams, CEO of Children’s Trust of South Carolina. “We want every child in South Carolina to thrive, and this means they have a safe and stable place to sleep at night, a community with enough resources to help support them when they need help and access to a doctor for regular check-ups and when they get sick.”
Also of concern, in 2023, 37% of children in South Carolina lived in single-parent families. “Raising kids is hard work, and parents, especially single parents, need support and community,” added Williams. “With isolation as a key stressor for child abuse and neglect, we need more investments to help families build community and gain the tools to help them raise healthy and safe children before costly or heartbreaking interventions are needed later.”
Children’s Trust funds and supports a range of collaborative initiatives and proven prevention programs that help families before a crisis. These include its network of family resource centers—community places where families can access support services and information such as parenting classes, job training, school support, childcare and more. Children’s Trust also recently enhanced its parenting website, scParents.org, where families can readily access information, support and resources to help their children thrive.
“We celebrate these small victories. More families have steady income, and more children are not struggling with obesity. However, we cannot lose sight of the fact that as a state, we continue to stagnate on critical measures for economic well-being, education, health and community,” added Williams.
Children’s Trust also published its most recent county-level child well-being profiles. Mirroring the national profiles, this tool gives leaders a snapshot of what is happening in their communities and insights for developing targeted strategies to help more children thrive. County Data Profiles can be accessed on the website at scchildren.org.
