H3612

Amends South Carolina law to clarify grounds for terminating parental rights, focusing on wilful failure to visit and support a child.

This bill amends South Carolina law to clarify the grounds for terminating parental rights. It specifies that a court may terminate parental rights if a child has lived outside the home of either parent for six months and the parent has wilfully failed to visit or support the child. For incarcerated parents, the court must consider the parent-child relationship before and during incarceration, and whether the parent has the ability to visit or support the child while incarcerated. The court may consider third-party support paid on behalf of the incarcerated parent.