COLUMBIA, S.C. — While foster children are waiting to be assigned to a home, they may find themselves housed in the South Carolina Department of Social Services’ office spaces. The nonprofit Lily Pad is working across the state to help children during this transition period.
According to the Lily Pad co-founders Benjamin and Jennifer Tice, Lily Pad creates living room-like spaces in DSS offices around the state. These rooms are filled with books, games, and entertainment for kids who might be coming in and out of the office.
“This is a way for the kids to relax, separate from the traumatic situation that they’re in and the case workers are able to do their job and help these kids as quickly and efficiently as possible,” Benjamin Tice said.
The Tice family founded Lily Pad in 2022 with the goal of creating a safe and comfortable space for children in foster care. this came after a young teen the couple fostered shared the harsh reality of what being an older kid in foster care is like.
“We learned from her experience of being in her case manager's cubicle. she had been up all night because law enforcement was involved and she just fell asleep in her case managers cubicle," Jennifer Tice said.
The couple says these spaces are beneficial for children but also the case workers.
"They can carry on their conversations outside the space but still have eyes and ears on the child and that reduces the trauma the child experiences of hearing a phone call that they didn’t get that placement or hearing their story retold again,” Jennifer said.
There are over 1,000 kids in foster care in the Midlands and over 500 kids of which are in Richland County, the highest in the state, according to DSS.
Because of this South Carolina Department of Social Services State Director, Michael leach, says " this room here and this setting right here is going to help a lot of children."
Lily P ad now has 16 rooms across the state with the help of donations in the community, they hope to continue to be a soft landing for kids in foster care. Starting next year the organization is planning to put a room, or lily pad as they call it, in 12 offices around the state and by 2027 hopes to have one in every DSS office in South Carolina.
