South Carolina

S.C. Code Ann. § 63-7-310; § 63-7-420 — South Carolina mandatory-reporting statute

Clergy named as mandatory reporter?: Yes
Confessional exemption?: Yes

Statute: S.C. Code Ann. § 63-7-310; § 63-7-420
Clergy named: Expressly
Pending: —

South Carolina law expressly names clergy as mandated reporters, and a 2018 amendment added paid religious counselors to the same list. The statute also says clearly that reporting to a supervisor or up the institutional chain does not satisfy the individual duty to report. These are meaningful protections. The problem sits in § 63-7-420, which shields clergy twice. Its first sentence abrogates professional privileges both as grounds for failure to report and as grounds for the exclusion of evidence, but it excepts clergy-penitent from that abrogation outright, alongside attorney-client. A second sentence then imposes a reporting duty on clergy with an exception for information received from the alleged perpetrator during a communication protected under § 19-11-90. Section 19-11-90 is not limited to sacramental confession. It reaches any confidential communication entrusted to a minister, priest, or rabbi in a professional capacity, so a pastoral counseling session counts. The protection is therefore broader than the page previously described, and the evidentiary half of it would survive even if the perpetrator clause were struck on its own. Closing this gap takes both edits, and that is the kind of targeted reform UCO is working toward across the country.

Section 01What needs to change

What needs to change in South Carolina.

The current statute leaves a gap between what the law requires on paper and what survivor-protection demands in practice:

South Carolina makes clergy report abuse they learn from most sources, but not from the person who caused the harm. The same law also excuses clergy from the rule that strips professional privilege away, so for clergy the privilege still stands both as a reason not to report and as a reason a court may never hear the evidence. That second protection, the privilege one, is not limited to formal confession. It covers any confidential conversation with a minister, priest, or rabbi acting in that role. The reporting exception is the narrower of the two: it turns on the information coming from the person accused. The state needs to remove both clergy protections from that law, not just the one about the perpetrator.

Clergy and paid religious counselors expressly named (§ 63-7-310(A))
Section 63-7-310(A) lists members of the clergy, religious healers, and clerical or nonclerical religious counselors who charge for services among persons who must report when, in their professional capacity, they have reason to believe a child has been or may be abused or neglected. The 2018 addition of paid counselors means the enumeration reaches lay pastoral counselors and faith-based therapists who operate outside the traditional clergy role.
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Individual reporting duty, not satisfied by internal reporting (§ 63-7-310(C))
Section 63-7-310(C) provides that a mandated reporter who reports to a supervisor or an institutional contact is not relieved of the individual duty to report to county DSS or law enforcement. The duty is not superseded by an internal investigation within the institution, school, facility, or agency.
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Privilege carveout: clergy protected twice (§ 63-7-420)
Section 63-7-420 abrogates professional-client privileges both as grounds for failing to report child abuse **and** as grounds for the exclusion of evidence in a civil protective proceeding resulting from a report. Clergy-penitent, however, is excepted from that abrogation outright, alongside attorney-client, so for clergy the privilege remains available on both counts. A second sentence then requires a clergy member to report **except** when the information was received from the alleged perpetrator during a communication protected by the clergy-penitent privilege under § 19-11-90. Information from any other source, including the child, a family member, or a third party, falls outside that second exception. Note that § 19-11-90 protects any confidential communication entrusted to a minister, priest, or rabbi in a professional capacity, so the protected channel is wider than sacramental confession.
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Section 02What's needed

What it takes to close the gap.

From South Carolina's law as it stands today to the standard UCO is working toward, every adult who learns a child is being harmed has to report it:

South Carolina is strong nearly everywhere: § 63-7-310(A) names clergy and (since 2018) paid religious counselors, and (C) bars satisfying the duty by passing word up the chain. The weakness is § 63-7-420, which protects clergy in two separate places. Its first sentence abrogates professional privileges as grounds for failure to report and for the exclusion of evidence, but excepts clergy-penitent from that abrogation outright. Its second sentence then carves an exception into the clergy reporting duty for information received from the alleged perpetrator under § 19-11-90, which covers any confidential pastoral communication, not only a confession. The reform takes both edits: strike clergy-penitent from the first sentence's exception list so the abrogation reaches clergy, and strike the perpetrator-sourced exception from the second sentence. Removing only the perpetrator clause leaves the categorical exception standing and leaves the evidentiary privilege fully intact.

Section 03How you can help

Concrete ways to support reform in South Carolina.

Donate

Donate.

Donations fund South Carolina-specific research and coalition outreach as UCO works to close both clergy carveouts in the state's reporting law.

Mission supportDonate→

Section 04Timeline

How South Carolina got here.

2018
Act 222 / H.4705: paid religious counselors added
Ratified May 14, 2018 (effective May 18, 2018). Amended § 63-7-310(A) to add clerical or nonclerical religious counselors who charge for services as a distinct mandated-reporter category, expanding coverage beyond traditional clergy.
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2023
Federal HHS survey confirms clergy enumeration and privilege posture
The Child Welfare Information Gateway's May 2023 state-by-state clergy survey cites § 63-7-310(A) for the express clergy enumeration and § 63-7-420 for the preserved privilege, confirming both the action-needed classification and the perpetrator-penitent carveout remain current law.
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Section 05Background

Public-record sources UCO is tracking.

Always verify against the underlying statute or filing before quoting.

South Carolina Legislature (State House)
S.C. Code Ann. § 63-7-310 and § 63-7-420 — Children's Code, Chapter 7
Principal statute. Section 63-7-310(A) enumerates clergy, religious healers, and paid religious counselors as mandated reporters. Section 63-7-310(C) states the individual duty is not satisfied by internal reporting. Section 63-7-420 abrogates most privileges as grounds for failure to report and for the exclusion of evidence, but excepts BOTH attorney-client and clergy-penitent from that abrogation; a separate sentence then imposes a reporting duty on clergy with an exception for information received from the alleged perpetrator under § 19-11-90.
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Child Welfare Information Gateway (HHS Children's Bureau)· May 2023
Clergy as Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect — South Carolina
Federal state-by-state catalog entry. Confirms § 63-7-310(A) clergy enumeration and § 63-7-420 privilege posture: clergy-penitent is excepted from the privilege abrogation entirely, and a separate sentence imposes a reporting duty on clergy with an exception for perpetrator-sourced privileged communications. Authoritative federal cross-reference for both the statusBucket and privilegePosture classifications.
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South Carolina Legislature (State House)· Ratified May 14, 2018
2017-2018 Bill H.4705 — Act No. 222 of 2018
Legislative history for the 2018 amendment adding paid religious counselors to § 63-7-310(A). Documents the statutory expansion trajectory: South Carolina has broadened, not narrowed, clergy-adjacent reporting coverage in recent revisions.
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Children's Law Center, Joseph F. Rice School of Law; South Carolina Department of Social Services· 2023
Clergy as Mandated Reporters — South Carolina guidance
South Carolina-specific clergy guidance stating that the only reporting exception for clergy is when their only knowledge comes from the alleged perpetrator during a communication protected by the clergy-penitent privilege under § 19-11-90, citing § 63-7-420. Confirms that reporting up the institutional chain does not satisfy the individual duty.
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Other states

Last reviewed July 21, 2026 · by Unheard Child Org research teamHow we track this