The South Carolina Governor’s Office of Continuum of Care (COC) has a rich history of serving severely emotionally disturbed (SED) children and their families. Since it’s inception in 1983 as a pilot project for four counties, COC was given a remarkable undertaking to create an array of services for SED children in the state of South Carolina.  Over the years, a system of interagency case management, individualized wrap services, in-home treatment, psycho-educational classroom instruction, therapeutic foster care, therapeutic group homes has been developed.

While COC has evolved through the years to a smaller and more flexible organization to meet the ever changing needs of our families, it has not diminished our desire and commitment to partner with SED children and their families. One of COC’s guiding principles is to regard our children and families as full participants in all aspects of planning and delivering services. In keeping with this pledge, COC hosts annual Family Forums throughout the state, to provide parents an opportunity to give direct feedback to the leadership regarding issues of quality of service and ideas for enhancing our operations. Also, for those parents who are unable to attend a forum, an annual survey is mailed to each parent seeking feedback in all aspects of our service delivery. In addition, COC seeks input from other partners such as teachers and independent living skill providers through one on one interviews and surveys.

COC’s core values of Child Centered, Family Focused, Community-Based, Strengths-Based and Culturally Competent serve as the foundation that drives our intensive case management support to SED children and their families.  Although, COC consistently receives high marks for customer satisfaction and listening to our families, we continually strive to improve how we communicate, interact and serve our families. It is my hope, that if you or a family member received services from COC, you felt your voice was heard and your lives were enhanced. If you are seeking more information about services COC has to offer, please continue to explore online or contact one of our regional offices for more comprehensive information.  

Thank you for visiting the COC web site.

John Shackelford
COC Director