South Carolina lawmakers are advancing Senate Bill 540, which would redefine child abuse in state law to allow harmful treatment of trans children. The bill states that sending a child to a service that seeks to make a child live according to their sex assigned at birth is not child abuse.
Our executive director was one of the many South Carolinians who testified against this harmful bill at a Senate Child Welfare Subcommittee hearing on March 4, 2026. His testimony is below.
My name is Jace Woodrum, and I am the Executive Director of the ACLU of South Carolina. But I come before you today not as a civil rights leader but as a foster and adoptive parent.
Over many years, I was a foster dad, bringing five children into my home. As a foster parent, I saw what child abuse looks like.
I held a baby that was born addicted as she struggled to breathe on her own. I put healing ointment on cigarette burns that were left on a child’s skin. I stayed awake with a sleepless kid who worried about who might enter their room at night.
During my fostering journey, I had the opportunity to adopt, and it was the best day of my life when I stood before the judge in family court.
I did all of this while living in Colorado. When I returned home to South Carolina, where I grew up, I wanted to continue fostering and hoped to adopt again.
Quickly I learned that non-profit organizations—not government agencies—evaluate, train, and certify foster parents in South Carolina.
For Richland County, there were about a dozen different non-profit organizations working with foster parents. All but two of them stated that they didn’t work with LGBTQ parents.
Frustrated and sad, I abandoned my plan to foster and adopt in South Carolina.
I share my story because it connects with this bill in three ways.
Children need a safe and secure base of support from which they can explore the world and themselves.
One, S. 540 redefines “child abuse” to allow parents to reject transgender children.
The most important thing I learned in the hundreds of hours of parenting training I’ve received: Children need a safe and secure base of support from which they can explore the world and themselves. That’s what foster and adoptive parents are evaluated for.
That’s what we should all be focused on, not creating a legal loophole for abusers.
How much harm will we allow parents to do in the name of affirming a child’s birth sex?
Two, S. 540 undermines the compassionate, trained professionals who are trying to protect kids.
I have been to family court countless times and advocated for children before many judges and social workers. These professionals know how to evaluate and support families, even those in the stickiest situations.
We shouldn’t pass laws that strip them of their discretion and decision-making power. We should be helping them navigate a flawed system.
Three, S. 540 provides religious exemptions to foster and adoption agencies, allowing them to refuse to work with families due to their religious beliefs.
Those exemptions already exist and are in practice. Because of their religious beliefs about LGBTQ people raising families, 10 different foster and adoption agencies would not work with me — an experienced parent — despite an extreme shortage of foster and adoptive parents.
This bill does real harm without addressing any real problems. I urge the committee to vote no on S. 540.
Senate Bill 540 is one of numerous bills advancing in the South Carolina Statehouse that would harm LGBTQ people. Learn more about these bills on our Legislation page.
