DHEC Division of Women and Children’s Services, located in the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, promotes and protects the health of women, children, and their families in all 46 counties of South Carolina by:
- Partnering with communities, medical providers, and state and local agencies
- Developing family-focused policies and procedures
- Informing the public of services and programs that can help meet their health care needs
- Sponsoring training
- Providing accurate health information in brochures, public service announcements, and on the Internet
Following are the programs managed through this division :
Adolescent Health: Provides leadership and advocacy for adolescent health and youth development.
Caring for Tomorrow's Children: Distributes a resource and reference guide that provides information for parents from pregnancy through the infant's age of two.
Care Line: a statewide, toll-free help line (1-800-868-0404) that provides assistance and support to women for their children and families
Children’s Health: Works with families to provide and support primary and preventive care.
Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS): Builds statewide systems that support families and communities in their development of children that are healthy and ready to learn at school entry
Family Planning: Provides clinical and educational services to prevent unintended pregnancies
First Sound: SC’s Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program to identify newborn hearing loss
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Pre-discharge Home Visits: Provided to the families of eligible infants graduating from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit by a public health nurse prior to hospital discharge when ordered by the infant’s physician.
Newborn Metabolic Screening: Blood tests that checks for hidden health disorders in newborn babies
Nurse-Family Partnership: Nurse home visitation program for low-income, first-time parents and their children
Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP): Funds evidence-based programs to educate adolescents on both abstinence and contraception to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections
Postpartum Newborn Home Visits: Provided to eligible new mothers and infants by a public health nurse within a few days of hospital discharge when ordered by a doctor.
School Health Nursing: Provides expert consultation, technical assistance, and clinic guidance regarding school nursing and school health services for local education agencies, as well as for staff within DHEC, SC Department of Education, parents and guardians, and others.
Sexual Violence Services: Administers contracts, provides technical assistance, and works collaboratively with the state’s rape crisis centers and the SC Coalition against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (SCCADVASA).
Women’s Health: Works to improve the health status of women in South Carolina across the lifespan.
If you have questions or comments about the information found on this page, please contact Lucy Gibson, Director, S.C. DHEC’s Division of Women and Children’s Services, at (803) 898-0767 or gibsonlh@dhec.sc.gov