SLED CATCH Background Check: What SC Foster Parents Need to Know

The SLED CATCH check is the piece of the South Carolina foster care application that most families underestimate. It sounds simple — run a background check, get a result — but the timing, the scope, and what happens when a record shows up are all more nuanced than a state orientation will tell you. Families who treat this as a checkbox item at the end of their preparation often lose four to six weeks of progress because of it.

Start it on day one. Here's why — and how.

What SLED CATCH Is

SLED CATCH (Criminal Access To Criminal History) is the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division's online portal for criminal background checks. For foster care licensing, it generates a report of in-state criminal history for each adult in the household. The check is conducted at catch.sled.sc.gov and costs $25 per person.

CATCH is one of five required screening layers for foster care applicants in South Carolina. The other four are:

• FBI Fingerprint Check (federal criminal history, conducted through IdentoGO at $24.95 per person)
• DSS Central Registry Check (substantiated findings of child abuse or neglect, $8-$25 depending on agency)
• Out-of-State Registry Checks (required for any adult household member who lived outside SC in the past five years)
• Sex Offender Registry Check (often required for household members as young as age 12)

Every adult in your household — including adult children living at home — must complete the SLED CATCH check. There is no waiver for people who've "never been in trouble."

How to Run the SLED CATCH Check

The process is straightforward but requires creating an account:

1. Go to catch.sled.sc.gov
2. Create a personal account with your name, date of birth, and Social Security number
3. Select the "Criminal Record Search" option for individuals
4. Pay the $25 fee by credit or debit card
5. Download the results immediately — SLED generates a PDF on completion

Results are typically available within minutes for most searches. However, if your name is common or you have any history that requires manual review, the search can take several business days. This is why starting early matters: if even one household member's check gets flagged for review, your entire application sits while you wait.

Important: Your licensing agency (whether DSS directly for kinship care, or a private Child-Placing Agency like Thornwell or Epworth for traditional licensure) will require the official SLED CATCH result as a PDF with the SLED case number. A personal credit check or third-party background service does not substitute for SLED CATCH.

What SLED CATCH Looks For — and What the Agency Sees

The CATCH check searches for criminal convictions and pending charges in South Carolina's court system. It pulls records from magistrate courts, family courts, general sessions courts, and municipal courts across all 46 counties.

What shows up on a SLED CATCH report:

• Felony and misdemeanor convictions
• Pending charges
• Deferred prosecution agreements
• Some dismissed charges, depending on how the case was handled

What does not automatically appear on CATCH: records from other states (that's what the FBI fingerprint check covers) and juvenile records that have been expunged under South Carolina law.

The licensing agency reviews the report and evaluates it against S.C. Code § 63-7-2350, which defines disqualifying offenses.

Absolute Bars: What Automatically Disqualifies

South Carolina maintains absolute bars for certain categories of offenses. These are not subject to discretion — they disqualify any adult from living in or being licensed as a foster home, regardless of how long ago the offense occurred or whether a pardon was granted:

A pardon does not automatically remove these bars. DSS has limited discretion to consider pardon circumstances, but an absolute-bar offense remains disqualifying in most cases.

When a Record Exists but Isn't a Disqualifier

Not every criminal record ends an application. South Carolina recognizes that many applicants — particularly kinship caregivers — may have older or minor offenses that fall outside the absolute-bar categories. In these cases, the agency conducts a subjective assessment considering:

• The nature and severity of the offense
• When the offense occurred
• Evidence of rehabilitation
• The specific child being placed and whether the offense creates a safety risk for that child

For kinship caregivers specifically, S.C. Code § 63-7-2330 allows DSS to grant a limited "best interest" waiver for certain non-safety offenses if the offense occurred more than ten years prior and the kinship placement is deemed vital for the child's stability.

If you have any prior criminal history — even something you believe was minor or resolved — disclose it proactively to your licensing agency before the check runs. Being forthcoming demonstrates integrity and allows the agency to advise you before you're formally in the application process. Discovering a disqualifying record mid-application wastes months of everyone's time.

The FBI Fingerprint Check: The Other Half of the Clearance

The SLED CATCH check only covers South Carolina records. The FBI fingerprint check covers the rest of the country. Both are required, and both take time.

FBI fingerprinting in South Carolina is conducted through IdentoGO (identogo.com). You schedule an appointment online, bring valid photo ID, and are fingerprinted digitally. Results are transmitted to the state within two to four weeks in most cases, though the timeline can extend depending on volume.

Schedule your IdentoGO appointment at the same time you run your SLED CATCH check — not after. Families who wait for the caseworker to tell them when to start fingerprinting routinely lose three to four weeks of processing time.

Out-of-State Registry Checks: Often Overlooked

If any adult in your household has lived outside South Carolina within the past five years, your licensing agency must request a child abuse and neglect registry check from every state where that person resided. Processing times vary significantly by state — some respond within days, others take two to three months. This single requirement is the most common cause of unexpected delays for applicants who moved to South Carolina recently.

If this applies to your household, ask your licensing agency to initiate the out-of-state registry requests on the first day of your application, not after the home study is completed.

Timing: Why the First Week Matters

The research on South Carolina licensing delays consistently points to one pattern: families who treat background clearances as a step to complete "when it's time" end up waiting far longer than those who start everything immediately.

A realistic clearance timeline if you start on day one:

• SLED CATCH: same day to 3 business days
• FBI fingerprinting appointment and results: 2-4 weeks
• Central Registry (SC): 1-2 weeks
• Out-of-state registries: 1-12 weeks (varies by state)

If you start all clearances in week one, you'll typically have results before your home study is complete — keeping the process moving in parallel rather than sequentially.

The clearance process is just one section of what the South Carolina Foster Care Licensing Guide covers. The guide includes a full cost breakdown — SLED fees, fingerprinting, fire safety equipment — so you know what to budget before you start, along with a step-by-step timeline for keeping your application moving from first inquiry to first placement.

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