By admin 
In recent years, Moms for Liberty had grown so much in stature and in perceived influence in the state that every Republican seeking the GOP nomination for governor in South Carolina made sure to sign the group’s parental pledge.
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Moms for Liberty, which started in 2021 in Florida amid the COVID pandemic, grew nationally and grew to 21 chapters around the Palmetto State. Chapters held events to talk about child safety when it came to technology and to hear from candidates for the state House.
But frustration within the state, “internal disagreements,” a disillusionment with the national leadership, and alleged bullying by some chapters has taken place, those who left the organization say. Now only seven chapters in the state are listed on the group’s website and only three chapters with listed local leadership.
The issues led to a group of nine former Moms for Liberty Chapter leaders to co-sign a letter in August voicing their anger against the group saying the organization lost its way. They said they lost control over their local chapters and decisions came from the top influenced by public relations and consultants. They were upset with how national organization handled the RJ May scandal.
One chapter that seems to be thriving is the York County chapter, however, and vice chair Caitlin Boyle was recognized in May with the national organization’s Penelope Barker Award.
The chapter also recently celebrated its five-year anniversary.
Frustration brewed over how the chapters interacted with one another with fingers being pointed at the York County chapter in the Charlotte suburbs, former chapter leaders said in interviews.
The York County chapter, which has connections to a marketing company, gave the impression they believed they were better than the other chapters, said Ashley Jones, who previously was a vice chair of the Florence County chapter.
Both Boyle and now state Rep. Jackie Terribile were among those who started the York County chapter of Moms for Liberty and run Tango Communications, a marketing affairs company.
A Moms for Liberty spokesperson said Tango Communications is a separate business not affiliated with the organization and doesn’t operate on Moms for Liberty’s behalf.
For those in other counties, they felt that they were doing work, while York got the brownie points, Jones said.
“There was constant bullying that went on,” said Dawn Pierce, who ran the Lexington County Moms for Liberty chapter, which is no-longer listed on the organization’s website.
Leaders of the York County chapter, where Stephanie Foltz serves as chair, denied claiming superiority over other chapters.
“We’ve never claimed to be better than any other chapter,” Foltz and Boyle said in a statement. “We’ve worked hard, celebrated our wins loudly, and would celebrate any chapter’s wins just as loudly.”
Jones said the organization, at least in South Carolina, had turned into groups battling to see who could gain the most social media interaction as opposed to working for actual changes.
“There was a lack of accountability or bylaws or code of conducts that were put in place, and it was no longer an organization that I believed in, and it was time for me to go. It was not the mission that I no longer believed in. It was the organization as a whole,” Jones said.
Foltz and Boyle said they’ve grown the York County chapter to the largest in the state by focusing on its mission.
“That mission is protecting parental rights at every level of government, serving our community through charitable work, and bringing together people who want to make York County a better place to raise a family,” Foltz and Boyle said in a joint statement.
Some who ran other chapters joined because they wanted to make sure there was proper access to special education needs. Others pushed for the group to advocate making sure technological advances such as artificial intelligence would be safe for children.
Those who have left the organization said the York County group has been disrespectful to other chapters in the state.
“I don’t think anybody was about the changes,” Jones said.
Other local chapters felt they were losing influence over decision-making within their areas.
“Over time, local decision-making was replaced by top-down control. Public relations and consultant influence began taking priority over the ground level work of local volunteers. Conflicts of interest mounted, a pay-to-play endorsement model took over, and there were no accountability or consequences for behavior that directly violated the very code of conduct we helped write,” the former members’ letter statement said.
The national group’s leadership also has changed. The group also seemed to be trying to please donors rather than focusing on being a grassroots organization, former chapters leaders said in interviews.
“We were the ones doing the work, and then there was some time in there, and I believe it’s when the leadership changed. At least that’s what, from my viewpoint, that’s what I see. Then it immediately became a total, massive, chaotic mess, and the organization could not pull themselves together,” said David Warner, who led the Horry County chapter.
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Tina Descovich, CEO and co-founder of Moms for Liberty, said in a statement Moms for Liberty continues to be grassroots focused with chapters choosing their own leadership, running meetings and making decisions on who to endorse in elections.
“We’re grateful to every parent who has ever stepped up to lead a chapter, including those who have since moved on,” Descovich said. “Chapters grow, pause and relaunch as volunteers’ lives change; that’s the nature of a volunteer movement, not a sign of weakness, and we welcome any parent who wants to pick up the banner.”
A spokesperson for the organization added no chapter dictates how other chapters operates.
“Five years in, the parental rights movement is bigger than any one chapter, any one leader, or any one news cycle, and we’re looking forward, not back,” Descovich added.
‘Being told what to do’
In August 2025, Jones organized a Moms for Liberty event in Columbia on the growing dangers of artificial intelligence and modern technology. Among the speakers at the event were candidates for governor Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell and Attorney General Alan Wilson. Wilson, who is now the GOP nominee for governor, had a featured discussion during the event with Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice.
Jones said she believed she was able to get her message out with that event, but by October she felt she lost that ability.
“We were being told what to do. We were being told what we could and couldn’t do,” Jones said, who added being involved in the volunteer organization could be a full-time job.
Jones said there were battles between chapters around the state as they were trying to out-do one another.
Jones said the group was supposed to be nonpartisan focused on children’s education and parental rights and parents knowing what’s best for their own children. However, its efforts to remove books from school libraries leads to the perception the group is a hard-line conservative organization.
“That got lost somewhere, along the line. It turned into a what we were accused of being – a right-wing, fall in line, screaming at the top of our lungs rather than actually doing the real work,” Jones said. “You don’t bulldoze people, you bring them to the table. We weren’t bringing people to the table anymore, we were trying to run them over.”
Foltz and Boyle denied having a partisan bent.
“Parental rights are not partisan,” the York County leaders said. “We don’t ask anyone’s voter registration at the door, we ask whether they care about kids, and nobody gives up their nights and weekends for brownie points. Our scoreboard is children who can read and parents who have a voice.”
RJ May controversy
In their letter, the former local chapter leadership said were frustrated with how they were advised not to publicly comment on the arrest and conviction of former state Rep. RJ May, who was sentenced in January to 17.5 years in prison for distributing child pornography. May was named as the Moms for Liberty legislator of the year in 2023.
“We wanted to speak out and say like we’re not aligned with him. We’re just as shocked as you,” said Dawn Pierce, who previously led the now defunct Lexington County Moms for Liberty chapter.
“They put out a very short, very short statement, and that’s it,” Pierce added about the national organization.
The national organization said it advised the local chapters not to engage on social media with people who were attacking the organization.
“Moms For Liberty issued an unequivocal condemnation of RJ May and his atrocious actions,” a Moms for Liberty spokesperson said. “On social media, we observed that anti-Moms For Liberty trolls were trying to attack our South Carolina members and goad them into social media commentary. To protect our members, we asked that they not play into the hands of those bad actors and allow the organization’s statement to stand for itself.”
The local chapters wanted to revoke the award given to May after his arrest, and send a statement denouncing him. But they were encouraged not to say anything.
“South Carolina leaders were instructed to remain silent. Protecting the organization’s image took precedence over speaking out against child exploitation,” the former leaders wrote in their letter.
Going forward
Boyle, the vice chair of the York County Moms for Liberty, has been promoting a statewide tour to promote the Parental Rights Act, which passed the House earlier this year, but did not move in the Senate before session ended.
Dates of the statewide tour are being announced as they’re confirmed and Boyle and Foltz said they are excited about traveling the state.
“We get asked constantly how to start a chapter in other counties, and we would love to see the statewide network grow. Our responsibility is to the members, families and communities we serve, and those goals are larger than any one individual or internal disagreement. We will not be distracted from the work we were formed to do,” Boyle and Foltz said in a statement.
For those who left the organization, they still want to accomplish the mission.
“I’m still fighting for parental rights. Still fighting for safer technology for our kids. I mean, that’s never going to change,” Jones said.
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