[3] Her mother, Shandra (née Green),[4] a personnel manager for Michigan Bell Telephone, decided to move to Columbia, South Carolina, when Childs was 14 years old due to rising crime in Detroit.

Childs' father remained in Detroit and died in 1980 at age 32 from a gunshot wound, possibly self-inflicted.

[3] Childs was inspired to pursue a legal career after participating in mock trial programs, first in high school and later at the University of South Florida, which she attended on scholarship.

[10] Childs also earned a Master of Arts degree in personnel and employment relations from the University of South Carolina School of Business in 1991.

[8] In 2006, she was elected by the South Carolina General Assembly to become Richland County Circuit Court Judge based in Columbia.

[citation needed] In 2020, Childs was elected chair of the judicial division of the American Bar Association.

[21] In February 2021, Childs was promoted as a potential Supreme Court nominee under the Biden administration by U.S. Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.

[24][25] In September 2020, Childs granted a preliminary injunction that blocked South Carolina's absentee ballot witness requirement.

[28] Second, in December 2021, Childs refused to block a vaccine mandate for workers at a South Carolina nuclear facility.

[30] On January 28, 2022, the White House stated that Childs was among those being considered for nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, to fill the seat would be vacated after Justice Stephen Breyer's retirement.

Senators from South Carolina, Republican Lindsey Graham, publicly voiced his support for her potential nomination.

She was nominated to the seat to be vacated by Judge David S. Tatel, who announced his intent to assume senior status upon confirmation of a successor.