An investigative report into Georgia’s foster care system alleges a consistent pattern of failure in keeping children safe from sexual abuse, trafficking, and death.
The stated purpose of the study was to “assess the nature and scope of human rights” violations within the state’s Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS), itself a division of the Department of Human Services (DHS).
The report confirmed the Georgia Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) investigation, which found 15 violations of children’s right to safety, among those being a failure to protect children from physical and sexual abuse.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) reported that 1,790 children in the care of DFCS went missing from 2018 to 2022, with 410 of those children “likely sex trafficked.”
NCMEC testified that children who go missing from child welfare placements are particularly vulnerable to trafficking and other life-threatening forms of child endangerment, the report said.
The report stated that almost 2,000 children in the DFCS system have been reported missing, with hundreds trafficked for sex.
DFCS' mismanagement—such as staffing shortages, poor leadership, and insufficient training—has contributed to children’s deaths and injuries, the report stated, adding that there’s a pattern of extending children’s detention past their time to be released without legal authorization.
“Two judges testified at the Subcommittee’s October 30, 2023, hearing that in August 2023, DHS proposed that judges consider prolonging detention of foster youth, including children with special needs, due to inadequate foster care placements,” the report stated. “The judges testified that they believed this proposal would violate state law.”
The report found that the DFCS has also repeatedly failed to address the mental and physical health of the children while ignoring its own protocols for administering psychotropic drugs, which has led to overmedication.
DHS Dismissed Concerns
According to the report, the DHS refuted the OCA’s findings in 2022 without investigating the allegations.“In response, DHS’s Office of the Inspector General (‘OIG’) conducted an inadequate, limited-scope review, which DHS relied upon to publicly dismiss OCA’s concerns,” the report said.
To weaken independent oversight, the report said DHS empowered itself to appoint members to the federally mandated Citizen Review Panels (CRPs), which are tasked with the role of assessing DFCS' performance.
“DHS is implementing this change over the objections of multiple serving panelists who argue that it will undermine accountability and oversight of the state’s child welfare system,” the report said. “OCA, Juvenile Court Judges, and current CRP members expressed concern to the Subcommittee that this change will inhibit the CRPs’ ability to provide independent, candid oversight of DFCS' performance.”
The report listed multiple incidents of child fatalities that took place because of minimal investigation into the children’s homes.
In some cases, children were abused by foster parents who weren’t adequately vetted for a criminal background.
Some of the problems were attributed to high turnover, reduced staff, lack of training, and poor working conditions.
Recommendations
Among the report’s recommendations for solving the problems were for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to request more funding from Congress so that it can improve operation and oversight of state child welfare services.The DFCS needs to improve its policies and procedures, the report said, such as ensuring that there is “rigorous compliance” in requiring criminal background checks for foster parents and giving drug screenings.
It suggested that Congress should consider whether changes are needed in legislation to keep the Citizen Review Panels independent of the DHS.
“HHS should exercise oversight over state agencies’ practices with respect to the placement of youth who are at risk of or survivors of child sex trafficking,” the report said. “Congress should consider legislative changes to ensure HHS has the necessary authorities and resources to conduct such oversight. DFCS should diligently assess whether placements provide adequate services for youth who are either at risk of or survivors of child sex trafficking.”
In a statement to The Epoch Times, a DFCS spokesperson said the subcommittee had provided the agency with only two days to respond to a “heavily redacted version of the final report” and that the report was written and supported only by the majority party in the Senate.
“Highlighting Senator Ossoff’s staff’s obvious lack of subject matter expertise regarding complex child welfare issues, the subcommittee’s report omits key context, ignores relevant data that undermine the report’s primary assertions, and takes great lengths to misrepresent DFCS actions, facts about various cases, and outcomes for many children in the state’s care.”
The report failed to include DFCS' improvements in strengthening the safety of the children through hoteling and streamlining service delivery, the spokesperson said.
“Our staff and leadership take our responsibility to Georgia’s at-risk youth with the utmost seriousness and will continue to identify and implement solutions that better serve those in our care,” the spokesperson said. “We encourage Sen. Ossoff to focus his efforts on putting the welfare of children above political gamesmanship.”
