New findings released following investigation on Georgia’s foster care system

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - A new U.S. Senate Subcommittee report says mismanagement in Georgia’s foster care system led to the deaths and injuries of children.

The report was spearheaded by Georgia U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff and Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn.

It’s the result of more than a year-long bi-partisan investigation and found eight key issues...including systemic failures...that its authors say led to harm for some children in Georgia’s foster care system.

Among the key findings, the report claims mismanagement at Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services is a key contributor to child deaths or serious injuries.

It also finds hundreds of children in DFCS care were likely sex trafficked in a five-year span and the division fails to meet physical and mental health needs.

“We have set up everyone for failure and the ones that are being most harmed are children,” said Kate Blair, Executive Dir., Brightside Child & Family Advocacy.

Kate Blair is the Executive Director of Brightside Child & Family Advocacy., a Savannah group that supports children in foster care and coordinated testimony for the report’s creation.

She notes the findings aren’t unique to Georgia but are happening across the country and says underfunding plus low resources for the DFCS can make what some consider an already impossible job for case workers even harder.

“It’s not for a lack of caring, it’s because of a lack of resources. That’s not on the case manager, that’s on our government and what we do at the Capitol every year,” said Blair.

The report mentions testimony from a Savannah woman...who told Senators she was “overmedicated” during her time in the foster care system to control her behavior.

It also mentions Chatham County toddler Quinton Simon’s death...claiming Georgia’s child advocacy office found several deficiencies in how DFCS handled the case.

Local attorney Marlene Mader works with parents who have foster care system cases.

She says the report’s finding could further harm parent confidence in DFCS.

“It definitely breaks a part that trust between an individual case worker and a parent. A lot of the issues are much more systemic than any individual on the ground level,” said Marlene Mader, Attorney.

The report calls for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to ask Congress for more funding to increase operation and oversight of state child welfare systems.

It also urges Georgia leaders to prioritize allocating the funding needed to fix longstanding staffing, placement, and technical issues.

“Looking over that report, we can easily see that we’re not doing the best for these children. It’s not for lack of wanting to. It’s not for a lack of trying, but we have to acknowledge that the system is broken,” said Blair.

Senator Ossoff released a statement following the report’s release.

He says in part, “We cannot and must not look away from these findings, though they are deeply distressing. We cannot accept the abuse, the trafficking, and the preventable death of children”

WTOC called the Chatham County DFCS office, but was unable to reach them for comment.

Separately, a DFCS spokesperson told our Atlanta sister station...”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.”

To read the full subcommittee report, click here.

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