The Georgia Division of Family and Children Services consistently fails to protect children from abuse, and mismanagement at the division is “a key contributor” to child deaths and serious injuries, according to a U.S. Senate report released Tuesday. DFCS called the allegations “unfounded and irresponsible.”
“The most vulnerable children in our state and in our nation must be protected from physical abuse, from sexual abuse, and from human trafficking,” said Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, who led the investigation along with Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. “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. I thank my Subcommittee staff and the more than 100 witnesses whose hard work and courage has brought these facts to the public.”
The investigation, launched in February 2023, also found evidence that more than 400 children in state custody were likely sex trafficked over a five-year span, while nearly 2,000 were reported missing during the same time; Georgia’s Department of Human Services leadership, which oversees DFCS, recommended prolonging foster childrens’ stays in juvenile detention because they didn’t have enough placements; DFCS “consistently fails to meet children’s mental and physical health needs,” including by overprescribing psychotropic drugs to children. The report says the DHS has not adequately responded to reports of previous failures and is seeking to weaken oversight by taking over the federally-mandated panels which review the division.
The report says the division experiences high turnover rates as employees struggle to keep up with high caseloads, but that many employees are afraid they will be retaliated against if they speak out.
The child welfare agency…
Read the full article here
