Two Georgia juvenile court judges on Monday told U.S. Sen Jon Ossoff that the head of the state’s child welfare agency asked judges to violate state law by keeping some children inappropriately locked in juvenile detention centers.
The judges said during a hearing in Atlanta that Human Services Commissioner Candice Broce asked judges to order children with mental and behavioral problems detained by the Department of Juvenile Justice while the state’s Division of Family and Children Services looked for a place to house them.
“Commissioner Broce said that DFCS was not set up to be caregivers for these children and she asked judges to consider detaining the children, locking them up in a juvenile detention center for a few days so that DFCS could maybe find a placement for them,” said Paulding County Juvenile Judge Carolyn Altman, who said the request would violate state law. “As judges, we do not lock up children, especially special needs children, because we cannot find a place for them.”
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Gwinnett County Juvenile Judge Nhan-Ai Sims also testified that Broce made the request in an August meeting.
Spokespersons for Broce and Gov. Brian Kemp didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The testimony calls into question what Broce has touted as one of her top goals, reducing the number of foster children held in hotels or state offices because the state has no other place to put them.
Last month, Broce told a state Senate committee that children in hotels had fallen to zero on Sept. 8 and had been hovering near zero in the weeks before that. At the beginning of the year, the number was 50 to 70 a night. Hoteling typically costs the state $1,500 per child per night, ties up social workers, and denies children a stable environment and needed treatment.
Sims warned pressure to meet that goal…
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