Families frustrated over child welfare intervention

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - As the U.S. Senate subcommittee held its fourth hearing Thursday into the nation’s foster care system, four families who’ve had heartbreaking experiences with Georgia’s system are desperate to see the outcome of the federal probe.

“You have the tears that are shed,” said Alicia, one of the many parents eager to voice their frustrations with the foster care system. “You have the birthdays that are missed [and] the Christmases that are missed. You have all the days you cannot get back.”

In February 2023, following reports from Atlanta News First Investigates, independent watchdogs, and other media outlets that children in the care of Georgia Division of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS) have been subjected to abuse and neglect, U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Georgia) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) launched a bipartisan inquiry to look into the issue. Ossoff chairs the U.S. Senate human rights subcommittee and Blackburn is its ranking member.

Watch the Senate subcommittee hearing here.

Alicia was among the group of four families who spoke to Atlanta News First Investigates about the federal probe, all of whom believe Georgia’s DFCS has systemically failed and that federal oversight is needed.

Alicia, a mother of three who no longer has custody of one of her daughters, said she’s written to both state and federal leaders. Her daughter has medically complex needs, she said, which led to the state investigating abuse allegations. The case was closed and unsubstantiated, according to state documents she provided. However, the state still has not returned her daughter to her care.

“I’ve just prayed and prayed because once you get into the system, it’s hard to get out of the system,” she said. Although DFCS does not comment on ongoing cases due to child privacy laws, the agency said its family reunification rate in fiscal 2022 was 47.3 percent, and in 2023, it was 48 percent.

Carla Arbery is a part of the group that spoke to Atlanta News First Investigates. She’s an advocate helping dozens of families with their child welfare issues. In 2020, her nephew, Ahmaud Arbery, was killed while jogging. Three neighbors were convicted of the racially motivated attack in Brunswick, Georgia.

That loss inspired her own kind of social justice work: keeping families together and out of the system.

“To see a young child being taken away and they are unable to express how they really feel because younger children have a very difficult time expressing how they feel” motivates Arbery. “We need to look at making changes to the manual and the duties of the people that serve or are supposed to protect our children,” she said.

George is a 24-year law enforcement veteran who typically works alongside agencies like DFCS, but now he is fighting against them. He said the state took legal custody of his grandkids while the biological parents serve jail time.

“When you see how these lawyers and judges are handling cases, it makes you sick,” he said. “It just gets to me.”

Elmira shares the same feeling. The grandmother accused caseworkers of keeping incomplete and inaccurate documentation. DFCS told Atlanta News First, the agency offers ongoing training to improve how workers note cases.

Elmira also said while she’s fighting to get custody, she’s only allowed two hours of supervised visits often in public fast-food restaurants, where she feels she can’t talk as freely. DFCS drivers are supposed to take the child to the public locations for the visits, but Elmira said often the drivers are delayed, change dates last minutes, or the agency cancels due to being short-staffed.

“As of July 1, 2023, we have 70 new service providers across the state to transportation, bringing our total to 162,” a DFCS spokesperson said.

But Elmira remains devastated by the issues. She recalls one of her grandchildren asking when he could come home.

“I heard a five-year-old child say, ‘God, what did I do to deserve this?’ That’s what this baby said,” Elmira said. “I most definitely feel like grandparents should have more say so in the matter.”

Meanwhile, in Thursday’s hearing, lawmakers heard from the nation’s top leaders on child protection. Rebecca Jones Gaston, Commissioner of the istration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Jose Perez, the Deputy Assistant Director of Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The leaders discussed prioritizing safety plans for state agencies and efforts to crack down on human trafficking.

HHS Commissioner Gaston highlighted that Georgia was one of few states which failed to successfully complete a program improvement plan. Noting Georgia DFCS was penalized for it. The commissioner explained penalizations often mean an agency’s funding streams are impacted.

DFCS has adamantly denied “systemic failure” within the agency. In a letter previously provided to Atlanta News First, DFCS lawyers said the congressional hearings seem politically motivated, and that the agency itself has not been asked to testify.

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