Rising foster care costs pose challenge for Georgia lawmakers

Georgia's foster care system was forced to cut services last year amid an $85 million budget deficit.ATLANTA (CN) — Georgia lawmakers met Thursday to address rising costs of foster care and how to fund services needed for the state’s troubled child welfare system.Created through a bipartisan state Senate resolution, the joint House and Senate committee will study what is driving the rapid increase in out-of-home care expenses managed by the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services.Led by Republican Senator Kay Kirkpatrick, the bill states that the cost of foster care has increased by 159% since 2022 and this “rapid escalation of costs jeopardizes the sustainability of existing programs.”Juvenile court judges and employees working within the foster care system appeared before the committee describing multiple factors contributing to the increased costs, including rising costs of living, foster home shortages and the increasing complexity of foster children’s mental health needs.Audrey Brannen, a permanency coordinator at the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services, said increased diagnosis for mental, behavioral and neurodevelopmental disorders are driving costs, particularly for 16-to-18-year-olds.She said the most expensive financial burden comes from trying to support children whose severe aggression and behavior poses a risk to their family, rather than the family posing a risk to the child.“Over the past year or so of my career I’ve had leaders at every level of every organization, the Department of Juvenile Justice, Department of Community Health, and special education employees say to me, ’there aren’t enough resources for this kid, they’re going to need to come into foster care,’ not because they are being abused or neglected but because there is not a system that can care for them,” Brannen said.“Foster care is not a place, it is a legal status. They place kids in foster care thinking we have resources that truly do not exist,” she added.President of the Georgia Council of Juvenile Court Judges, Alison Toller, said there are not enough foster homes, which escalates travel distances and transportation costs. From 2019 to 2025, the country saw a 20% drop in licensed foster homes. In Georgia, the decline was 40%.Toller advocated for prioritizing prevention services, such as investing in economic supports, family preservation services, substance use treatment, domestic violence services, housing stabilization and mental health interventions.“If we could target why kids are staying in foster care longer, I think that will help everybody," Toller said.Lynette Rhodes, with the Georgia Department of Community Health, said there are only six dedicated psychiatric residential treatment facilities in the state for children. If all 620 total beds are being utilized, it can be very expensive get a child into an out-of-state facility, Rhodes said.Georgia’s foster care system, which serves about 11,000 children, has long been plagued by issues like overloaded caseworkers, children residing in hotels, a major budget deficit, and was even the focus of a U.S. Senate investigation.The committee’s formation comes after Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services reported an $85 million budget shortfall last year. The funding gap resulted in cuts to services and programs for families, as well as less specialized care for foster children.Four former child welfare directors sent a letter to the governor in January that said the system was in a “provider network crisis” and that the effects of lost services, including transportation, therapy and in-home care, were “profound and not easily reversed.”Lawmakers’ focus on the foster care system comes at a pivotal moment ahead of November’s election, as Georgia’s candidates for governor have both made foster care a talking point of their campaigns.Republican nominee, Rick Jackson, has been extremely vocal about how he entered foster care in Atlanta at age 13 and how an anonymous $100 Christmas gift impacted his rise to becoming a billionaire businessman.Former Atlanta Mayor and Democratic nominee, Keisha Lance Bottoms and her husband adopted all four of their children after struggling with fertility issues. She also previously worked as a court-appointed advocate for children in the system.The committee will meet again on September 17. It will present a report on its findings and recommendations at the beginning of December ahead of next year’s legislative session in January.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads