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A federal judge has ordered Georgia’s child welfare agency to stop charging parents for their children’s time in foster care when they are no longer in state custody.
The preliminary injunction, issued Wednesday, is the latest turn in an ongoing federal civil rights suit filed in August 2025 on behalf of Annalinda Martinez, a Georgia mother who lost custody of her six daughters after the family became homeless in 2018. The children, aged 2 to 15, were removed from Martinez’ care after she sought housing help from her local child welfare office.
Since 2019, the state has charged
Martinez nearly $500 a month to cover the costs of the children’s care in foster homes, even though she relinquished her parental rights and only one of her children remains in state care. Martinez has said that the fees plunged her into more than $13,000 in debt, hampering her ability to take the steps needed to regain custody of her daughters, such as securing stable housing.
The order, issued by U.S. Northern District of Georgia Judge Tiffany R. Johnson, bars the state from taking child support payments from parents whose children have been adopted or have aged out of foster care.
Child welfare officials must also create a “simple and accessible procedure” for parents to report “erroneous” charges, and they must end punitive enforcement measures for nonpayment, including revoking a parent’s passport or license, Johnson ruled.
The order requires the state to carry out these actions while Johnson continues to review the lawsuit, which seeks policy reforms and compensation for impacted parents.
Martinez’ attorneys have called the case one of the first of its kind to challenge the practice of collecting money from parents for their children’s time in foster care. The lawyers are seeking to have it certified as a class action; if successful, the suit could set a legal precedent for similar cases nationwide.
Attorney Phil Telfeyan — who represents Martinez and serves as executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based civil rights nonprofit Equal Justice Under Law — said Wednesday’s ruling does not end Georgia’s broader practice of charging parents foster care fees. But it does halt what he described as the state’s “irrational” practice of billing parents for children it’s no longer caring for.
“It’s a significant ruling for parents all across the state,” he said. “We’ve been hearing for years about how much this is damaging families, and to finally have a court recognize at least part of that injury really validates what parents have been saying for so long.”
Martinez said she hopes the order can “help some families get their kids back” and ease a financial burden that can make reunification “almost impossible” for parents like her.
“This is just the beginning of change,” she said. “I’m not just doing this for myself. It’s for them too. Maybe they feel forgotten, but that’s not the case anymore.”
The Georgia suit was filed against the leadership of the Georgia Department of Human Services as well as its divisions managing child support and children and families. The department could not be reached for comment Thursday.
In her order, Johnson writes that Martinez “plausibly” argues that the state’s child support policies impedes “indigent parents’ fundamental right” to their children by “hindering” their ability to work toward reunification.
Further, Johnson wrote that the state is “still attempting to collect debt from Martinez that should not have been charged against her in the first place,” and it would be reasonable to expect that, “without outside intervention,” Martinez would still be charged for child support even after her last child leaves foster care.
Earlier efforts by the Department of Human Services to have the lawsuit dismissed were denied. It is expected to present its response to the allegations by Oct. 7.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia must stop charging parents for foster care
