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Long-awaited insight into why foster care spending has soared in Georgia was revealed in an audit released Thursday, but lawmakers continue to express concerns about transparency at the Division of Family and Children Services.
The financial review was requested by the House Appropriations Committee to identify the causes behind the division’s projected $86 million shortfall last year. The crisis led the agency to initiate widespread service cuts, lower reimbursement rates tied to care for higher-need kids and terminate contracts with community nonprofits — decisions heavily
criticized by juvenile court judges, former child welfare leaders, service providers and family advocates.
Auditors found that the budget shortfall resulted from multiple causes, including “a significant rise in out-of-home care expenditures driven by factors such as increasing child needs, operational shifts and pressures within the provider environment.”
The findings were discussed Thursday during the second in a series of hearings being held by the Evaluating Escalating Costs in Foster Care study committee. Committee Chair Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick called for the inquiry into the department’s rising costs and budget shortfall to understand what happened, help avoid deficits in the future, and to ensure that enough resources are available for all foster kids.
The 20-member bipartisan panel, created in response to the fiscal crisis, includes lawmakers, nonprofit leaders as well as court and state officials. Candice Broce, who heads the division under scrutiny, also sits on the committee. The division falls under the Department of Human Services, which Broce oversees as well. She has not faced any questions during the most recent public hearings.
All the while, lawmakers have grown increasingly frustrated by the division’s responses to questions about its finances. Earlier this month, state Rep. Beth Camp announced she is working on legislation aimed at “strengthening financial transparency” within the agency to “improve legislative oversight and inform future policy and budget decisions.”
“Information requested by members has not always been provided with the level of detail needed to fully evaluate programs and expenditures,” Camp said in a Sept. 4 press release.
Audit identifies major drivers behind foster care spending surge
The 42-page audit was conducted by the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts, which is independent from Broce’s department. The report seemed to back previous explanations she’s given for the deficit.
It found that the division’s spending on direct services increased by approximately $155 million from 2022 to 2025. This increase was “almost entirely attributable” to costs associated with transportation, behavioral aides, higher-level approvals or “written waivers” for services that go beyond standard practice, as well as increased “per diem” payments to foster homes and child-placing agencies.
Further, auditors concluded that the demands of caring for kids with complex needs such as autism are driving up costs: Roughly 20% of complex-needs children accounted for 70% of the spending increase. Auditors did not address why the numbers of “increasingly complex children” have apparently spiked so much.
The audit identified other cost-driving contributors — a decline in available foster homes, difficulties meeting federal funding requirements and the child welfare agency’s previous use of an automated system to approve family support services.
Lawmakers continue pushing for more transparency from DFCS
One lawmaker pointed to Broce’s earlier claim that judges had been ordering “excessive” and “duplicative” court-ordered services for foster children and their parents.
Rep. Esther Panitch scolded the agency for providing data that “doesn’t deal with what had been requested.” Panitch said she wanted specific, concrete data about court orders and the division’s responses to them, such as appeals. Although the report noted the department’s complaints about court-related costs, it said the auditors couldn’t look into the issue “given the timeframe for this review.”
Panitch said the “two or three” court orders she’s been shown don’t provide evidence that judges “are acting beyond their authority.”
Regarding Broce’s claims that judges are partially to blame for running up costs, Panitch remarked: “I think you’re overstating the problem.”
The next committee meeting is scheduled for Oct. 15.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia foster care audit sparks transparency fight
