The mother of a murdered two-year-old girl and a young woman neglected and abused in Georgia\u2019s foster-care system described their tragic experiences Wednesday to a U.S. Senate subcommittee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Senate\u2019s Human Rights Subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., launched a bipartisan investigation eight months ago into the treatment of foster children in the United States. The probe included a review of audits conducted by the Georgia Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among its findings was a previously undisclosed internal audit this year that revealed DFCS failed in 84% of cases brought to the agency\u2019s attention to address risks and safety concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat we have learned is happening to children in the state\u2019s care and in the care of state agencies across the country is heartbreaking,\u201d Ossoff said. \u201cInstead of safety, too many children have experienced neglect, abuse, apathy, humiliation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rachel Aldridge of Georgia told the subcommittee about the death of her two-year-old daughter, Brooklyn, after DFCS had placed her in the care of her father\u2019s live-in girlfriend against Aldridge\u2019s wishes. She suspected the girlfriend of using methamphetamine and believed she was dangerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brooklyn subsequently died of blunt trauma to the head, and the girlfriend was convicted of murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe system designed to protect children failed Brooklyn at every level,\u201d Aldridge said. \u201cBrooklyn would still be alive today if anyone at DFCS had been willing to listen to me, her mother.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mon\u2019a Houston of Savannah testified about the five years she spent in foster care, which included 18 placements, only two of which were in foster homes. She said she was overmedicated because DFCS caseworkers believed she was a behavior problem, put in restraints, and placed in isolation three times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI felt alone,\u201d she said. \u201cI was overmedicated to the point of feeling overtired and sluggish. It hurt to walk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two expert witnesses told the subcommittee the failures at DFCS are not the fault of individual caseworkers but rather are systemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t give case managers the tools they need and don\u2019t listen enough to children and their families,\u201d said Melissa Carter, director of the Barton Child Law and Policy Center at the Emory University School of Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have witnessed a system that fails on a daily basis to protect the wellbeing, health, and safety of children and instead violates their civil and human rights,\u201d added Emma Hetherington, director of the Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation (CEASE) Clinic at the University of Georgia law school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDFCS\u2019 overarching structure, internal policies, and administrative barriers obstruct {caseworkers\u2019} good work, and when that happens, our clients experience extreme harm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ossoff said the subcommittee\u2019s investigation remains ongoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is imperative that this work spur the long-overdue reform necessary both at the state level and in federal policy to protect America\u2019s most vulnerable children,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff ATLANTA \u2013 The mother of a murdered two-year-old girl and a young woman neglected and abused in Georgia\u2019s foster-care system described their tragic experiences Wednesday to a U.S. Senate subcommittee. The Senate\u2019s Human Rights Subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., launched a bipartisan investigation eight months ago into the treatment [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[12018,8899,9926],"class_list":["post-145724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","tag-foster-care","tag-jon-ossoff","tag-u-s-senate","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=145724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=145724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=145724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=145724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}