The report criticizes Georgia's Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS), claiming its failures led to deaths and abuse of foster children.
www.wjcl.com
Updated: 12:05 AM EDT Apr 10, 2024
Tia Maggio
Reporter/Multimedia Journalist
Ga. —
A new report from Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff shows the failures in Georgia's foster care system.
Sen. Ossoff announced the
release of his report on Tuesday. The report is a 13-month investigation of testimonies, cases, and findings surrounding around the safety of foster children.
"The most vulnerable children in our state and in our nation must be protected from physical abuse, from sexual abuse, and from human trafficking. We cannot and must not look away from these findings, though they are deeply distressing. We cannot accept the abuse, the trafficking, and the preventable death of children. I thank my Subcommittee staff and the more than 100 witnesses whose hard work and courage has brought these facts to the public," Chairman Ossoff said in a statement Tuesday.
The report criticizes Georgia's Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS), claiming its failures led to deaths and abuse of foster children.
One of those deaths happened in Chatham County.
Police say 20-month-old
Quinton Simon was beaten to death and thrown into a dumpster by his mother, Leilani Simon, in 2022. Simon currently faces
murder charges for her son's death.
The report criticizes DFCS' handling of the case, like failing to properly investigate Simon's caregiving, his grandmother, on her long history with Child Protective Services.
Emma Hetherington, a professor at University of Georgia and a 12-year case worker for an outside foster child advocacy agency, helped compile the findings.
Hetherington said the most shocking finding in the report were cases about child sex trafficking.
"The number of children who have gone missing in Georgia over the last several years, which is in the thousands … the National Center on Missing and Exploited Children believe that 440 or so were trafficked while missing," Hetherington said.
However, 75% of child abuse reports are neglect, according to Hetherington, which she said stems from poverty.
"It's not necessarily that a caregiver is directly, physically or sexually abusing these kids, but they need some sort of assistance to be able to care for their children," Hetherington said.
The report also criticized DFSC for its mismanagement also led to the abuse of foster children.
"More often than not, you will find employees with high burnout rate. They're not being appropriately trained or supervised. They don't know what they're doing" Hetherington said.
WJCL reached out to Georgia DFSC for a comment but never heard back.