ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News sparked a bipartisan investigation into the Georgia Department of Child and Family Services on foster care failure.
Channel 2′s Ashley Lincoln started digging into foster kids living in hotels earlier this year. On Wednesday, the United States Senate Subcommittee on Human Rights revealed that DFCS, an agency responsible for keeping Georgia’s foster children safe, did not do so in over 80% of reviewed cases.
“No child should look at this and think, this is my life,” said Julie Selander.
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In February, foster paster parents Julie and Jeff Selander did an interview and spoke about their frustrations with the practice of “hoteling” foster children. This prompted Senator John Ossoff to take a closer look at the foster care system.
Lincoln sat down with Senator Ossoff to talk about the problems facing foster kids in Georgia on Wednesday during Channel 2 Action News at 5 p.m.
Ossoff had something to say about the disturbing allegations.
“We want to better understand the potential abuse and neglect of children in the care of the State of Georgia,” said Sen. John Ossoff.
According to DFCs’s own internal assessment, DFCS fails in 84% of cases to “make concerted efforts to assess and address risk and safety concerns to the child(ren) in their own homes or in foster care.”
Georgia mother Rachel Aldridge said her 2-year-old daughter, Brooklyn, was murdered after being placed with her father in 2018, despite Aldridge’s warnings of meth use in the home.
“The supervisor ignored my pleas,” said Aldridge. “Brooklyn died on March 6, 2018. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the back of the head and the girlfriend was convicted of murdering Brooklyn.”
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Mon’a Houston, 19, was placed in 18 foster placements over five years, including a maximum security behavioral treatment facility.
“During this time I was often physically restrained and they smacked me into walls and put my arms into locks,” said Houston.
She explained how medicine was used to keep her in line.
“DFCS kept telling the doctors to up my dosage because I was not behaving. I was overmedicated to the point of feeling over-tired and sluggish. It hurt to walk,” said Houston.
Sen. Ossoff said this is still an active and ongoing inquiry.
“Without out the spotlight that investigative journalism like that at WSB had been shining on this issue, we would not have launched this investigation,” said Sen. Ossoff.
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