Georgia’s foster care providers told state lawmakers Thursday that recent cuts to services caused by a massive budget deficit at the Georgia Department of Human Services were catastrophic and had already resulted in tragic consequences.
In a hearing before state House members, providers detailed how the cuts have led to resignations, emptying the field of skilled workers. Families were being impacted too, they said.
That included a mother who relapsed into her addiction four days ago, said Joel Lyon, director of ProFamily, a state contractor that works to keep families intact.
Visits with her child were one of the main factors keeping her sober, but transportation services had been cut, he said.
“There are literally thousands of these stories,” Lyon said. “This is not a localized problem. This is a statewide failure occurring in real time.”
DHS suspended or eliminated funding for several foster care programs last month in the face of an $85.7 million deficit for the 2026 fiscal year. The cuts include assessments for children’s needs, services that prevent children from living outside their home and parent training programs.
The subcommittee hearing comes ahead of the 2026 legislative session, which begins Jan. 12.
DHS Commissioner Candice Broce told lawmakers she made the cuts “to keep the lights on” because the department has run out of money.
“I did not want to terminate contracts,” she said. “I also don’t want to break the law by overspending my budget, so I’m in a real catch-22 right now.”
Democratic state lawmakers in the joint hearing argued the state is sitting on a $14.6 billion surplus that could be used to cover the budgetary hole.
Broce said the agency routinely operates on a tight budget, sometimes furloughing staff or delaying payments to get by, the result of chronic underfunding. Broce said she wasn’t sure when the department’s house of cards began to collapse.
She maintained that Gov. Brian Kemp’s office had been a supportive partner and would step in “at the right time.”
“How is this not the right time now?” asked state Rep. Esther Panitch, D-Sandy Springs. “How many more kids have to suffer until you believe it’s the right time?”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reached out to Kemp’s office to clarify when Broce contacted the governor to convey the size of the deficit and whether he will provide emergency relief.
“The current budget development process is ongoing, and the governor will unveil his budget proposal to both chambers at a later date,” said Kemp spokesperson Carter Chapman. “We have seen exponential cost increases in this program area in a very short time span.”
As of December, Broce said there are 9,976 children in foster care in Georgia. But many more people rely on the agency, including biological parents whom the state wants to reunify with their children, foster parents and social workers.
“We’re very concerned that kids are going to start rapidly falling through the cracks with these cuts,” said Allison Ashe, the CEO of Wellroot Family Services, another state contractor. “In the long run, this is going to cost the state significantly more money.”
Committee co-chair Katie Dempsey, R-Rome, assured Broce and service providers that help would come.
“We are going to get there somehow, some way,” she said.
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