{"id":2218196,"date":"2024-04-11T08:37:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T12:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/georgia-officials-push-back-on-ossoff-foster-children-report\/"},"modified":"2024-04-11T08:41:51","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T12:41:51","slug":"georgia-officials-push-back-on-ossoff-foster-children-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/georgia-officials-push-back-on-ossoff-foster-children-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia officials refute Ossoff foster children report"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fgeorgia-officials-push-back-on-ossoff-foster-children-report%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2218196&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The report released by U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff highlights the need \u200dfor enhanced cooperation between Georgia&#8217;s Division of Family and Children Services and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children\u200c to address potential \u200csex trafficking of youth in state care. The report also emphasizes the importance of strengthening oversight of \u200cthe child welfare\u2064 system to safeguard vulnerable children. This \u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-pushes-for-federal-gov-to-pay-for-entire-cost-of-rebuilding-baltimore-bridge-but-says-it-will-take-some-time\/\" title=\"Biden advocates for federal government to cover full Baltimore Bridge reconstruction expenses, acknowledges it will be a lengthy process\">summary effectively captures<\/a> the key points from the report released by U.S. Sen. Jon\u200b Ossoff regarding the collaboration between \u2062Georgia&#8217;s Division of Family and Children Services and\u200b the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-administration-anti-trafficking-office-had-incredible-impact\/\" title=\"Trump administration anti-trafficking office had \u2018incredible impact\u2019\">combat sex trafficking<\/a> among youth in \u2062state care. It also underscores the critical need to bolster \u2063oversight in the child\u200d welfare system to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ibram-x-kendi-conservatives-trying-to-stop-crt-in-schools-are-grooming-children-to-become-racist\/\" title=\"Ibram X. Kendi: Conservatives Trying to Stop CRT in Schools Are Grooming Children to Become Racist\">protect vulnerable children<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square) \u2014 The Georgia Division of Family &#038; Children Services should \u201cdeepen its cooperation\u201d with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children \u201cto fully understand the scope of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hunter-biden-investigation-investigators-appear-to-have-considered-sex-trafficking-charges-against-first-son\/\" title=\"Investigators have reportedly explored potential sex trafficking charges against Hunter Biden.\">potential sex trafficking<\/a> of youth in the state\u2019s care.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s among the nine recommendations in a 64-page <a href=\"https:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/230414_HRL_Foster%20Care_Report_final.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>report<\/strong><\/a> U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia, released following a 13-month investigation into the safety of foster children by the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Human Rights. The report also called on state officials to \u201cstrengthen independent oversight of the child welfare system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, the state agency responsible for foster children is rebutting the report, questioning Ossoff\u2019s staff\u2019s \u201cexpertise\u201d and saying the finding omits or ignores key details.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most vulnerable children in our state and in our nation must be protected from physical abuse, from sexual abuse, and from human trafficking,\u201d Ossoff said in a statement. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In February 2023, Ossoff <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/georgia\/article_92ed6458-b212-11ed-b57e-dfa3ce31c752.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>launched<\/strong><\/a> an inquiry following reports of failures in the state\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-releases-list-of-president-trumps-accomplishments-and-it-is-historic\/\" title=\"White House Releases List of President Trump\u2019s Accomplishments \u2013  And It Is Historic!\">foster care system<\/a>, including reports that the state spent $28 million in 2022 to house children in hotels, sometimes for months. Ossoff and U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, fired off a letter to the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services questioning the agency\u2019s ability to protect children in their care.<\/p>\n<p>The subcommittee held four public hearings and interviewed more than 100 witnesses, including juvenile court judges and former foster youth, and members also reviewed thousands of pages of documents. In October, Ossoff <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/georgia\/article_d576e2b0-7768-11ee-ae5f-175d2578c965.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>released<\/strong><\/a> a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children finding indicating 1,790 children in the agency\u2019s care were reported missing between 2018 and 2022.<\/p>\n<p>However, Georgia officials have repeatedly disputed Ossoff\u2019s claims. In September, Candice Broce, commissioner of the Department of Human Services and director of DFCS, said the state had no foster children in hotels.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter taking months to produce a report \u2014 written and supported solely by staff of the majority party \u2014 the subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law provided DFCS and the state only two days to respond to a heavily redacted version of the final report,\u201d a Georgia Department of Human Services spokesperson told The Center Square in a Wednesday statement. \u201cHighlighting Senator Ossoff\u2019s staff\u2019s obvious lack of subject matter expertise regarding complex child welfare issues, the subcommittee\u2019s report omits key context, ignores relevant data that undermine the report\u2019s primary assertions, and takes great lengths to misrepresent DFCS actions, facts about various cases, and outcomes for many children in the state\u2019s care.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot included in the subcommittee\u2019s report are DFCS\u2019s improvements in addressing the issue of hoteling, strengthening rigorous safeguards for the children in our care, and streamlining service delivery,\u201d the spokesperson added. \u201cOur staff and leadership take our responsibility to Georgia\u2019s at-risk youth with the utmost seriousness and will continue to identify and implement solutions that better serve those in our care. We encourage Senator Ossoff to focus his efforts on putting the welfare of children above political gamesmanship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lt. Governor Burt Jones also criticized the report in a statement. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI, along with many of my Senate colleagues, have worked tirelessly to turn DFCS around,\u201d Jones said. \u201cIt\u2019s not perfect, and there\u2019s still a long way to go, but Commissioner Broce and many dedicated public servants at the department have made real progress to improve the lives of kids in our state. They deserve our support, not partisan political attacks.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Georgia officials recommend enhanced collaboration between the Division of Family &amp; Children Services and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to combat potential sex trafficking of youth in state care. This suggestion is part of a 64-page report released by U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3057,"featured_media":2218197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24069807792766-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2218196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24069807792766-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3057"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2218196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2218197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2218196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2218196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2218196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}