OFFICE OF THE CHILD ADVOCATE FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN

Nathan Deal
Governor

Ashley Willcott, J.D., CWLS

Director

2016 State-Wide Georgia Division of Family and Children Services Audit

Executive Summary
The Office of the Child Advocates mission is to protect the children of the State of Georgia and to
assist and restore the security of children whose well-being is threatened by providing independent oversight
of persons, organizations, and agencies responsible for providing services to or caring for children who are
victims of child abuse or neglect or whose domestic situation requires intervention by the state. This mission
includes identifying patterns of treatment and service for children and making recommendations for
necessary policy implications, legislative changes, and systematic improvements.
To that end, the Office of the Child Advocate conducted a state-wide audit of the Division of Family
and Children Services (the Department) child abuse and neglect cases to assess any systemic strengths and
barriers faced by local county Department offices and workers to effectively provide services to families and
protect children. The Office of the Child Advocate randomly selected one county in each Division of Family
and Childrens Services fourteen (14) regions to audit. Coweta County was initially chosen as a first county
to audit. One county in each region was selected in order to ensure a state-wide, objective audit. Of the
sixteen cases for review selected in each county, four were Family Preservation, four were Family Support,
four were Investigations, and four were Foster Care cases. The investigators randomly selected the cases
through SHINES and reviewed each case in SHINES, on- site records, and interviewed available case
workers. If the case worker was not interviewed, it was only due to them being unavailable because of job
responsibilities such as being in court, emergencies in the field, or on approved leave. The investigators also
interviewed supervisors when case workers werent available and when the case workers asked for the
supervisors participation. These audits were unannounced with one day notice to local and state Division of
Family and Children Services officials. Audits included fourteen counties in Georgia: Coweta, Muscogee,
Clayton, Laurens, Baldwin, Richmond, Clarke, Walker, Floyd, Dekalb, Forsyth, Glynn, Tift, and Dougherty.
Based on the audit in the fourteen regions, the Office of the Child Advocate investigators confirmed
identified systematic issues across all offices in the State of Georgia which need further improvement.
Inadequate documentation was found in every county audited, often in multiple cases within each county. In
addition, in some cases there are gaps in the documentation and services provided. In a number of cases, the
Office of the Child Advocate investigator was unable to determine if case workers had completed certain
aspects of the case due to lack of documentation or minimal information included in the documentation. In
almost every county audited, there appeared to be an issue with HIPAA policy not being uploaded into the
case in the DFCS internal case file system, SHINES. The absence of HIPAA documentation suggests that
HIPAA was not discussed with or explained to the client.
Another issue nearly every Division of Family and Childrens Services office is facing is caseworkers
having high or extremely high caseloads. Many caseworkers and supervisors interviewed by the Office of the
Child Advocate investigators stated the number of cases they had were high or extremely high, and that the
AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
Office: 404-656-4200

7 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, SW, Suite 347, Atlanta, Georgia 30334

Fax: 404-656-5200

OFFICE OF THE CHILD ADVOCATE FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN

Nathan Deal
Governor

Ashley Willcott, J.D., CWLS

Director

supervisors are not only monitoring these caseworkers but are also having to work caseloads themselves. A
reason as to why these supervisors are having to work cases as well as monitor caseworkers correlates to
another issue raised during the audits which is that the turnover rate of caseworkers in every office is high.
This high turnover rate is leading to caseworkers having to work in multiple divisions within the local DFCS
offices as well as caseworkers having to work on weekends, during the evenings and at night. In multiple
counties caseworkers report that they are having to work in multiple counties given lack of staff in other
counties.
Of note is the high increase in the number of reports of child abuse and neglect to DFCS as well as
the number of children coming into the custody of the State. These increases cause higher caseloads which
increases the demands on our current child welfare system.
Many caseworkers also felt that the training received was not adequate in order to properly do their
job. Many of the caseworkers interviewed also believe that the management of the Division of Family and
Childrens services is focused on the numbers and closure of cases. This could be an education/training issue.
Also identified during the audit as a systemic barrier were a lack of available local foster homes to
place children, and a lack of services in the immediate geographical area available to provide for children and
families in need.
It should be noted that an identified strength included support from caseworker supervisors, good
county director leadership and working as a team comprised of dedicated people.

Ashley Willcott, Director, Office of the Child Advocate

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Office: 404-656-4200

7 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, SW, Suite 347, Atlanta, Georgia 30334

Fax: 404-656-5200