As DFCS failures mount, Deal considers private-sector approach… | www.myajc.com

On any day, about 7,000 Georgia children reside in foster homes, removed from their abusive families by state social workers. Under a plan unveiled Friday, Gov. Nathan Deal would put private organizations in charge of those children and the care they receive.

Deal’s proposal, on the eve of the General Assembly’s 2014 session, is part of his response to revelations of widespread failings by Georgia’s child-protection agency, the Division of Family and Children’s Services.

“We should all be open to anything to improve the opportunity of children removed from their parents’ homes,” Deal said in an interview. “Privatization is one option that we should explore and we will be exploring very soon.”

The move toward privatization follows Deal’s earlier proposal to spend $27 million over the next three years to hire more than 500 DFCS caseworkers and supervisors — an increase of 26 percent. That proposal came shortly after the highly publicized deaths of two metro Atlanta children and reports in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that DFCS workers’ mistakes contributed to at least 25 deaths in 2012.

via As DFCS failures mount, Deal considers private-sector approach… | www.myajc.com.