Plans to privatize Georgia’s child welfare system statewide by 2017 — including foster care and adoptions — were derailed Tuesday when a House committee passed a scaled-down plan calling instead for a two-year pilot program.
Senate Bill 350, which sailed through the Senate last month with a 31-18 vote, would have required the Division of Family and Children Services to bid out primary functions such as case management, family preservation and independent living. The plan was modeled after the system in Florida, which began moving toward privatization in the 1990s.
Highlighting recent high-profile child deaths, supporters said private companies would provide superior services to children in Georgia’s child welfare system. But child advocates said privatization wouldn’t address Georgia’s real problem — investigating and acting on claims of child abuse and neglect. They also pointed out problems in Florida and cautioned lawmakers against moving too fast.
The House Judiciary Committee responded to those concerns Tuesday by passing a substitute that would inch — rather than catapult — Georgia toward privatization with a two-year pilot program in to-be-determined portions of the state. The substitute, introduced by Chairman Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs, would keep DFCS in the driver’s seat by allowing the agency to oversee the pilot and report results to lawmakers.
“I’m concerned if we make a complete change without having an opportunity to do a full evaluation of it, we may be — as I’ve heard from Florida who went through this — creating the same potential problems in our own state,” Willard said.
Next, the substitution moves to the House for a vote.
Senator Renee Unterman, R-Buford, who fought for the bill in the Senate, sat quietly in Tuesday’s committee meeting as opponents pleaded with House lawmakers not to pass the bill in its current form.
Unterman called the changes a “pared down” version of what was passed in the Senate. But she disputed claims that the state was moving too fast.
“When you look at the plan and how long the plan takes, it’s a two-year plan,” she said. “It’s not like overnight you blink your eyes and we’re going into further privatization.”
In a written follow-up statement, Unterman said she was “pleased” the substitute passed and is still alive in the legislative process.
Georgia already relies on private agencies to help children in the child welfare system. Almost half of Georgia’s approximately 7,000 foster children were placed by private agencies, according to lawmakers.
Gov. Nathan Deal said he had some issues with the Senate-approved bill but would not elaborate. A Deal spokesman declined to comment on the changes Tuesday.
The changes appeared to appease child advocates, who have been vocal in recent meetings about their concerns.
“The two-year pilot… that is exactly the right way to go,” said Ron Scroggy, a former DFCS director. “The idea in which you can step back and evaluate and determine which ones work, which ones might work better, is a welcome addition to the bill.”
