Georgia’s troubled child welfare system will have new tools aimed at protecting children under a proposal Gov. Nathan Deal signed into law Tuesday.
Senate Bill 138 will create the state's first-ever child abuse registry and spurs the Division of Family and Children Services to share more data with other state agencies. It charges a new state-level advisory board to help craft the agency's policy and requires it to release a new quarterly scorecard to help the public track its work.
The changes are among the recommendations from a council that also urged state officials to hire more DFCS staff, boost pay for caseworkers and develop a "panic button" to help make employees in dangerous situations feel more secure.
They come after an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation found that the agency has ignored abuse history and other warning signs that led to the injuries or deaths of children under its watch.
The legislative overhaul, however, does not include a push to begin privatizing the foster care system that some advocates have said is needed to reform the system. That effort stalled during the final hours of last year's session, and a limited pilot program launched last year has been shelved.
Stephanie Blank, the chairwoman of the council, said the group will come up with a new round of recommendations ahead of next year’s legislative session. She said it would focus on incentives to support families who take in foster children as well new efforts to handle mental health needs of the families and children under the state’s watch.
The signing came the same day Deal inked a separate proposal to force convicted traffickers to register as sex offenders and also require them to pay into a state fund helping victims get back on their feet.
Senate Bill 8 lays out the parameters of a constitutional amendment that is already headed to the ballots in November 2016. It would create a new Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Children Fund, which would get money through new $2,500 fines on convicted traffickers and an annual $5,000 fee on adult entertainment establishments.
"After working for six years in the General Assembly to create a safe harbor for children, this is by far the best day of my 17 years of legislative service," said state Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, a longtime advocate for victims.
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