Committee on Justice for Children (cj4c)

Lead: Judge Britt Hammond

Improving Title IV-E reimbursement project is exploring what the judiciary can to improve the IV-E reimbursement in Georgia. Click here for an overview of the Title IV-E Foster Care program. Making sure the court orders have the proper language and evidence findings is the only thing the judiciary can do on this improvement items.

1. Survey the judges in GA to find out how many write their own orders and how many request the first draft come from a Special Assistant Attorney General (SAAG)
2. Compile the survey results and meet with DFCS to discuss solutions for improvements
3. Set up a feedback loop to judges to know when an order is deemed Title IV-E insufficient

The Title IV-E survey for Georgia has been compiled and is posted here. The initial meeting with DFCS took place in December 2007. At that time 30 orders which were deemed non-compliant with Title IV-E requirements were sent by DFCS to Judge Hammond. Judge Hammond contacted each judge to discuss the court orders identified by DFCS. In April 2009, only one court order has been sent to Judge Hammond. We assert that creating the feedback loop has been helpful to improving the court orders for Title IVE compliance. This process will continue for the life of the CIP grant.