Georgia
GEORGIA
Rebecca Jarvis
Service Coordinator,
Protective Services Unit
Division of Children and Family Services
Georgia Department of Human Resources
2 Peachtree Street, NW, Room 18.243
Atlanta, GA 30303
(404) 657-3414
(404) 657-3486 Fax
rejarvis@dhr.state.ga.us
Item 1.1: Organizations that provided data for this item are the Georgia Council on Child Abuse (GCCA) and the Childrens Trust Fund of Georgia. Both are responsible for funneling State and Federal monies into local preventive efforts. Preventive programs include First Steps, Healthy Families Georgia, Family Links, Georgia Council on Child Abuse, Atlanta Outreach, and GCCA Statewide Helplines that offer preventive services.
Item 2.1: Reports not investigated were those that did not contain the components of a CPS report. These components are a child less than 18 years of age, a known or unknown individual reported to be a maltreater and a report of conditions indicating child maltreatment. Not-investigated reports included situations in which no allegations of maltreatment were included in the report or local county protocols did not require a response. Such situations could have include historical incidents, custody issues, poverty issues, educational neglect/truancy, three previously unfounded reports from the same reporter, an unborn child, or juvenile delinquency. For many of these reports, referrals were made to other resources.
Item 2.2: "Other" includes other non-mandated reporters and religious leader or staff.
Item 2.3: All cases reported in 1997 with dispositions completed by the end of January 1998 and with disposition data entered into the system are part of this report.
Items 3.3 and 3.4: Number of children was not available for these services questions. The number of substantiated cases that received services was 7,933; the number of indicated cases was 1,313. The number of substantiated cases that did not receive services was 6,075; the number of indicated cases was 12,691; and the number of unsubstantiated cases was 20,758.
Item 3.5: The current data source can only provide data for removals that occurred up until the time an investigation decision was made (policy requires that the investigation be completed within 30 days of the report being received). Data on removal decisions occurring after the decision or within 90 days of the decision were not available.
Item 5.1: The data source was the Georgia Child Abuse and Neglect Report, which is filled out at the completion of an investigation.
Item 6.1: This number refers only to perpetrators of children with substantiated maltreatments. It does not include children with indicated maltreatments. The difference in the number of perpetrators and the number of children for whom the allegation of maltreatment was substantiated is explained by cases in which more than one person was named a perpetrator (e.g., both parents were named).
Items 7.1 and 7.2: In larger counties, staff included in these figures devote full time to CPS functions. In smaller counties, staff responsible for these functions may also be responsible for all social service functions. The numbers came from a workload study conducted by the National Center on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) for the State of Georgia. NCCD found, in the study month of August 16-September 15, 1998, that 31 percent of the time of the workers in 30 sample counties in Georgia (which represented one-quarter of the State population) was used for Investigation and Assessment functions and 6 percent of time was used for Intake and Screening functions. Applying these figures to Georgias 777 currently filled CPS positions resulted in the estimates submitted.
