Low-income parents in Georgia sue to halt child support fees after kids are in foster care

ATLANTA (AP) — Hundreds of low-income parents in Georgia whose kids were sent to foster care have been billed years of child support they say they can’t afford, and one mother filed a civil rights lawsuit against the state this week seeking to end the practice completely.

Between fiscal years 2018 and 2022, Georgia removed children from 700 families because of “inadequate housing” — likely meaning they were either homeless or didn’t have stable housing much of the time — the class action lawsuit says, citing reporting from WABE and ProPublica.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday argues that state agencies knew these families were impoverished and couldn’t afford to pay the foster care fees, but charged them anyway.

“Georgia’s system is one of the most onerous and punitive that we’ve seen,” said Phil Telfeyan, executive director of Equal Justice Under Law, which is representing the mother, Annalinda Martinez, who lives north of Atlanta.

Advocates nationwide have long criticized child welfare agencies for removing children from low-income families for causes rooted in financial struggles, all while states fail to help them provide for their basic needs, they say.

The federal government in 2022 advised child welfare agencies to limit how often they ask for child support. States such as California and Michigan pulled back on the practice, and Georgia did the same in 2024. However, the new rules in Georgia doesn’t apply to older cases like Martinez’s.

The lawsuit also asks the state to stop seeking child support for most children who have aged out of the system or have been adopted, saying those fees — which Martinez has been asked to pay — violate state law.

Martinez, whose story was first reported by WABE, sought help from Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services in 2018 after she and her six daughters became homeless. Her ex-boyfriend was arrested after she learned he was sexually abusing one of them. Despite working three jobs, Martinez couldn’t afford rent, so they were evicted.

The agency placed her children in foster care instead of offering housing help, the lawsuit says. Martinez paid $100 per month until fall 2019, when she was ordered to pay $472 per month despite living below the federal poverty line.

She eventually gave up parental rights for all six daughters at the agency’s urging, the lawsuit says, “shattering any hope of eventual reunification and causing irreparable trauma for her children and herself.”

The lawsuit also asks for compensation for child support payments that didn’t account for Martinez’ and others’ circumstances.

The lawsuit primarily targets the Division of Family and Children Services, which is under the state’s Department of Human Services. A spokesperson for the department said the state has not been served with the lawsuit, but “it is not our practice to comment on pending or active litigation.”

Two of Martinez’ daughters have been adopted, three have aged out of foster care and one is expecting adoption soon, the lawsuit says. Yet the state still seeks $472 per month.

Martinez now stays home to care for the two children she has custody of. Her partners’ income can’t cover child care, but much of it goes to child support. Last year, Martinez received letters from the Division of Child Support Services saying she owed over $13,000 and threatening jail time. A nonprofit raised money to cover that, but Martinez still lives in “constant fear” that her two kids will be removed.

Martinez eventually learned she could ask for smaller child support payments, but was told this year she would need to show her daughters’ adoption certificates, the lawsuit says, but wasn’t able to get those without parental rights.

The Division of Family and Children Services has said the agency’s goal is reunification, but Telfeyan said charging low-income families child support is a “perverse” practice that “delays the outcome that everyone wants.”

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Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

By CHARLOTTE KRAMON
Associated Press/Report for America