A state audit of Georgia’s child services agency showed rapidly increased costs while the department had a nearly $86 million deficit
While the deficit shrank after more resources were added to the budget, and the agency changed some of its spending, the deficit remains a challenge, according to a recent report by the state.
The Georgia Division of Family and Children Services audit, released in mid-September, showed that cost concerns and a widely reported budget deficit were, at least in part, the result of a change in software.
A recent meeting on DFCS’ foster care costs in the Georgia Legislature said ‘the math does not work.’
At the meeting, state officials shared the current budgeting situation with lawmakers.
The presentation showed the department was running a $136 per day deficit, found on a slide reading “The Math Doesn’t Work.”
A large portion of the meeting focused on the audit of DFCS and how it was managing its costs to continue operating.
DFCS is the state agency charged with managing community assistance programs, such as Medicaid enrollment, food stamps, welfare, and more.
- ‘Heart and soul’ of Georgia drug store remembered after deadly crash
- Deputy on leave after allegations he created Facebook page to harass woman he arrested
- Home security cameras help police catch man accused of targeting homes
It is also the agency that protects children rescued from abusive homes and placed in the foster care system.
However, changes made to both funding allocations and spending procedures in DFCS lowered the deficit amount for the current fiscal year to $63.7 million.
Addressing the shortfall
The Georgia General Assembly approves how much money goes to the foster care system’s budget.
Channel 2 Action Newsreported that members of DFCS and the Georgia Department of Human Services went before lawmakers to make their case for more funding after years of declining budgets.
As a result, state lawmakers added an extra $81.1 million to the department in the Amended 2026 Appropriations Act in an effort to close the funding gap.
The audit report released by the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts showed that the increase in what’s known as out-of-home care, foster care, had nearly doubled the cost as a result of both shortfalls in appropriations as well as spending habits.
What’s eating into budget
Among the causes for increased spending by the department was the use of a system called ARGO, meant to manage the authorizations for service and spending in the foster care system.
However, the auditor’s report showed that using ARGO led to overspending due to an increased number of approved authorizations.
From 2022 to 2025, authorizations increased by 67%, according to the audit, with expenditures rising by 112%.
In 2022, the budget for the program authorizations was $63.3 million and grew to $134.4 million in 2025.
More simply, the spending increased $71.1 million due to how ARGO managed authorizations, according to the audit.
According to numbers provided by a DHS spokeswoman, ARGO cost the state about $7.1 million for access to the software, operational buildout, and maintenance once it was set up.
“We often received complaints about delayed payments, and there was no centralized place to see more real-time options for homes and services for families and children with DFCS involvement,” DHS said about the online platform. “Argo was developed through a phased release schedule, with new functionality being delivered in multiple releases over time as we heard feedback from staff and from providers. It is a Salesforce platform.”
Audit findings
The audit found that spending increased mainly in three categories:
- Behavioral aides
- Mileage for support services
- Transportation costs
“In response to the budget deficit and concerns over the rise in service authorizations and spending, the role of ARGO was reduced in November 2025. DFCS shifted back to a process in which most service authorizations are submitted to the county director and regional director for review and approval,” the report says.
According to the audit, the impact on costs was immediate, with DFCS staff and case managers reporting greater use of community providers and Medicaid for services, which “likely led to program cost savings in fiscal year 2026.”
However, DFCS case managers said the change to using staff to input the requests rather than ARGO led to more time required to process applications and determine eligibility.
Still, DFCS told the auditor’s office that the amount of unnecessary service authorization requests had been reduced.
While the audit flagged issues with implementation and accessibility for the services provided by DFCS, the agency said that “actual, ongoing needs previously masked by past years of strategic budget maneuvering by agency leadership and delayed payments to providers” were found as a result of the ARGO implementation.
Channel 2 Action News has reached out to the Georgia Department of Human Services for more information on the costs of activating and operating ARGO before the program stopped being used.
