This devastating 2020 exposure by Lindsey Basye and Brendan Keefe from 11ALIVE reveal the state of Georgia’s foster care system, highlighting how institutional failures cause permanent damage and severe emotional abuse to child victims. This investigative report details how the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) let teenage boys to a predatory foster mother who explicitly requested them. A survivor, Daniel Huertas, recounts severe physical and sexual abuse, pointing out that his caseworker ignored his explicit plea for removal and sent him back to his abuser. Despite pleading guilty to multiple child molestation counts, the foster mother received only probation. Decades later, Georgia’s legal system continues to block victims from suing the agency due to a strict sovereign immunity exemption that protects the state over the child. When predatory placements result in horrific physical abuse, sexual abuse, and profound personal injury, the state must be held accountable.
Lindsey, B., & Keele, B. (2020, February 25). Teen boys on demand: DFCS unknowingly supplied sex victims to foster mom. 11Alive.com.
https://www.11alive.com/article/news/investigations/the-reveal/teen-boys-on-demand-dfcs-supplied-sex-victims-to-foster-mom/85-a75226e1-df44-4fee-a8fe-6e555738e0c0