Georgia Code
Article 1 - Children and Youth Services
§ 49-5-8. Powers and Duties of Department

History. Ga. L. 1963, p. 81, § 11; Ga. L. 1969, p. 939, § 1; Ga. L. 1971, p. 351, § 1; Ga. L. 1973, p. 946, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 49; Ga. L. 1983, p. 3, § 65; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 49; Ga. L. 1985, p. 518, § 1; Ga. L. 1988, p. 1945, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 8, § 49; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1983, § 28; Ga. L. 1993, p. 1969, § 3; Ga. L. 1994, p. 409, § 1; Ga. L. 1995, p. 1302, § 13; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1697, § 1; Ga. L. 2004, p. 645, § 8; Ga. L. 2009, p. 100, § 1/HB 237; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 2-2/HB 228; Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 4-55/HB 242; Ga. L. 2014, p. 763, § 3-3/HB 898; Ga. L. 2015, p. 552, § 6/SB 138; Ga. L. 2015, p. 675, § 4-3/SB 8; Ga. L. 2016, p. 864, § 49/HB 737; Ga. L. 2018, p. 927, § 2-1/HB 906; Ga. L. 2019, p. 893, § 10/SB 225; Ga. L. 2020, p. 191, § 4/HB 912.
The 2013 amendment, effective January 1, 2014, deleted “, deprivation,” following “dependency” in subparagraphs (a)(1)(A) and (a)(2)(A), and substituted “complaints of abuse or abandonment” for “complaints of deprivation, abuse, or abandonment” near the beginning of subparagraph (a)(2)(B). See editor’s note for applicability.
The 2014 amendment, effective July 1, 2014, substituted “Chapter 4B of Title 49” for “Chapter 3 of Title 39” at the end of subparagraph (a)(3)(D).
The 2015 amendments.
The first 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, in paragraph (a)(2), deleted “and” at the end of subparagraph (F), added “and” at the end of subparagraph (G), and added subparagraph (H); deleted “and” at the end of paragraph (a)(8), substituted a semicolon for the period at the end of subparagraph (a)(9), and added paragraphs (a)(10) and (a)(11). The second 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, added subsection (d).
The 2016 amendment, effective May 3, 2016, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, substituted “Chapter 4B of this title” for “Chapter 4B of Title 49” at the end of subparagraph (a)(3)(D).
The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, deleted “and” at the end of paragraph (a)(10), substituted “; and” for the period at the end of paragraph (a)(11), and added paragraph (a)(12).
The 2019 amendment, effective May 7, 2019, in paragraph (a)(11), in the first sentence, substituted “a driver’s license” for “and driver’s license” near the end and added “, and any official documentation necessary to prove that the child was previously in foster care” at the end.
The 2020 amendment, effective July 1, 2020, added the last sentence in subparagraphs (a)(2)(A) and (a)(2)(H); and added the last two sentences in paragraph (a)(10).
Cross references.
Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, T. 39, C. 4.
Powers and duties of Department of Early Care and Learning including requiring notice of absence of liability insurance coverage, § 20-1A-4 .
Code Commission notes.
Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1985, in paragraph (c)(3) a repetitive “96-” was deleted preceding “96-272”.
Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1990, “Part E of Title IV” was substituted for “Title IVE” in paragraph (c)(3).
Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2019, in paragraph (a)(11), “social security card” was substituted for “social security care” and “identification card issued” was substituted for “identification card issues”.
Editor’s notes.
Ga. L. 1993, p. 1969, contains two sections numbered as “1”. The language quoted below is from the first Section 1 of that Act.
Ga. L. 1993, p. 1969, § 1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “The General Assembly estimates that up to $6 million will be saved on an annual basis when the provisions of Code Sections 49-4-112, 49-4-113, and 49-4-115 are fully implemented for complete fiscal years. It is the intent of the General Assembly that such cost savings realized by the implementation of these three Code sections be redirected into the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program in the following priorities:
“(1) Extension of transitional Medicaid for up to 24 months provided a federal waiver is obtained;
“(2) Expansion of PEACH program slots; and
“(3) Child care assistance for low-income working families.”
Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 5-1/HB 242, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: “This Act shall become effective on January 1, 2014, and shall apply to all offenses which occur and juvenile proceedings commenced on and after such date. Any offense occurring before January 1, 2014, shall be governed by the statute in effect at the time of such offense and shall be considered a prior adjudication for the purpose of imposing a disposition that provides for a different penalty for subsequent adjudications, of whatever class, pursuant to this Act. The enactment of this Act shall not affect any prosecutions for acts occurring before January 1, 2014, and shall not act as an abatement of any such prosecutions.”
Ga. L. 2015, p. 675, § 1-1/SB 8, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘Safe Harbor/Rachel’s Law Act.’”
Ga. L. 2015, p. 675, § 1-2/SB 8, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “(a) The General Assembly finds that arresting, prosecuting, and incarcerating victimized children serves to retraumatize children and increases their feelings of low self-esteem, making the process of recovery more difficult. The General Assembly acknowledges that both federal and state laws recognize that sexually exploited children are the victims of crime and should be treated as victims. The General Assembly finds that sexually exploited children deserve the protection of child welfare services, including family support, crisis intervention, counseling, and emergency housing services. The General Assembly finds that it is necessary and appropriate to adopt uniform and reasonable assessments and regulations to help address the deleterious secondary effects, including but not limited to, prostitution and sexual exploitation of children, associated with adult entertainment establishments that allow the sale, possession, or consumption of alcohol on premises and that provide to their patrons performances and interaction involving various forms of nudity. The General Assembly finds that a correlation exists between adult live entertainment establishments and the sexual exploitation of children. The General Assembly finds that adult live entertainment establishments present a point of access for children to come into contact with individuals seeking to sexually exploit children. The General Assembly further finds that individuals seeking to exploit children utilize adult live entertainment establishments as a means of locating children for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The General Assembly acknowledges that many local governments in this state and in other states found deleterious secondary effects of adult entertainment establishments are exacerbated by the sale, possession, or consumption of alcohol in such establishments.
“(b) The purpose of this Act is to protect a child from further victimization after he or she is discovered to be a sexually exploited child by ensuring that a child protective response is in place in this state. The purpose and intended effect of this Act in imposing assessments and regulations on adult entertainment establishments is not to impose a restriction on the content or reasonable access to any materials or performances protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution or Article I, Section I, Paragraph V of the Constitution of this state.”
Code Section 15-21-201, referenced in paragraph (d)(1), was enacted by Ga. L. 2015, p. 675, § 3-1/SB 8. Ga. L. 2015, p. 675, § 6-1(b)/SB 8, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that this article “shall become effective on January 1, 2017, provided that a constitutional amendment is passed by the General Assembly and is ratified by the voters in the November, 2016, General Election amending the Constitution of Georgia to authorize the General Assembly to provide specific funding to the Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Children Fund. If such an amendment to the Constitution of Georgia is not so ratified, then Part 3 of this Act shall not become effective and shall stand repealed by operation of law on January 1, 2017.” The constitutional amendment was approved by the voters in November, 2016.
U.S. Code.
The federal Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, referred to in this Code section, is codified principally at 42 U.S.C. § 602 et seq.
Part E of Title IV of the federal Social Security Act, referred to in this Code section, is codified at 42 U.S.C. 670 et seq.
Administrative rules and regulations.
Rules and regulations for child-placing agencies, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Department of Human Resources, Office of Regulatory Services, Chapter 290-9-2.
Law reviews.
For article criticizing parental rights doctrine and advocating best interests of child doctrine in parent-third party custody disputes, see 27 Emory L.J. 209 (1978).
For annual survey on administrative law, see 66 Mercer L. Rev. 1 (2014).
For article on the 2015 amendment of this Code section, see 32 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 43 (2015).
For note on the 1994 amendment of this Code section, see 11 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 258 (1994).
For note, “The Georgia Tort Claims Act: A License for Negligence in Child Deprivation Cases?,” see 18 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 795 (2002).