Georgia lawmakers explore ways to ease transition as former foster children become adults

Each year, about 700 young adults age out of foster care in Georgia and lose access to the supports available to them while they were part of the state’s system.  In recent years, state lawmakers have created and expanded a tax credit program designed to help ease the transition. Now, a Senate study committee is […]

A Senate committee, led by Marietta Republican Kay Kirkpatrick, unveiled a series of recommendations Friday aimed at addressing persistent gaps in housing, education and employment opportunities among young adults who have experienced the foster care system. Maya Homan/Georgia Recorder

Each year, about 700 young adults age out of foster care in Georgia and lose access to the supports available to them while they were part of the state’s system. 

In recent years, state lawmakers have created and expanded a tax credit program designed to help ease the transition. Now, a Senate study committee is taking a closer look at how the state Legislature can help this vulnerable group of Georgians.

The committee, led by Marietta Republican Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, unveiled a series of recommendations Friday aimed at addressing persistent gaps in housing, education and employment opportunities among young adults who have experienced the foster care system. 

“There are more recommendations that we could have made, but we’ve always worked towards trying to make this actionable,” Kirkpatrick said. “We may not be able to do all of these in a year, but there are several things on here that we definitely can make progress on.”

Those proposals include working with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to improve participation in a federal housing voucher program for former foster children, creating a “one stop shop” for foster kids to access state programs online, and appropriating funding for Senate Bill 85, a scholarship program for former foster children that was passed into law earlier this year but doesn’t yet include the state funding needed to implement it.

It also urges state leaders to take full advantage of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last week that seeks to improve career and educational opportunities for youth aging out of the foster care system.

Lawmakers say they will begin drafting new legislation and collaborating with state and federal agencies ahead of the 2026 legislative session, which begins in January. They hope that new policies will help prevent older foster children from falling through the cracks as they transition to adulthood.

Advocates say that children who exit Georgia’s foster care system without a permanent placement often face serious challenges, with many experiencing poverty, homelessness, and incarceration. John DeGarmo, who has also served as a foster parent to more than 60 kids in Georgia, said the lack of resources and support leaves these young adults particularly isolated, and vulnerable to mental health issues and online predators.

“Can you imagine having an 18-year-old child, kicking them out of the house when they turn 18 and saying, ‘hey, you’re on your own,’ no support services, no one to talk to,” said DeGarmo, who is also the founder of an advocacy group known as the Foster Care Institute. “That’s what happens to so many of these youth when they turn 18.”

Georgia launched a new tax credit program in 2023, which allowed individuals and businesses to receive dollar-for-dollar state income tax credits when they donate to an approved organization that serves children in Georgia’s foster care program. The program, known as the Fostering Success Act, raised $9.7 million during its first year, and provides former foster kids with help paying for rent, groceries, transportation and educational expenses. 

Today, that program has expanded to help more than 400 young adults who have aged out of the state’s foster care system, according to Heidi Carr, the executive director of Fostering Success Act, Inc., a nonprofit that helps issue funds to eligible youth. 

For JC Powers, a 22-year-old information systems student at Kennesaw State University who entered the foster care system at age 13, the tax credit program helped ease the “free fall” he experienced after aging out.

“You see the statistics, lots of people end up homeless, I ended up homeless,” he said. “Lots of people end up in abusive relationships and all of these things that are preventable, because they don’t have the supports that are needed.”

But Powers said that receiving the scholarship, which helps him afford rent, groceries, car expenses, and school supplies, was “life changing.” 

“One day I’m freaked out, stressed out of my mind,” he said. “Then the next day it’s like, ‘oh, okay, I can breathe.’”

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