The deadlines that bite
Every clock below is verified against the cited policy or statute — but policy revisions move dates, so the PAMMS link is the authority the day you're reading this. Print this section and tape it up; re-check anything mission-critical against the live section.
| Clock | What must happen | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| 72 hours | Preliminary protective hearing after a child is placed in foster care (next business day if it lands on a weekend/holiday); dependency petition within 5 days after the hearing if the child isn't released | §15-11-145 |
| 1 business day | CCFA referral out after the PPH; provider accepts/declines within 48 hours; family notified within 24 hours of acceptance; completed CCFA due within 25 calendar days of referral | PAMMS 10.10 |
| 10 calendar days | Health Check (medical) and dental exam for a child entering care; Children 1st referral for children under five | PAMMS 10.11 |
| 14 calendar days | Placement change proceeds after DFCS receives a placement-change request from the placement resource; the court and parties get written notice ≥5 days before a change | PAMMS 10.3 |
| 120 days | Kinship foster home evaluation (SAFE model) completed after a child in custody is placed with kin; non-safety standards waiver-able case-by-case under 22.6 | PAMMS 22.4 |
| 60 days | Newly approved caregivers initiate Continued Parent Development; 15 hrs/year due by December 31 (≥5 in person) | PAMMS 14.9 |
| 15 of 22 months | DFCS must file (or join) a TPR petition for a child in care 15 of the most recent 22 months — unless a relative-care, compelling-reason, or services-not-provided exception applies and is documented | §15-11-233 |
| 90 / 30 days | TPR hearing within 90 days of the petition; order within 30 days after the hearing ends (both bend only on just cause) | §15-11-301 |
| 4 / 15 days | DFCS policy: notify foster parents within 4 calendar days of a TPR filing or accepted surrender; foster-parent adoption consideration staffing within 15 calendar days of SSAU notification | PAMMS 11.6 |
| 10 days / FY | Respite ceiling per fiscal year at the child's per diem, prior approval required; the county can request a state-office waiver beyond 10 | DHS 2301.5 |
Verified July 2–3, 2026 against the cited sections (via the fact-check evidence in this site's repo). Timeframes marked "DFCS policy" are manual policy, not statute — they move more often.
PAMMS, mapped in plain English
The policy manual is organized better than it feels at 4:50 p.m. on a Friday. The chapters you'll live in:
Maintenance payments & clothing allowance (9.1) · placement (10.1–10.4) · CCFA (10.10) · health (10.11–10.12) · education (10.13) · normalcy & travel (10.14)
Adoption process & foster-parent consideration (11.6) · adoption assistance (12.1, 12.5)
Approval standards (14.1) · NTDC pre-service (14.8) · CPD hours (14.9 — caregivers can earn free hours at Foster411 Training) · re-evaluations (14.13) · Bill of Rights & grievances (14.17) · supervision/babysitting (14.18) · agency transfers (14.24)
ICPC (15.2) · RBWO designations, referrals & per diem (16.1–16.5)
Hearing timelines & DFCS responsibilities (17.1) · CASA/GAL (17.10) · TPR (17.11) · surrenders (17.12)
Assessment (22.3) · home evaluation (22.4) · non-safety waivers (22.6) · post-permanency subsidies (22.8–22.9)
Bookmark the manual root at pamms.dhs.ga.gov/dfcs — and when a section number in a training handout doesn't match the manual, trust the manual; handouts age.
SHINES survival
Locked out, case record won't save, portal acting haunted: the SHINES Help Desk is 1-800-764-1017. One caveat we owe you: that number verified against older, third-party-hosted documentation — if it fails, any supervisor will have the current one, and tell us so we fix this page. Checked July 2, 2026.
The habit that saves SHINES pain is boring: draft long narratives outside the system, then paste — a timeout mid-entry is the most-reported way new workers lose an afternoon. (Advice, not policy.)
Hand this to new families
The highest-leverage five minutes with a new foster or kinship family is handing them the right paper. These pages were built to be printed:
The first-72-hours checklist — whose clock each early task is on, Medicaid intake line included. Free gear by county — for the placement that arrived with nothing. The Georgia Families 360° survival guide — with the 24/7 member intake line (1-855-661-2021). Kinship: start here — for the grandmother who said yes at 2 a.m. And for their inevitable money questions, the per diem guide answers what you'd rather not answer from memory.
Families who feel equipped in week one call less in week six — the caseworker hub keeps the full referral directory by county.
And one for you
Secondary trauma is an occupational reality of this work, not a personal failing. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network keeps a solid, free introduction to recognizing and addressing secondary traumatic stress — worth ten minutes before you think you need it. A Georgia-specific supports guide is on our roadmap; if your agency has an EAP or peer program worth listing, tell us about it.
Sources & verification
- PAMMS — DFCS Child Welfare Policy Manual (all chapter/section cites above link directly to the live sections)pamms.dhs.ga.gov Jul 3, 2026
- O.C.G.A. §15-11-145, §15-11-233, §15-11-301 — hearing, TPR-filing, and TPR-timeline statuteslaw.justia.com Jul 3, 2026
- DHS financial manual §2301.5 — respite payment rulesffs.dhs.ga.gov Jul 2, 2026
- Foster411 fact-check evidence — the verification trail behind every number on this pagehow we vet Jul 3, 2026
Built by a community resource, not by DFCS — this page summarizes policy for quick recall and links the authority; the live PAMMS section always wins. Spot something stale? Report it — workers keep this site honest.