If your home is investigated, here is the process.

First: a report is not a finding

Georgia treats reports about children in foster care differently from ordinary CPS reports. Under DFCS policy, any maltreatment report involving a child in DFCS custody — and any report concerning a DFCS or child-placing-agency foster or adoptive home — is handled as a special investigation, a category with its own chapter of the policy manual (PAMMS Chapter 6). Verified Jul 2, 2026

That means an investigation isn't a signal that anyone has concluded anything. It's the automatic consequence of a report being made about a child the state is responsible for — a bruise noticed at school, a comment at a visit, an allegation from any direction. Foster homes are investigated at a higher rate than the general public precisely because more mandated reporters are watching, and because the state must check every report about a child in its custody. The report starts a process; only the process produces a finding. Hold on to that distinction in the early days, because your fear will try to erase it.

One honest note before the details: this page describes the process. It is not legal advice, and if the allegation is serious — anything that could involve law enforcement — talk to an attorney as well as an advocate.

Who investigates, and why it's you

Special investigations are conducted by DFCS social services case managers and supervisors — not by the case manager who supports your home. Policy requires "collaboration with both internal and external partners," which "may include law enforcement, oversight authority, and/or other DFCS Social Services Case Manager's (SSCM) based on the setting and/or type." Verified Jul 2, 2026

Policy also deliberately separates the investigator from your resource development (RD) case manager: your RD case manager must refrain from sharing details of the investigation with you, and the investigator — not your case manager — is the one who communicates the outcome. Your case manager may still support you once the investigator has made initial contact. Verified Jul 2, 2026 So if your usually-helpful case manager suddenly goes quiet on the subject, that's policy working as written, not a sign of what anyone believes.

The process, as policy actually describes it

PAMMS 6.3 governs special investigations of DFCS and child-placing-agency foster and adoptive homes. Here is the shape of it, each piece from the manual:

• You likely won't get advance warning. Policy sends the alleged maltreater no notification when the investigation is assigned — you learn about it when the investigator makes contact. You are, however, notified of the allegations at that initial contact. Verified Jul 2, 2026
• The child is seen first. The investigator must make face-to-face, private contact with the alleged victim within an assigned response time, visually assess children for injuries, and complete a safety assessment within 72 hours of completing the initial response. Verified Jul 2, 2026
• Everyone is interviewed. Policy requires face-to-face engagement with the alleged victim, all caregivers, adult household members, other children in the home, the alleged maltreater(s), and even children previously placed in the home. Broad interviewing is standard procedure, not a sign the case is growing. Verified Jul 2, 2026
• Your home goes on hold. During the investigation the home is placed on hold in Georgia SHINES pending the outcome, and an annual re-evaluation of your home cannot be approved until the investigation concludes. Verified Jul 2, 2026
• A team reviews it before it closes. A multi-disciplinary staffing must occur at least 48 hours before the investigation is submitted for closure — the determination is not one person's solo call. Verified Jul 2, 2026

The clocks

The 45-day completion clock is the one to remember. The Bill of Rights promises you a "fair and timely investigation" (right 21, below) — the 45 days is what "timely" means in policy. If you're well past it with no word, that's a fair, factual question to put in writing.

Your three statutory rights while it runs

Georgia's Foster Parent Bill of Rights (O.C.G.A. § 49-5-281) devotes three of its 23 enumerated rights to exactly this situation. As our annotated walkthrough puts them: Verified Jul 2, 2026

• Right 21 — process, on a clock. The right to a fair and timely investigation of complaints concerning the operation of your foster home. What you're owed is process — fair, and on a clock, not an open-ended cloud over your family.
• Right 22 — an explanation, not a verdict-by-memo. The right to an explanation of a corrective action plan or policy violation relating to foster parents. If you're written up, you're entitled to understand exactly what for — "you violated policy" without the which-policy-and-how is itself a violation of this right.
• Right 23 — an advocate in the room. The right to have an advocate present at all portions of an abuse or neglect investigation at which the accused foster parent is present. DFCS permits trained volunteers from the Adoptive and Foster Parent Association of Georgia (AFPAG) and the Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children to serve as advocates, and "all communication received by the advocate in this capacity shall be strictly confidential."

One thing PAMMS 6.3 adds that matters practically: the investigation continues regardless of the foster parent's request for an advocate — the process does not pause while you find one. Verified Jul 2, 2026 That is exactly why the advocate call belongs on day one, not after the first interview has already happened.

What to do — and what not to do

The section above is what policy requires of DFCS. This section is what experienced Georgia foster parents and advocates say about surviving the same weeks — labeled clearly as practice, because it comes from lived experience rather than the manual.

AFPAG describes its advocates as there to "help you navigate through the complex and sometimes confusing process of addressing issues with the Division of Family and Children's Services" — and being investigated is the situation they were built for. Verified Jul 2, 2026

Will the children be removed while it runs?

This is the question underneath every other question, so here is what the policy actually says — no more, no less.

Safety is assessed continuously, not once: the investigator must make a safety determination before concluding every purposeful contact. If a child is determined unsafe, the response is a safety plan — or immediate removal from the placement. And children cannot remain in the home if safety threats are identified or the case is substantiated. Verified Jul 2, 2026

Read carefully, that cuts both ways. Removal during an investigation is a safety decision made contact-by-contact — it is not an automatic consequence of a report. A report alone, with no safety threat found, is not grounds in the policy we verified for clearing your home.

The possible outcomes, and what each means

When the investigation concludes, DFCS makes three determinations: whether maltreatment is substantiated or unsubstantiated, whether children in the home are safe or unsafe, and — for approved caregivers — whether any policy violations occurred. The maltreatment call uses a preponderance-of-evidence standard: whether "the greater the weight of the evidence makes it more probable than not that child abuse occurred." A supervisor makes the determination in a formal staffing with the case manager, informed by the multi-disciplinary staffing. Verified Jul 2, 2026

• Unsubstantiated, no policy violations. The harm either wasn't severe enough to constitute maltreatment under Georgia statute and/or the evidence didn't support the allegations. Your home may remain open. Verified Jul 2, 2026 You get written notice by first-class mail within 5 calendar days of the conclusion. Verified Jul 2, 2026
• Unsubstantiated, but a policy violation exists. DFCS discusses whether a corrective action plan is warranted. Verified Jul 2, 2026 Right 22 entitles you to a real explanation of exactly which policy and how — ask for it in writing.
• Substantiated. The evidence was found sufficient that the harm constitutes maltreatment under Georgia statute. Within 10 calendar days you receive a written "Notice of Child Protective Services Investigation Substantiation" by first-class mail, outlining procedures for appeal if you disagree, accompanied by DFCS's guide to administrative reviews. Closure of your home may be recommended. Verified Jul 2, 2026

Afterward — whatever the finding

An investigation shakes a home even when it ends in a single unsubstantiated paragraph. It is normal for it to take a while before a knock on the door stops spiking your heart rate, and talking to people who have been through it helps more than most things. The Georgia Center for Resources & Support (GACRS), the state-contracted family support center, maintains support-group listings and resource advisors for foster and adoptive families — 1-866-A-PARENT (1-866-272-7368). Verified Jul 2, 2026

And if the investigation itself was mishandled — untimely far beyond the 45 days, no notice of the allegations, an advocate refused, no explanation of a corrective action — those are violations of rights 21–23, and rights violations are exactly what the formal grievance process exists for. That path, rung by rung, is its own guide: the grievance ladder. The investigation itself is not a grievance and can't be grieved into a different finding — but how it was conducted can be.

Last thing, and it bears saying plainly: being investigated does not make you a suspect family, and it does not undo what you are to the children in your home. It's the cost of a system that must check every report — paid, unfairly often, by the people doing the work.