Georgia child welfare director criticizes Sen. Jon Ossoff’s foster-care messaging, disputing his role

Georgia’s top child welfare official, Division of Family & Children Services Director Candice Broce, has publicly criticized Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., after the senator released a foster-care-focused advertising campaign that Broce says turns vulnerable children into political credit.

In a post on X highlighted by NEWS RADIO KOTA-AM 1380AM/100.7FM, Broce said she has “been in the trenches fighting for vulnerable children and foster care reform alongside thousands of DFCS workers” and argued that “Jon Ossoff is nowhere to be found.” She said Ossoff’s “words are meaningless to the men and women in the arena,” describing the ad as sounding good but not matching outcomes she attributed to DFCS staff.

KOTA reported that Ossoff’s new ad, titled “Our Kids,” highlights what the senator describes as “a scathing report” and “yearlong bipartisan investigation” into the Georgia foster care system, including work alongside Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. According to the report, Ossoff presents his investigation and legislation as part of his record protecting children and seeking accountability for the state system.

Broce disputed Ossoff’s claimed impact in several areas. She said Ossoff “didn’t get more funding for DFCS after calling us incompetent and resource-strapped.” She also said he “didn’t secure more federal support for child advocacy centers despite the State’s requests,” and that he “didn’t fix federal law putting group homes out of business.” In the same post, Broce argued that Ossoff “hasn’t streamlined adoptions for kids placed with loving families.”

The exchange places the federal legislative record and state agency capacity at the center of a dispute over who should receive credit for changes in child welfare policy and implementation. The reported accusations focus on whether federal actions aligned with state needs have translated into funding, oversight changes, or services at DFCS and partner providers.

Neither the original Fox News Politics report nor KOTA’s account in the research packet provides documentary detail in the form of specific legislative citations, funding amounts, or timelines showing what Ossoff did or did not accomplish. The criticism is therefore presented in the record primarily as Broce’s response to Ossoff’s ad messaging and the competing framing of responsibility for foster-care outcomes.

Ossoff’s response was not included in the research packet. The next step for verification would be to match the ad’s claims about “a scathing report” and “yearlong bipartisan investigation” and any associated legislation to the federal actions Ossoff says he took, as well as to state DFCS and federal counterparts responsible for funding streams and child advocacy center grants.

Meanwhile, the political stakes tied to foster-care policy in Georgia remain linked to how voters evaluate oversight, accountability, and results in a high-salience issue that is connected to both state administration of DFCS and congressional authority over federal programs and law. The dispute also underscores the role of agency leadership in contesting campaign narratives about performance in public child welfare systems.