Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is being accused by Georgia\u2019s top child welfare official of using vulnerable children and the state\u2019s embattled foster care system for campaign credit after releasing a new ad touting his work on the state\u2019s troubled system.
\nGeorgia Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS) Director Candice Broce criticized the new foster care-focused ad released last week as the Georgia Democrat seeks re-election in one of the nation\u2019s most closely watched races. In the ad, titled \u201cOur Kids,\u201d Ossoff highlights \u201ca scathing report\u201d and \u201cyearlong bipartisan investigation\u201d alongside Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., into the Georgia foster care system.\u00a0
\nOssoff presents his probe and new legislation as part of his record protecting children and holding the system accountable. However, Broce says the Democrat is overstating his role and turning a serious child welfare issue into a political victory lap.
\n\u201cFor five years, I\u2019ve been in the trenches fighting for vulnerable children and foster care reform alongside thousands of DFCS workers. Trust us when we say Jon Ossoff is nowhere to be found,\u201d Broce said in a post on X. \u201cOssoff didn\u2019t get more funding for DFCS after calling us incompetent and resource-strapped. He didn\u2019t secure more federal support for child advocacy centers despite the State\u2019s requests.\u201d
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\u201cHe didn\u2019t fix federal law putting group homes out of business,\u201d she continued. \u201cHe hasn\u2019t streamlined adoptions for kids placed with loving families. Jon\u2019s ad sounds great, but his words are meaningless to the men and women in the arena.\u201d
\nOssoff\u2019s team fired back, however, calling Broce an \u201cunqualified partisan political hack\u201d and accusing her of \u201cdangerous incompetence.\u201d They pointed to Ossoff\u2019s oversight work highlighted in the advertisement that Broce criticizes, which the spokesperson said found children in Georgia\u2019s foster care system were likely sex trafficked while in state care, among other issues.\u00a0
\n\u201cThe Office of the Child Advocate, juvenile court judges, former foster children, nonpartisan advocates, investigative reporting, and Senator Ossoff\u2019s yearlong investigation have laid bare the deep and dangerous dysfunction at DFCS,\u201d an Ossoff campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
\nThe campaign also cited testimony from juvenile court judges who accused Broce of suggesting that children with special needs be held in juvenile detention while DFCS searched for placements. Broce has denied the allegations, describing them as politically motivated and arguing they distort a broader discussion about how to keep foster youth with complex behavioral issues, runaway histories and trafficking risks safe amid placement shortages.
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\u201cCandice Broce is a partisan political hack irresponsibly placed in charge of care for the state\u2019s most vulnerable kids,\u201d the Ossoff spokesperson said. \u201cInstead of whining that her dangerous incompetence was made public, she should fix her broken agency.\u201d
\nBroce rejected the attacks on her qualifications, pointing to her background as a health care attorney, former chief deputy executive counsel and chief operating officer to Gov. Brian Kemp and saying roughly 40 state agencies, including DFCS, reported to her in that role.\u00a0
\nAt the same time, she did not dispute that Georgia\u2019s foster care system has faced serious challenges, but argued Ossoff used those problems for hearings, reports and campaign messaging without delivering meaningful help to fix them.
\n\u201cIf you\u2019re going to beat us down, show up with something to make it better,\u201d Broce said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t do that.\u201d\u00a0
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\nBroce said Ossoff could have used his federal role to pursue resources on Medicaid, behavioral health access and placement capacity, rather than simply spotlighting DFCS failures.
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s actually bipartisan is the over $100 million in state funds we\u2019ve gotten from Republican and Democrat legislators who support the issues we\u2019re tackling and believe we deserve more resources,\u201d Broce said. \u201cIf he decides today that he actually wants to help us and vulnerable Georgia kids, we\u2019d welcome him with open arms.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Ossoff\u2019s team contests it is not even \u201cSenator Ossoff\u2019s job to fix the state agency [Broce] leads\u201d in the first place, and said Broce was whining that \u201cit\u2019s Senator Ossoff\u2019s job to fix the state agency she leads.\u201d \u00a0
\n\u201cWhile Sen. Ossoff led oversight, passed an anti-trafficking law, and helped save foster care funding President Trump cut, unqualified partisan hack Broce whines it\u2019s Senator Ossoff\u2019s job to fix the state agency she leads,\u201d Ossoff\u2019s representatives told Fox News Digital.
\nBroce\u2019s criticism of Ossoff included a contrast between his record and that of Georgia\u2019s other U.S. Senator, Democrat Raphael Warnock. Broce called the difference \u201cstark,\u201d pointing to Warnock\u2019s community events for vulnerable mothers and children and adoption-related measures as examples of practical support she says Ossoff has not delivered.
\n\u201cCompare his child welfare record to Warnock\u2019s. It\u2019s crystal clear which U.S. Senator from Georgia cares about vulnerable families and kids, and it\u2019s not Jon,\u201d Broce said in her X post.
\nOssoff, who ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination, is seeking a second term in November against Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., who won the Republican nomination after defeating former football coach Derek Dooley in a mid-June GOP runoff election. Warnock will not face reelection again until 2028.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"