U.S. Senate Human Rights Subcommittee Chairman Jon Ossoff is continuing his bipartisan investigation into the abuse and neglect of children in foster care.

Sen. Ossoff held a press conference at Covenant House Georgia to release that an analysis conducted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) found that between 2018 and 2022 — 1,790 children in the care of Georgia DFCS were reported missing.

As a part of its ongoing bipartisan investigation, the Subcommittee requested data from NCMEC on the number of children who were reported missing from DFCS’ care between 2018 and 2022.

AThis is an external linkccording to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,This is an external link children who go missing from care are left more vulnerable to human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and other threats to their health and safety.

“These numbers are deeply troubling because these are more than numbers. These are children,”Sen. Ossoff said. “And according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — and I think the leadership here at Covenant House has a lot of experience with issues like this — children who go missing from care are left more vulnerable to human trafficking, to sexual exploitation and to other threats to their health and safety.”

“This is about human beings,” Sen. Ossoff later said. “This is about vulnerable children who deserve protection from abuse, who deserve sanctuary from neglect. And that is why I will continue relentlessly to investigate failures to protect the most vulnerable children in our state.”

Of the 1,790 children in the care of Georgia DFCS who were reported missing, NCMEC’s review found some children were repeatedly reported missing from DFCS’ care — as the NCMEC study found nearly 2,500 episodes of children in the care of Georgia DFCS being reported missing in the 5-year span.

The Federal Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act, signed into law in 2014, requires State agencies to report a missing child to both law enforcement and NCMEC within 24 hours of receiving information about a missing child under their care [per 42 U.S.C. § 671(a)(35)(B)].

NCMEC is a nonprofit organization designated by Congress to serve as the national clearinghouse on issues relating to missing and exploited children. NCMEC is funded partially by a mandatory Federal grant from the Department of Justice and serves as a reporting and case management center for issues related to the prevention of and recovery from child victimization.

On Wednesday, Human Rights Subcommittee Chairman Ossoff and Ranking Member Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) convened a hearing in Washington, D.C. to receive testimony from former foster kids, parents, and experts as part of the Subcommittee’s ongoing bipartisan investigation into the treatment of foster children in the United States.

Chairman Ossoff’s Subcommittee heard heartbreaking testimony from a mother whose 2-year-old daughter was murdered while in DFCS’ careThis is an external link and from a former foster childThis is an external link who described being “locked up” like an “inmate” and “overmedicated” while in DFCS’ care. The Subcommittee also heard from experts who testified about “systemic failures”This is an external link within the system, with one expert testifyingThis is an external link, “The foster care system in Georgia has always struggled with systemic challenges and barriers, but I’ve never seen it as dismal as it is today.”

In February, following reports that children in the care of Georgia’s Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS) have been subjected to abuse and neglect, Chairman Ossoff and Ranking Member Blackburn launched a bipartisan inquiry to assess the safety of children in the system.

Click here to watch Sen. Ossoff’s press conference remarks.This is an external link