U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Georgia),  has vowed to help two federal agencies responsible for child welfare to develop the tools needed to protect foster children from abuse and neglect. He and Republican U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee are criticizing the lax oversight by state and federal child welfare agencies in protecting missing children in foster care.

The Senate’s Human Rights Subcommittee, which Ossoff chairs, launched an investigation last February to assess the safety of children in foster care.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children found in October that between 2018 and 2022, 1,790 children in the care of Georgia’s foster care system were reported missing. During a hearing of the subcommittee last month in Atlanta, witnesses testified that children missing from foster care are particularly vulnerable to sex trafficking.

“What is happening to foster children across the United States is not acceptable,” Ossoff said during another hearing held by his subcommittee. “The number of children who are going missing from foster care is unacceptable.”

Ossoff cited audits of multiple states that found 45% of missing child incidents were not reported to NCMEC and that most missing children were not screened for sex trafficking after they were recovered.