Low income mom sues Georgia over foster care fees for her children
ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia mother has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the state, alleging that low-income parents whose children were placed in foster care are being burdened with years of child support payments they can’t afford — even when poverty was the reason their kids were removed in the first place.
Between 2018 and 2022, Georgia took children from 700 families due to “inadequate housing,” often meaning the families were homeless or living in unstable conditions, according to a class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday. The suit cites investigative reporting from WABE and ProPublica.
The plaintiff, Annalinda Martinez, is represented by the nonprofit Equal Justice Under Law. Its executive director, Phil Telfeyan, called Georgia’s foster care support system “one of the most onerous and punitive” in the country. The lawsuit claims state agencies knowingly charged impoverished parents child support fees even though they had no realistic ability to pay.
Child welfare advocates nationwide have criticized the removal of children from families simply because of poverty — and then expecting those families to financially support the foster care system instead of receiving help to reunify with their children.
In 2022, federal guidance advised states to limit requests for child support in foster care cases. States like California and Michigan responded by scaling back such practices. Georgia did as well in 2024, but its changes don’t apply retroactively — meaning cases like Martinez’s remain affected.
The lawsuit also demands an end to collecting support from parents whose children have aged out of foster care or been adopted — a practice it claims violates state law. Martinez, for instance, is still being billed $472 per month, even though two of her daughters have been adopted, three have aged out of care, and one is pending adoption.
Martinez’s story began in 2018 when she became homeless with her six daughters. After learning her ex-boyfriend was sexually abusing one of the children, she turned to the state’s Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) for help. Instead of receiving housing assistance, her children were placed in foster care, the lawsuit alleges.
Initially, Martinez paid $100 per month in support. But in 2019, the amount was increased to $472, despite her income falling below the federal poverty line. She eventually relinquished parental rights for all six daughters, a decision she says the agency pushed for — effectively ending the possibility of reunification and causing “irreparable trauma.”
Though Martinez now stays home to care for her two remaining children, the state continues to pursue back payments. Last year, she received notices from Georgia’s Division of Child Support Services saying she owed over $13,000 and could face jail time. A nonprofit helped pay that debt, but Martinez still lives in fear that her current children could be taken away.
The lawsuit claims the state also required Martinez to provide her daughters’ adoption certificates to request a reduced support amount — but since she no longer has parental rights, she couldn’t access the documents.
A spokesperson for the Department of Human Services, which oversees DFCS, said the agency has not yet been served with the lawsuit and does not comment on active litigation. The department maintains that its goal is family reunification, but Telfeyan argues that charging poor parents child support undermines that mission.
“It’s a perverse system,” he said, “that delays the outcome everyone says they want.”
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