This growing crisis has reached an alarming rate with an average three times that of other counties in Georgia. Currently, the Floyd County Division of Family and Children Services reports fewer than 45 state approved, or certified private agency homes available for child placement with an estimated 150 approved homes needed for the children currently in care. This dramatic discrepancy has resulted in 70% of children in Floyd County care being transferred to other counties.

Therefore, every day hundreds of Floyd County children are held in limbo, and every evening some may be required to sleep in tax-funded hotel rooms or on the floors of their agents’ offices. These children are often able to overhear the conversations and struggles of their placement, while left languishing in the trauma of separation, uncertainty, and fear without access to needed services.