Mary Margaret Oliver (HD-84) (D) questioned whether the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS), the state’s child welfare agency, has the legal authority to use phone-tracking and web-surveillance tools, The Center Square reported Sept. 9. Oliver, a Decatur Democrat who sits on the House Judiciary Juvenile and Appropriations committees, said Department of Human Services Commissioner Candice Broce appears to be “proceeding with her own interpretation of the law.”
The agency has spent at least $639,000 on four investigative products over two years, the report found [1]. Beth Camp (HD-135) (R), who chairs the House Judiciary Juvenile Committee, said she is “100% not OK with that” and is drafting legislation to make the department’s spending more transparent. Emory University law professor Melissa Carter said the tools could run up against the Fourth Amendment.
