Georgia’s top child welfare official has accused Senator Jon Ossoff of exploiting vulnerable children and the state’s embattled foster care system for campaign credit, following the release of a new advertisement touting his work on the issue. Candice Broce, director of the Georgia Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS), criticized the ad, titled “Our Kids,” as a political victory lap that misrepresents the senator’s role in addressing systemic failures.
In the ad, Ossoff, a Democrat seeking re-election in one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races, highlights a “scathing report” and a “yearlong bipartisan investigation” alongside Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee into the Georgia foster care system. The investigation uncovered serious problems, including allegations that children in state care were likely sex trafficked. Ossoff presents the probe and new legislation as part of his record protecting children and holding the system accountable.
“For five years, I’ve been in the trenches fighting for vulnerable children and foster care reform alongside thousands of DFCS workers. Trust us when we say Jon Ossoff is nowhere to be found,” Broce said in a post on X. She argued that Ossoff did not secure additional funding for DFCS after calling the agency incompetent and resource-strapped, nor did he obtain more federal support for child advocacy centers despite state requests. “He didn’t fix federal law putting group homes out of business. He hasn’t streamlined adoptions for kids placed with loving families. Jon’s ad sounds great, but his words are meaningless to the men and women in the arena,” Broce added.
Ossoff’s campaign fired back, calling Broce an “unqualified partisan political hack” and accusing her of “dangerous incompetence.” The campaign pointed to the oversight work highlighted in the ad, which found that children in Georgia’s foster care system were likely sex trafficked while in state care, among other issues. “The Office of the Child Advocate, juvenile court judges, former foster children, nonpartisan advocates, investigative reporting, and Senator Ossoff’s yearlong investigation have laid bare the deep and dangerous dysfunction at DFCS,” an Ossoff campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The campaign also cited testimony from juvenile court judges who accused Broce of suggesting that children with special needs be held in juvenile detention while DFCS searched for placements. Broce has denied the allegations, describing them as politically motivated and arguing they distort a broader discussion about how to keep foster youth with complex behavioral issues, runaway histories, and trafficking risks safe amid placement shortages.
Broce rejected attacks on her qualifications, pointing to her background as a health care attorney, former chief deputy executive counsel, and chief operating officer to Governor Brian Kemp. She said roughly 40 state agencies, including DFCS, reported to her in that role. While she did not dispute that Georgia’s foster care system has faced serious challenges, she argued that Ossoff used those problems for hearings, reports, and campaign messaging without delivering meaningful help to fix them. “If you’re going to beat us down, show up with something to make it better. He didn’t do that,” Broce said.
Broce said Ossoff could have used his federal role to pursue resources on Medicaid, behavioral health access, and placement capacity, rather than simply spotlighting DFCS failures. She noted that bipartisan state funding of over $100 million has been secured from Republican and Democratic legislators who support the issues DFCS is tackling. “If he decides today that he actually wants to help us and vulnerable Georgia kids, we’d welcome him with open arms,” Broce added.
Ossoff’s team contested that it is not the senator’s job to fix the state agency Broce leads. “While Sen. Ossoff led oversight, passed an anti-trafficking law, and helped save foster care funding President Trump cut, unqualified partisan hack Broce whines it’s Senator Ossoff’s job to fix the state agency she leads,” the campaign said.
Broce also contrasted Ossoff’s record with that of Georgia’s other U.S. Senator, Democrat Raphael Warnock, calling the difference “stark.” She pointed to Warnock’s community events for vulnerable mothers and children and adoption-related measures as examples of practical support that Ossoff has not delivered. “Compare his child welfare record to Warnock’s. It’s crystal clear which U.S. Senator from Georgia cares about vulnerable families and kids, and it’s not Jon,” Broce said.
Ossoff, who ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination, is seeking a second term in November against Representative Mike Collins, a Republican who won the GOP nomination after defeating former football coach Derek Dooley in a mid-June runoff election. Warnock will not face reelection until 2028. The race is expected to be one of the most competitive in the country, with control of the Senate potentially at stake.
