Let’s make Georgia the best state to be a foster child

by David Bass | Jan 30, 2020

Let’s make Georgia the best state to be a foster child

We can’t create flourishing communities without flourishing families—and foster care and adoption are crucial parts of achieving that goal. An alarming 97 percent of kids who age out of the foster care system without a stable connection to a family end up in chronic poverty.

At Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO), we understand the importance that foster families play in creating stable environments for the most vulnerable in our society—foster children.

That’s why we were thrilled to recently welcome Georgia’s leading providers of adoption, fostering, and prevention services to our offices and to tour some of our state’s foster care community organizations. A particular highlight was welcoming Lynn Johnson, Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Administration for Children and Families, as part of the group.

Our site visits included allied organizations Faithbridge Foster Care, Bethany Christian Services, Foster Care Alliance, Connections Homes, and Promise 686.

Group photo of the GCO Foster Family meeting

The visits come as Gov. Brian Kemp and lawmakers in the Georgia General Assembly are pushing for legislation to reform Georgia’s adoption and foster care system, including increasing the tax credit for adoptions out of the foster care system from $2,000 to $6,000 for the first five years. The measure would also reduce the youngest age allowable to be an unmarried adoptive parent from 25 to 21, plus create a commission to recommend “systematic reform” in the foster care system.

We hope to see the foster community empowered through the current legislative session, so all of Georgia’s children can flourish—no matter their circumstances. For more, don’t miss this video of our panel on foster care and adoption from Breakthrough 2019.

In the end, we wholeheartedly agree with Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan when he said let’s make Georgia the No. 1 place for foster kids in the U.S.

MCDUFFIE PROGRESS – Georgia Education Savings Account debate comes in the midst of tax-credit scholarship court battle

by Corey Burres | Jan 27, 2020

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last week in a Montana school choice case that could change how public funds are used to support private religious schools in Georgia, while lawmakers are expected to push for more vouchers during this legislative session….

“Many of the private schools operating in the most impoverished regions of our state have a religious affiliation,” Buzz Brockway, executive vice president of Public Policy at the free-market nonprofit Georgia Center for Opportunity, said. “We should leave the decision with parents as to where they feel comfortable sending their children – to a school that aligns with their goals and values.”

Georgia Center for Opportunity advocates say funding is only one solution to Georgia’s school troubles.

“And while we’re working to reform and improve public education, tens of thousands of Georgia students are being left behind,” a statement from GCO said. “What these kids truly need is immediate access to an education that will enable them to step into their gifts, talents and abilities.”

Read the full article here

THE CENTER SQUARE – Georgia Education Savings Account debate comes in the midst of tax-credit scholarship court battle

by Corey Burres | Jan 27, 2020

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments last week in a Montana school choice case that could change how public funds are used to support private religious schools in Georgia, while lawmakers are expected to push for more vouchers during this legislative session….

“Many of the private schools operating in the most impoverished regions of our state have a religious affiliation,” Buzz Brockway, executive vice president of Public Policy at the free-market nonprofit Georgia Center for Opportunity, said. “We should leave the decision with parents as to where they feel comfortable sending their children – to a school that aligns with their goals and values.”

Georgia Center for Opportunity advocates say funding is only one solution to Georgia’s school troubles.

“And while we’re working to reform and improve public education, tens of thousands of Georgia students are being left behind,” a statement from GCO said. “What these kids truly need is immediate access to an education that will enable them to step into their gifts, talents and abilities.”

Read the full article here

AJC – Parental paid leave makes inroads in Georgia after years of resistance

by Corey Burres | Jan 25, 2020

Three months of paid leave, maid service and a year of free diapers.

Those are among the parental perks the Midtown software firm SalesLoft is using to lure top talent through its doors — and keep them there.

SalesLoft is an outlier among companies in Georgia, which has long ranked among the bottom of states requiring paid leave benefits.

But that’s beginning to change amid record-low unemployment as businesses court workers, particularly in highly paid, white-collar fields such as tech and consulting…

“Our birthrates are the lowest ever,” the Pennsylvania Republican said at a Georgia Center for Opportunity event at Georgia Tech earlier this month. Moderate and lower-income workers, he added, “are having the hardest time figuring out how they’re going to raise a family.”

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Georgia earns high marks for career development, but workforce lags, labor commish says

by Corey Burres | Jan 24, 2020

Georgia’s workforce development program has been selected as the best in the South Atlantic Region by business publication, Site Selection Magazine.

Gov. Brian Kemp made the announcement a day after Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said workforce numbers are lagging…

Georgia spends about $23 billion in welfare costs annually, according to the Georgia Center for Opportunity. About 20 percent of the state’s population receives one or more benefits.

The Georgia Center for Opportunity also found that nearly 250,000 of Georgia’s male population between 25 to 54 years old are no longer counted in the labor force because they have “dropped out.”

Lawmakers need to ensure the job opportunities are being presented in the impoverished areas of our state, Corey Burres, spokesperson for the nonprofit, told The Center Square in an earlier interview.

Read the full article here