Georgia’s children and families deserve a Department of Human Services (DHS) and Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) that operate with transparency, accountability, and strict adherence to state law and policy.  During Commissioner Broce’s tenure, Georgia’s challenges related to child welfare and protecting our most vulnerable citizens have gone unaddressed while the Commissioner positions herself and her agency to function as a punitive and unsanctioned extension of law enforcement. 

Commissioner Broce’s DHS-SVU (Department of Human Services, Special Victims Unit) violates Georgia’s non-delegation doctrine: 

In Georgia (as in the U.S. generally), the non-delegation doctrine means that the legislature (the Georgia General Assembly) can’t hand off its law-making power to someone else — not to an agency, not to the governor, and not to a private group. Only the legislature can make laws. Agencies like the Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS) can carry out laws, but they cannot invent or expand them beyond what the legislature clearly authorized. There exists no Georgia law that mentions or recognizes the DHS-SVU. 

Commissioner Broce’s DHS-SVU avoids Georgia’s accountability mechanisms for GA-DFCS:

The Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS) oversees the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS), which handles reports of child abuse and neglect.

DFCS’s authority comes from laws passed by the General Assembly — particularly O.C.G.A. § 49-5-12 (Duties of the Division) and related sections of Title 49, Chapter 5.
Those laws authorize DFCS to investigate reports received through designated channels and under statutory conditions.

However, the non-delegation doctrine does not recognize DHS as being endowed with the same powers as DFCS, only DFCS itself is endowed with these powers. Because the Commissioner has not only failed to follow non-delegation doctrine but has instead chosen to brazenly empower her “investigative unit” with the same powers as DFCS, the following issues continue to arise:

DHS-SVU initiates unprompted or discretionary investigations outside those statutory pathways,

DHS-SVU acts without oversight from the Georgia Office of the Child Advocate (OCA), or

DHS-SVU creates new operational procedures not grounded in statute or administrative rulemaking, it may cross from executing the law into making new law, which the Constitution forbids.

Commissioner Broce, an attorney, has artfully sidestepped the one government based agency charged with the mandate of overseeing operations of DFCS through the formation of DHS-SVU. Dozens of Georgia’s families and service providers have filed complaints with the OCA but the Commissioner’s DHS-SVU does not fall under their “jurisdiction,” leaving Georgia’s families with no recourse when their children are unlawfully or wrongly removed from their care. 

Commissioner Broce’s DHS-SVU has led to the expensive and horrifying practice of imprisoning victims of child sex trafficking in Georgia: 

During the 2025 Georgia General Assembly Legislative Session, Commissioner Broce reported a 44M operating deficit—this was midway through the fiscal year. While Governor Kemp happily signed a check to cover the cost, the causation was never fully explored.

Commissioner Broce has prioritized group homes for Georgia’s Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) victims. These group homes are state-funded and because DHS-SVU does not bother with components required for federal reimbursement (case plans, reunification plans, family therapy, exit plans), the state of Georgia is now using tax dollars to fund victim imprisonment. 

Group home settings are not in the best interest of any child and because the Commissioner is no longer running a “service” based agency but rather an investigative one, case plans, reunification, family support, and child recovery are not priorities. Children are kept in their placements for years depending on how “valuable” DHS-SVU deems their “intel” to be on “recovering” more youth. The results are violent outbursts, children running away (and not being reported to the media for fast recovery) and parents left out of the loop entirely when it comes to their own children. 

Commissioner Broce’s DHS-SVU has involved itself in the “investigation” of “illegal adoptions” in Georgia with zero proof that the problem exists: 

Without so much as DFCS referral, DHS-SVU began investigating illegal adoptions in 2023. During this process, private, closed adoptions that in some cases were more than a decade old were re-opened by DHS-SVU case workers and investigators. Families were illegally monitored and local law enforcement were fed outright lies and innuendo to compel them to accompany this illegal and unrecognized unit who functions as DFCS but has no accountability as DFCS would. 

Birth mothers who had no contact with children since they’d surrendered their rights were contacted and provided inaccurate medical information about these children, told their biological children were endangered, and then told how to recover these children outside of a court of law. Children were placed back with birth mothers without a court order, the birth mother was given no resources, support, or oversight once the child is placed back with them. The result has been traumatized children who ultimately end up with their adoptive parents after years and tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. 

At no point did Commissioner Broce’s DHS-SVU ever indicate they were investigating and/or reporting adoption attorneys for malfeasance and/or lack of follow-through with the courts on adoptions that were closed. Instead, Commissioner Broce used Georgia’s tax dollars and her free reign from Governor Kemp to terrorize families and traumatize children.

Commissioner Broce’s lack of accountability has harmed community partners and bypassed the will of the Georgia General Assembly:

Georgia’s non-profit service providers have historically been contracted partners to DHS and DFCS, providing community-based services to families with DFCS-involvement. However, Commissioner Broce has once again violated the non-delegation doctrine by refusing to issue pay-contracts to agencies who have appropriations in the approved budget. 

In some cases, the Commissioner has chosen to withhold an upwards of $225,000 in contracts to private foster care agencies, stating she does not “trust” them without doing any sort of investigation, interview, or having any other reason beyond how she feels about the provider. The Commissioner has bypassed the Georgia General Assembly in moving contracts from DHS to other state agencies who do not have the same mandate, scope, or capabilities as the community-based partners the Georgia General Assembly has seen fit to fund for over twenty years in some cases. Commissioner Broce wields appropriation-funded contracts as a means of control and the weaponization of the appropriations process is egregious and personal for her. 

Commissioner Broce’s husband has functioned as a Business Consultant/Lobbyist and should be investigated for financial malfeasance and ethics violations: 

Terminus South, LLC is Jason Broce’s business. Terminus represents numerous healthcare providers and special interest groups. We find this highly unethical given the Commissioner’s released text messages related to Georgia’s billion dollar Medicaid contract and the fall-out detailed in the protest letters by Amerigroup and Peach State Care. We are demanding that Governor Kemp appoint a special investigator to review the Broce’s personal and professional finances and provide Georgian’s a full report as to what vendors and groups have gained access to the Commissioner because of her spouse. 

Conclusion: 

When an agency wields the power to intervene in families’ lives, that power must be exercised lawfully, transparently, and in a manner that can be reviewed by independent bodies. Georgians must be able to see whether policies are being followed, whether vulnerable children are being protected, and whether mistakes are being corrected.

We, the undersigned, call for the following actions:

Removal of Commissioner/Director Broce: Since her appointment in July 2021, Candice Broce has violated public trust. As evidenced by the 2023 United States Senate Inquiry, Commissioner Broce withholds key evidence, alienates and punishes her detractors by withholding appropriations contracts, and shows no interest in focusing on addressing the foster care placement crisis with meaningful reform and deeper partnerships. Instead, the Commissioner has chosen to create her own arm of law enforcement which is clearly disallowed by the non-delegation doctrine. 

Strengthened Oversight: Empower the Georgia Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) and relevant legislative committees to have consistent, timely access to documents needed to review DHS/DFCS actions. Compel OCA to investigate any and all cases since 2023 that fell under the purview of Commissioner Broce’s DHS-SVU and report the findings via a public document for review.

Legislative Remedy: Introduce and pass a law that expressly limits the powers of the Commissioner of DHS/Director of DFCS; introduce and pass a law that bans DHS-SVU and/or any similar iteration from existing outside of the jurisdiction of law enforcement.

Investigate Terminus South, LLC and Jason Broce: Compel an inquiry into the financial records of Terminus South, LLC, Jason Broce, and Candice Broce to cover the timespan of her tenure as DHS Commissioner/DFCS Director. 

Contractual Oversight: Compel all executive branch agencies in Georgia to issue appropriations contracts with 30 days of the new fiscal year without exception. 

Our request:
We urge Georgia’s executive leadership and the appropriate legislative committees to immediately initiate the independent review described above and to take any necessary corrective or personnel action that review recommends, up to and including changes in leadership, to restore trust and protect Georgia’s children.

https://www.ajc.com/politics/georgia-raises-concerns-over-dfcs-seeking-expanded-powers-for-investigations/I2MFCCRR3BAJDOFBTE4OPQXLIE/