Agency: Georgia Department of Human Resources
Commissioner: Tommy Olmstead
Public Information Number: (404) 656-4937
Administration of Human Services
Public assistance and social services programs are administered in Georgia by the Department of Human Resources' Division of Family and Children Services through the 159 county Departments of Family and Children Services, supervised by 13 field coordinators. Programs are federal-state funded.
The mandatory state supplement to the Supplemental Security Income Program (SSI/S) is administered by the Social Security Administration. The state does not have an optional supplement.
General assistance (GA) is provided at the discretion of each county and is locally funded where available. Nineteen county Departments of Family and Children Services provide GA; in those counties, the fiscal agent or county commissioner has authority for administering GA.
Assistance and Services
Assistance programs are Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Food Stamps (FS), SSI, Medicaid eligibility for TANF and related programs, the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA), and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
Services provided under the supervision of the Division of Family and Children Services include child welfare (CA/N, CPS, CW), services to adults (SA), services to families (SF), family preservation and support services (FP/FS), and foster care/adoption assistance (FC/AA).
Other services within the Department of Human Resources are the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant (MCHBG); the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); services to the aged (APS, OA); vocational rehabilitation (VR); vocational rehabilitation for the blind (VRB); blind services (BS); the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Block Grant (ADAMHBG); mental retardation (MR) services; the Community Services and Preventive Health Services Block Grants (CSBG, PHSBG); and the Community Health Centers (CHC) Program.
The Department of Medical Assistance is responsible for Medicaid (MAP) and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Related state agencies have responsibility for the adult correctional program (CP), adult probation and parole (PRO, PAR), youth corrections (YA), youth probation and aftercare (Y-PRO, Y-PAR), employment services (ES), unemployment compensation (UC), and veterans services (VET).
Go to the Georgia Department of Human Resources’ web site.
Find out more about whom to contact in this state in the 1998/99 Public Human Services Directory.