Georgia

Facilities in Georgia

Residential facilities providing religious, behavioral, and mental health treatment to children exist in all 50 states. Some of these facilities are known to be part of the Troubled Teen Industry, while others have not yet been verified. Any facility where children live and receive care requires additional oversight. This directory helps communities monitor local programs and advocate for accountability.

Reporting abuse in Georgia

Two things to know about Georgia before you file. The licensing boards will not accept a complaint without the licensee's name and licence number, so look them up first. And several of the outcomes a board can reach - a letter of concern, a private consent order - are confidential and will never be published, so a program's clean public record does not prove nothing was found.

Time limits in Georgia: a general guide

This was correct as far as we could tell when we checked it on 28 September 2026. Laws on time limits change often, sometimes every legislative session, so some of what follows may have been updated since. It is a starting point, not legal advice: please check with a lawyer before relying on any date here. A time limit on a lawsuit or a criminal charge is also not a time limit on telling someone, and most of the places listed below will still take a report.

Time limits for abuse of a child often run from the survivor's 18th birthday, or from when they came to understand what happened, rather than from the day the program closed. Many states have lengthened them, removed them for child sexual abuse, or reopened claims that had already expired. A criminal charge, a lawsuit and a licence complaint each have their own time limit, so one having passed does not necessarily mean the others have.

Lawsuits

Physical abuse or injury: Two years from the injury for any personal injury claim, whether it is assault, battery, false imprisonment or negligence. If the injury came from a crime, the clock is paused while the criminal case is pending, for up to 6 years. O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33; § 9-3-99
If it happened before you turned 18: Yes. If you were under 18 when you were hurt, the two years do not start until your 18th birthday, so the deadline is your 20th birthday. There is no cap in the statute. O.C.G.A. § 9-3-90(b)
If the program was run by or for the government: Against the state, written notice must be sent within 12 months of discovering the loss and the lawsuit filed within 2 years; against a county the claim must be presented within 12 months, and against a city within 6 months. The state cannot be sued at all for assault, battery or false imprisonment by its employees, only for negligence. O.C.G.A. §§ 50-21-26(a)(1), 50-21-27(c), 50-21-24(7), 36-11-1, 36-33-5(b)
Child sexual abuse: The civil SOL for CSA, trafficking, and CSAM offenses against all defendants is age 23 with a 2-year discovery rule. CHILD USA's summary

Criminal charges

Physical child abuse: Felonies against a child under 18, including second-degree cruelty to children, must be charged within 7 years. First-degree cruelty to children (maliciously causing a child cruel or excessive physical or mental pain) can be charged at any time if the child was under 16 and the crime happened on or after July 1, 2012. O.C.G.A. § 17-3-2.1(b)(2); § 17-3-1(c); § 16-5-70
Assault: Aggravated assault, like most felonies, must be charged within 4 years (7 years if the victim was under 18). Misdemeanor simple assault or battery must be charged within 2 years. O.C.G.A. § 17-3-1(c), (e); § 16-5-21
Child sexual abuse: CSA: There is no SOL in Georgia for many felony CSA crimes against children under age sixteen, including rape. The SOL is age 31 for forcible rape of a sixteen-year-old and age 32 for forcible rape of a seventeen-year-old. The SOL is 7 years from the offense for remaining felonies and 2 years from the offense for misdemeanors. Trafficking: There is no SOL for trafficking. CSAM: The SOL for felony CSAM violation is 7 years from the offense. The SOL for misdemeanor CSAM violations is 2 years from the offense. CHILD USA's summary

The injury, assault and physical abuse lines are our reading of the statutes linked, as they stood on 28 September 2026. The child sexual abuse lines are CHILD USA's summary as it stood on 28 September 2026; their page may be more current than ours. In them SOL means statute of limitations, CSA child sexual abuse, and CSAM child sexual abuse material. Exceptions, court rulings and the details of what happened can all change which time limit applies, and some of these may be longer or shorter for you than they look here. CHILD USA's statute of limitations tracker, updated as each state changes its law. A lawyer can tell you which time limit applies to you, and many offer a free first consultation.

The therapist's licensing board

Holds the individual clinician's licence and can suspend or revoke it.

Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers and Marriage and Family Therapists

Multiple professions

Licenses and disciplines professional counselors, social workers and marriage and family therapists. Where a complaint substantiates unlicensed practice, or somebody aiding unlicensed practice, the board can move to a cease and desist order or refer it for criminal prosecution.

It has no power over an unlicensed individual or facility unless they apply for a licence. Investigations are confidential by law, and the board will not tell you over the phone whether it even received your complaint.

Use this whenA counselor, social worker or marriage and family therapist licensed in Georgia. Psychologists have their own board under the same Secretary of State division and the same process.

HowUse the Secretary of State's licensing complaint route. You must give the licensee's name and licence number - find them in the licensee search - and attach any supporting documents.

Complaints and everything about them are exempt from open records and strictly confidential. Of the ways a case can close, only a public consent order and an order for monies received become public; a letter of concern and a private consent order do not.

The agency that licenses the program

Inspects the facility itself and can cite, fine, suspend or close it.

Georgia DHS, Office of Inspector General, Residential Child Care Licensing

Monitors, inspects and licenses residential child care facilities, programs and services, including Child Caring Institutions - the group homes and institutions providing full-time care for six or more children away from their own homes. It investigates complaints against them.

Use this whenThe facility. If you know its name or address you can go straight into the public complaint portal.

HowUse the public complaint portal, or email the full details to the reports address. Give your contact information if you want to be told what the investigation found; it is kept confidential.

You can complain anonymously, but the unit says it needs your contact details to come back to you with the result.

Law enforcement and legal channels

Child protection, the Attorney General, and the criminal side.

Georgia Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting (DFCS)

The statutory report line for child abuse and neglect in Georgia, staffed seven days a week. A report starts a Division of Family and Children Services response.

Use this whenA child at a Georgia program right now.

HowCall the hotline. Mandated reporters can also submit a referral through the online child protective services portal.

1-855-422-4453 1.855.GACHILD. Seven days a week.
File a complaint
More about this body

Oversight and advocacy

Bodies with a right to investigate, and advocates who can act for you.

Georgia Office of the Child Advocate

An independent state office that reviews how the child protection system handles cases and takes complaints about it. The route when a report has already gone in and nothing has moved.

It reviews the state's handling rather than licensing or prosecuting the program itself.

Use this whenA family or young person who has already reported and got nowhere.

More about this body

Georgia Advocacy Office

Georgia's Protection and Advocacy agency, with federal authority to investigate abuse and neglect of people with disabilities in facilities, a right of access to them, and free legal advocacy.

Use this whenA Georgia program where the young person has a disability or a mental health diagnosis.

HowContact the intake line.

1-800-537-2329 Main line 404-885-1234 voice/TDD; toll-free TDD 1-800-610-2779.
More about this body

National reporting channels, and the same list for other states