Children & Youth

Georgia Advocacy Office believes that children belong in loving, permanent homes. GAO works to ensure young people with disabilities get the care and behavioral health services they need in their own communities, not institutions. Children and young adults under age 21 who are enrolled in Medicaid have a federal right to medically necessary services as established in the Medicaid Act’s Early and Periodic, Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) mandate. When children and young adults lack access to medically necessary services, they are at a higher risk of institutionalization and out-of-home placement. In Georgia, on average, one child per day enters the child welfare system due to the child’s behaviors resulting from the lack of access to behavioral health services in children’s communities and schools. States are required to educate families and professionals about EPSDT to ensure children and youth are receiving services in a timely manner and at the amount, scope, and duration as prescribed by the child’s treating physicians and clinicians.