The Current GA investigation into Georgia child welfare system wins top Atlanta Press Club honor
Georgia Office of the Child Advocate adopts findings after investigation exposes flawed testing
SAVANNAH, Ga. — An investigation by The Current GA into Georgia’s child welfare system and its reliance on controversial drug testing has won the top award in the Digital Enterprise category from the Atlanta Press Club.
The reporting, “Georgia DFCS relied on controversial laboratory for drug tests crucial to custody decisions,” was produced by Jake Shore, a reporter for The Current at the time, with visual journalism by Justin Taylor.
The investigation uncovered how Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services used unreliable drug tests in decisions about whether to remove children from their parents, affecting dozens of families. Among them was Camden County mother Kristen Clark Hassell, whose infant daughter was taken from her in a courthouse hallway after a judge ruled her an unfit parent.
The reporting found that the state continued using the tests despite concerns raised by the laboratory’s own director, who had flagged problematic results in court cases across the country.
“This is exactly what accountability journalism is supposed to do,” said Margaret Coker, editor in chief of The Current GA. “This reporting exposed decisions being made with flawed evidence, documented the real harm to families, and helped move those findings into a state agency’s training. When journalism leads to better information inside the system itself, that’s where you begin to see change.”
Following publication, the Georgia Office of the Child Advocate incorporated the newsroom’s findings into its training materials to help improve outcomes for families navigating the system.
In addition to the Digital Enterprise win, Shore and The Current were also named a finalist in the Narrative Writing/Reporting category for “How I became ‘Mark Cuban’ and found community on Forsyth Park’s courts”.
Shore is now an investigative reporter with WLRN in South Florida. Taylor, a visual journalist with The Current, is part of the CatchLight Local initiative and focuses on documenting coastal communities and environmental change.
The Atlanta Press Club Awards of Excellence recognize the highest caliber of journalism produced within a calendar year across print, broadcast, and digital categories, with entries judged on reporting skill, quality of content, and impact.
The project was supported by Report for America, Investigative Editors Corp., with editing support from Ken Foskett, and CatchLight Local.
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About The Current GA
The Current GA is an independent, nonprofit newsroom producing in-depth journalism for Coastal Georgia. Its reporting focuses on accountability, examining how decisions are made, who they impact, and what happens next. Coverage spans the Georgia Coastal region, with an emphasis on issues including the environment, local government, growth and development, and public safety.