Georgia Child Welfare Agency Spent $219K on Legally Questionable Phone-Tracking Tech

Georgia's Division of Family and Children Services has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on surveillance technology capable of tracking cell phone locations and web activity, according to a Center Square investigation. Investigative reporter Johnny Edwards details four specific tools the agency purchased — Shadow Dragon, Anomaly 6, Cellebrite, and Traffic Jam — including a reported $219,000 spent on Shadow Dragon and a separate $219,000 on Anomaly 6. Edwards notes these are law enforcement-grade tools that can aggregate web activity, track phone locations in near real time, and extract data from a phone's contents even without a password. The agency, known as DFACS, is not classified as a law enforcement organization under state law, raising Fourth Amendment questions given its authority to remove children from parental custody and refer cases for criminal prosecution. Edwards explains that unlike law enforcement records, which typically become public once a case concludes, DFACS records are sealed under state and federal privacy law and are rarely released even when a child dies in state custody. DFACS Commissioner Candice Broce declined to comment directly, but Edwards says her public statements indicate the agency uses the technology to locate runaway foster children considered at risk of sex trafficking. Emory University law professor Melissa Carter and Georgia state Rep. Beth Camp are both raising questions about consent, warrant requirements, and how long the collected data is retained, particularly given the technology's ability to capture information on people who are not the direct subject of an investigation. A legal opinion obtained by Democratic state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver found no statutory basis for DFACS to use phone-tracking or web-surveillance tools, concluding that the agency's role is limited to cooperating with law enforcement rather than conducting law enforcement activity itself. Camp says she plans to introduce legislation addressing transparency and oversight of the agency's use of these tools when the legislature reconvenes in January.