The dependency timeline, every hearing.

The timeline at a glance

A "dependency case" is the juvenile court case that exists because the state alleged a child was abused, neglected, or otherwise without proper care — it's the legal container your foster placement lives inside. Georgia's juvenile code puts every stage of that case on a clock; the deadlines are summarized in O.C.G.A. § 15-11-102, titled "Dependency case time limitations," with each hearing's own code section supplying the details. Verified Oct 18, 2026

Here is the whole arc, in the order it happens. Every deadline below was checked against the text of the Official Code of Georgia section cited in its row; DFCS's own summary of the same clocks is PAMMS 17.1 "The Juvenile Court Process." Verified Oct 18, 2026

The 72-hour hearing: the case's first breath

The preliminary protective hearing (PPH) is the emergency check on removal: it must be held "promptly and not later than 72 hours after such child is placed in foster care," and if the 72 hours expire on a weekend or legal holiday, "on the next day which is not a weekend or legal holiday" (O.C.G.A. § 15-11-145(a)). Verified Oct 18, 2026 The judge decides two things: "[w]hether there is probable cause to believe a child is a dependent child" and "[w]hether protective custody of a child is necessary to prevent abuse or neglect pending the hearing on the dependency petition" (O.C.G.A. § 15-11-146(a)). A child can go home at this hearing even when probable cause is found: if DFCS "has not met the burden of proving that protective custody is necessary," the court "shall return the child" home until the next hearing (§ 15-11-146(b)(2)). If the child stays in DFCS custody, "DFCS shall prioritize temporary placement with an adult who is a relative or fictive kin," when that person meets DFCS's relative-placement requirements and it is in the child's best interests (§ 15-11-146(b)(3)). Verified Oct 22, 2026

If the child is not released at the hearing, a petition for dependency must be filed "within five days of such hearing" (O.C.G.A. §§ 15-11-145(g), 15-11-151(a)). Verified Oct 18, 2026

What it means for you: the PPH usually happens right around the time you're getting the placement call — which is why first days are chaotic and information is thin. You aren't expected to attend (the caregiver-notice statute itself carves out preliminary protective and emergency hearings "when such notice is not possible," O.C.G.A. § 15-11-109(a) Verified Oct 18, 2026). It's also the first honest lesson of dependency work: the child in your guest room tonight could lawfully go home this week. Placements are real from day one; permanence never is.

Adjudication: "is this child dependent?"

The adjudication hearing is the trial-like heart of the case: the court decides whether the allegations in the petition are true and the child legally is a "dependent child." When the child is in foster care, it must be scheduled no later than 10 days after the petition is filed — and the statute adds that "if adjudication is not completed within 60 days from the date such child was taken into protective custody, the petition alleging dependency may be dismissed without prejudice" (O.C.G.A. § 15-11-181(a); PAMMS 17.1 phrases the same rule as "within 60 days of the removal"). Verified Oct 18, 2026

What it means for you: this finding is the legal foundation of everything after — the case plan, the reviews, the placement itself. If the court does not find dependency, the case ends and the child goes home. You typically won't testify here unless subpoenaed; the fight is about what happened before the child reached you.

Disposition: "so what happens now?"

Once dependency is found, the disposition hearing answers the practical question: who has custody, and what must happen next. If it isn't held at the same time as adjudication, it "shall be held and completed within 30 days after the conclusion of an adjudication hearing" (O.C.G.A. § 15-11-210(a)). Verified Oct 18, 2026 This is where the case plan — visitation, services, the reunification to-do list — gets its court approval.

What it means for you: the case plan approved here is the document your weeks will orbit: visit schedules, appointments, transports. Georgia's Foster Parent Bill of Rights gives you the right to participate in case planning and to have your input considered, and a voice in planning family visitation — rights 14–16, explained in plain English here. Use them at this stage, when the plan is being written, not after it's set.

Review hearings: the case plan's report card

Dependency cases don't drift unexamined — the law schedules check-ins. The initial review comes within 75 days of the child's removal from home and is conducted by the court; an additional review follows within four months, conducted by the court or a Judicial Citizen Review Panel "as the court directs," and the court has "discretion to schedule any subsequent review hearings as necessary" (O.C.G.A. § 15-11-216(a)); DFCS policy adds that "subsequent review hearings consistent with federal law are held no less frequently than once every six months" (PAMMS 17.1). Verified Oct 18, 2026 Reviews ask whether the case plan is being worked — by the parents, and by DFCS — and whether the current placement and plan still fit. Whether a given review is before a judge or a Judicial Citizen Review Panel, it counts as a review you're entitled to know about.

What it means for you: reviews are the rhythm section of the case, and they are squarely inside your right to advance written notice and to be heard (next section). A short, factual written update from the person who actually lives with the child — sleep, school, therapy, visits — is often the most concrete evidence in the room.

Permanency plan hearings: naming the destination

The permanency plan hearing is where the court stops asking "how is the plan going?" and asks "where is this case going?" The clock is age-sensitive: no later than 9 months after the child is considered to have entered foster care for a child under 7 (or a sibling group with at least one child under 7), and no later than 12 months for children 7 and older — then at least every 6 months after that (O.C.G.A. § 15-11-230(b)–(c)). Verified Oct 18, 2026

What it means for you: this is the hearing where reunification either stays the plan or gives way to another permanent home, and the hearing "considers in-state and out-of-state placement options" (O.C.G.A. § 15-11-230(b)). Verified Oct 18, 2026 If you've wondered "how long will this child be with us?" — the honest answer is nobody knows, but this is the hearing where the direction gets said out loud, on the record.

When "TPR" appears on the timeline

TPR stands for termination of parental rights — a court order that permanently ends the legal relationship between a child and their parent. It is the door that must close before adoption can open. It's a separate proceeding with its own petition and hearing, not just another review.

State law forces the filing question onto the calendar: DFCS must file a TPR petition (or seek to be joined to one filed by someone else) when a child has been in foster care for 15 of the most recent 22 months, or when the court has determined the parent subjected the child to aggravated circumstances or was convicted of certain offenses listed in the statute, such as murder or voluntary manslaughter of another child of that parent (O.C.G.A. § 15-11-233(a)). Verified Oct 18, 2026 DFCS policy adds timing: the petition "must be filed by the end of the child's 15th month in foster care," and in the aggravated-circumstances, abandoned-infant, and listed-felony situations it is to be made "within 60 days" of the court's determination (PAMMS 17.11; abandoned infant: "within 60 days of the judicial determination"; listed felonies: "within 60 days of a judicial determination that reasonable efforts to reunify the child and parent are not required"). Verified Oct 18, 2026 But "must file" has real exceptions. Termination "may not be in the best interests" of the child when the child is being cared for by a relative who intends to be a permanent placement under a court-approved permanency plan, when the case plan documents a compelling reason that filing would not be in the child's best interests, or when DFCS "has not provided to the family of such child services deemed necessary for his or her safe return" (§ 15-11-233(b)). Verified Oct 18, 2026

For the full picture of what TPR is and what follows, see our termination of parental rights guide.

What it means for you: TPR on the docket means the plan has turned, or is turning, from reunification. If the child has been with you 12 months or more and is released for adoption, the Bill of Rights says you're to be considered first choice as a permanent parent, where appropriate — right 20, explained here. It's also the moment to say clearly, to your case manager and in court if invited, what your family is and isn't able to commit to. Silence gets read as an answer.

Your seat: notice, and the right to be heard

You are not a bystander to this timeline. Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 15-11-109(a); DFCS policy PAMMS 17.8, "Caregiver's Right to be Notified and Heard," implements it) requires DFCS, in advance of each hearing or review, to give the caregiver, foster parent, any preadoptive parent, or any relative providing care "written notice of the date, time, place, and purpose of the review or hearing, including the right to be heard," delivered "at least 72 hours before the review or hearing" by U.S. mail, e-mail, or hand delivery. The only carve-out is "preliminary protective hearings or emergency hearings when such notice is not possible." Verified Oct 18, 2026 The same guarantee lives in the Foster Parent Bill of Rights — see rights 14–16 and 18.

The statute is equally clear about the ceiling: notice of a hearing or review "shall not be construed to require a legal custodian, foster parent, preadoptive parent, or relative caring for a child to be made a party to the hearing or review solely on the basis of such notice and opportunity to be heard" (§ 15-11-109(b)). Verified Oct 18, 2026 You can inform the court; you can't appeal its orders, cross-examine witnesses, or demand an attorney's seat at the table (PAMMS 17.8: parties "have the right to request an appeal, right to an attorney, and the right to call and cross-examine witnesses"; the caregiver's right to be heard "does not provide them the right to be made a party"). Knowing both halves — the floor and the ceiling — keeps you effective and credible in that room.

If hearing notices aren't reaching you, that's a named, grievable right — start with a written note to your case manager, and climb the grievance ladder if it doesn't get fixed.

Who are all these people?

Your first hearing will have more people in it than you expect: the judge, the parents and their attorneys, the child's attorney, a DFCS attorney (called a SAAG), the case manager, and often a CASA volunteer or guardian ad litem whose whole job is the child's best interest. Sorting out who speaks for whom — and who you should introduce yourself to — is its own guide: CASA, GAL, and everyone else in the courtroom.

The honest part: the clock stretches

Practice, not policy

Everything above is the law's clock. Real cases run slower. Continuances — postponements of a scheduled hearing — are a routine feature of dependency court: crowded dockets, an attorney conflict, a parent mid-program, a missing evaluation. Ask experienced Georgia foster parents and they'll tell you the 12-month permanency hearing is a target the strong cases hit, and that "the case will probably wrap up by spring" is a sentence to hold loosely, every time.

The law does push back. Georgia's continuance statute (O.C.G.A. § 15-11-110, implemented in PAMMS 17.5) says continuances "shall be granted only upon a showing of good cause and only for that period of time shown to be necessary," and that "no continuance shall be granted that is contrary to the interests of the child" — and the court must weigh a child's need for prompt resolution and a stable home, and the damage of prolonged temporary placements. Party convenience and attorney stipulation are explicitly not good cause (§ 15-11-110(a)–(c)). Verified Oct 18, 2026

What it means for you: plan your family's life around the placement being real, not around a predicted end date in either direction. When a hearing slips, ask your case manager two factual questions: what was the stated reason, and what's the new date. Both belong in your notes.