Looking for the dollar amounts?
This page is about what the money is for. The rates by age, when checks actually arrive, and higher-needs rates all live in the per diem guide — read that one first if you're budgeting.
What the payment actually is
Georgia's official foster parent site describes the per diem as a reimbursement "to assist in the room and board of each child placed in their home". You front the ordinary costs of having the child in your home; the state reimburses you on a monthly invoice cycle, about a month behind. Verified Oct 1, 2026
The DFCS policy chapter that governs it is literally titled "Foster Care Maintenance Payments" (PAMMS 9.1). Verified Jul 2, 2026 "Maintenance" is the operative word: the day-to-day cost of the child living with you — the food they eat, their share of the household, the daily care and supervision, the small personal stuff of a kid's week.
And notice what does not appear in any of the official language we've verified: a per-category dollar breakdown, a receipt requirement for the base per diem, or a spending audit. That absence matters — it's the answer to most of the arguments below.
We use this box for something we couldn't confirm with an official source, or that is changing. See it on our list of everything we're still confirming
The itemized category list — not published here yet
We have verified what the payment is and which policy chapter governs it, but we have not yet published PAMMS 9.1's exact category wording here, and DFCS publishes no spending breakdown. (DHS does post the basic per diem rates by age in its COSTAR 3001 manual; the newest posted rates took effect July 1, 2025.) A direct read of the chapter and written answers from the DFCS Office of Provider Management are on our state verification checklist. Until then we publish only what the confirmed sources support — no plausible-sounding filler. Checked Jul 2, 2026 — awaiting direct confirmation
Paid separately — confirmed, not out of your per diem
A lot of Facebook fights start from the false premise that the per diem is the only money. These three are separate payments, each confirmed in policy:
- Initial + annual clothing allowance. An initial allowance, capped by the child's age, for clothing bought during the first six months of the child's initial placement in care, plus an annual allowance each state fiscal year for children who stay in care — both separate from the per diem, per DFCS policy 22.8 and the DHS COSTAR manual (3001). Verified Oct 1, 2026 The current limits are posted in the DHS COSTAR manual — see the clothing allowance guide for the amounts, the six-month deadline, and how to request it.
- Respite days. Approved respite care is reimbursed separately, at the child's current per diem rate, up to 10 days per foster home per fiscal year, approved by the County Director or designee — DFCS COSTAR 3001 §109.20 and DFCS policy (PAMMS) 14.18. Verified Oct 1, 2026 Details in the respite guide.
- The special per diem add-on. For a child in family foster care "whose care demands additional time and skills of the foster parent," the DFCS County Director or designee may approve an extra $0.50 to $1.75 per day on top of the regular rate. Approval must be documented — child's name, amount, effective date, justification. Primary source: DHS financial manual §2301.1. Verified Jul 2, 2026
Medical and dental care (Medicaid / Georgia Families 360°) and CAPS childcare also don't come out of the per diem — the per diem guide has the full paid-separately list.
The three arguments, settled honestly
For each one: what verified policy says, and what it doesn't say. Where policy is silent, silence is the settled answer — nobody in the comment thread can cite you a Georgia rule that doesn't exist.
"Do I have to spend every dollar of it on the child?"
What policy saysThe payment is a reimbursement to cover the child's needs. Verified Jul 2, 2026 That's its purpose, and spending it on the child is the deal you signed up for.
Where policy is silentNo official source we've verified imposes line-item accounting, receipt-keeping, or repayment of "unspent" base per diem for DFCS family foster homes. The policy states what the money is for; it does not itemize how each dollar must be tracked. If a caseworker or county quotes you a tracking rule, ask for the written citation — and send it to us so we can publish it.
"Can I use it for family groceries the child eats from?"
What policy saysThe per diem covers the child's needs — and a child placed in your home eats from your household's groceries. Their share of that cart is exactly the kind of ordinary maintenance cost the payment reimburses.
Where policy is silentNo verified source requires separating the child's food from the family's, or calculating their percentage of the grocery bill. Buying household groceries the child shares is not a policy violation anyone can cite — the "separate receipts" rule that gets repeated online does not appear in any official source we've found.
"Does the child have to get an allowance out of it?"
What policy saysHonest answer: we have not verified any Georgia policy line requiring a set allowance amount for a child in a family foster home, so we won't claim one exists — even though "personal allowance" appears on many community lists of what the per diem is for.
Where policy is silentWhether a specific allowance rule lives in PAMMS 9.1's full text is one of the open items on our verification checklist (see the caution box above). Until we can quote the chapter, treat allowance expectations as something to ask your case manager or agency about directly — some private agencies set their own expectations for their homes.
The honest bottom line
Policy defines the per diem's purpose (the child's day-to-day needs) but does not publish a spending rulebook. So the settled answer to the group-chat fight is: use it for the child's care, keep the separate payments separate, and stop looking for an itemization the state never wrote. And in practice, veteran families will tell you the real problem runs the other way — the per diem usually doesn't stretch far enough, and you'll add your own money.
What it is not: income
The per diem is a reimbursement, not income. Georgia's own foster parent site says the per diem is "reimbursed to foster parents," and federal law treats it as excluded from income: IRC §131 excludes qualified foster care payments from gross income for a provider caring for a foster child in their own home. Verified Oct 1, 2026 No W-2 or 1099 should arrive for it, and you don't report it.
That framing is also why the "profit" accusation in comment sections misses: the payment is built as cost reimbursement, not compensation. For the tax side — claiming your foster child as a dependent, the quiet January mailbox, the edge cases — see Foster care & taxes in Georgia.
Sources & verification
- fostergeorgia.com — per diem described as a reimbursement to assist with each child's room and boardfostergeorgia.com Oct 1, 2026
- DFCS policy manual (PAMMS) §9.1 — Foster Care Maintenance Paymentspamms.dhs.ga.gov Jul 2, 2026
- DFCS policy manual (PAMMS) §22.8 — Financial and Non-Financial Supports: initial & annual clothing allowancepamms.dhs.ga.gov Oct 1, 2026
- DHS COSTAR manual §3001 — Family Foster Care Programs: initial clothing (code 04) and annual clothing (code 05)ffs.dhs.ga.gov Oct 1, 2026
- DHS financial manual §2301.1 — special per diem $0.50–$1.75/day, County Director approval & documentationffs.dhs.ga.gov Jul 2, 2026
- DFCS COSTAR 3001 §109.20 — respite paid at the child's per diem, 10 days per foster home per fiscal year, County Director/designee approval, state-office waiverffs.dhs.ga.gov Oct 1, 2026
- DFCS policy manual (PAMMS) §14.18 — paid respite, 10 calendar days per fiscal year, approved foster parents onlypamms.dhs.ga.gov Oct 1, 2026
- 26 U.S.C. §131 — qualified foster care payments excluded from gross incomelaw.cornell.edu Jul 2, 2026
This page summarizes policy in plain language and is not legal, financial, or tax advice. Where we say policy is silent, that means no rule appears in the official sources we've verified as of the date shown — your county or private agency may set additional expectations in writing; ask for the citation.