Your right to be heard in court.

The short version

Three things are true at once, and holding all three keeps you effective:

• You are owed notice. Georgia's Foster Parent Bill of Rights gives you advance written notice of "any hearing or review where the case plan or permanency of the child is an issue" Jul 2, 2026 — and the permanency-hearing statute names foster parents on its notice list specifically. Jul 2, 2026
• You are owed a chance to be heard. Federal law requires that foster parents be "provided with notice of, and a right to be heard in, any proceeding to be held with respect to the child." Jul 2, 2026
• You are not a party. The same federal clause says, explicitly, that notice and the right to be heard do not make you a party to the proceeding. Jul 2, 2026 You inform the court; you don't litigate in it.

This page covers the court-participation rights in depth. For a map of the hearings themselves — what a preliminary protective hearing is, what happens at a permanency hearing, and the deadlines between them — see Dependency court, hearing by hearing. For all 23 rights in the statute, see the annotated Foster Parent Bill of Rights.

Where the right comes from: three legal hooks

Your voice in court doesn't rest on one sentence — it rests on three separate sources, and it's worth knowing which one you're standing on when you ask for something.

1. Federal law: notice and a right to be heard in "any proceeding"

The federal case-review requirements every state must meet include this, verbatim: Jul 2, 2026

"…the foster parents (if any) of a child and any preadoptive parent or relative providing care for the child are provided with notice of, and a right to be heard in, any proceeding to be held with respect to the child, except that this subparagraph shall not be construed to require that any foster parent, preadoptive parent, or relative providing care for the child be made a party to such a proceeding solely on the basis of such notice and right to be heard" — 42 U.S.C. §675(5)(G)

"Any proceeding" is broad on purpose. This is the floor under everything else on this page.

2. Georgia's Foster Parent Bill of Rights: the seat-at-the-table rights

O.C.G.A. §49-5-281 — covered right by right in our annotated guide — includes four rights that together put you in the court-and-case-planning loop. We verified the current code text of each on July 2, 2026: Jul 2, 2026

• Right 14 — to participate in planning visitation with the child's biological family.
• Right 15 — to "participate in the case planning and decision-making process" with DFCS.
• Right 16 — to "provide input concerning the plan of services for the child and to have that input considered by the department."
• Right 18 — "to be notified in advance, in writing, by the Division of Family and Children Services or the court of any hearing or review where the case plan or permanency of the child is an issue" — periodic court reviews, Judicial Citizen Review Panels, permanency hearings, and motions to extend custody.

Every one of these is a grievable right — the same statute pairs the list with a grievance procedure. That matters in the escalation section below.

3. The juvenile code: foster parents named on the permanency-hearing notice list

O.C.G.A. §15-11-230 requires written notice of a permanency plan hearing at least five days in advance to a list that expressly includes "foster parents if there are foster parents, any preadoptive parent or relatives providing care for such child." Jul 2, 2026 The notice must also tell you that the permanency plan DFCS recommends "will be submitted to the court for consideration as the order of the court" Jul 2, 2026 — in other words, the paperwork attached to that notice may become the order. Read it.

Which hearings you must be told about

Not every hearing carries the same notice rule. Here's the honest breakdown, hearing by hearing — deadlines per O.C.G.A. §15-11-102, the dependency time-limitations section. Jul 2, 2026

What "being heard" looks like in practice

The statutes give you the right; they say almost nothing about the mechanics. So this section is split honestly in two.

PolicyWhat the law actually guarantees

• Notice of proceedings and a right to be heard in them (federal, 42 U.S.C. §675(5)(G)). Jul 2, 2026
• Advance written notice of hearings and reviews where the case plan or permanency is at issue (Right 18). Jul 2, 2026
• Participation in case planning and input that DFCS must consider (Rights 15–16). Jul 2, 2026

PracticeHow Georgia foster parents actually use the right

None of the following is required or promised by statute — it's how experienced foster parents and advocates describe making the right count:

• Show up. Attending in person, even without saying a word, tells the judge the child has a stable adult tracking the case. Many judges will ask the caregiver in the room if they'd like to add anything.
• Send a written caregiver update. Some courts use a caregiver report form; others accept a letter. Route it through the case manager or the child's attorney rather than mailing the judge directly — one-sided contact with a judge outside the hearing can be improper, and going through the team keeps your update in the record the right way.
• Speak through the child's attorney or CASA. The child's attorney and the CASA volunteer (where one is appointed) are in the courtroom as full participants. Briefing them before the hearing — appointments kept, behaviors, school changes — is often the most reliable way your observations reach the judge.
• Bring documents, not adjectives. A dated list of medical appointments beats "he's doing so much better."

What you are not: a party to the case

The federal clause that grants your right to be heard also draws its limit, in the same sentence: it "shall not be construed to require that any foster parent… be made a party to such a proceeding solely on the basis of such notice and right to be heard." Jul 2, 2026 And Georgia's Foster Parent Bill of Rights, in the current code text we verified, grants participation and input rights with DFCS — it does not grant party status or a right to intervene in the dependency case. Jul 2, 2026

Practically: you don't get to file motions, call witnesses, cross-examine, or appeal as of right. The parties are (broadly) the child, the parents, and the state. Your role is the informed voice, not the litigant — and judges tend to trust that voice more, not less, because it has no legal stake in the outcome.

How to prepare: the two-paragraph update

PracticeThis is practice framing, not policy — a format advocates and CASA programs commonly recommend because busy judges read short and specific. Two paragraphs, facts only:

• Paragraph one — what happened since the last hearing. Placement start date. School enrollment, attendance, grades or IEP progress. Every medical, dental, and therapy appointment kept (dates). Visitation attended. Milestones: sleeping through the night, first words, made the team.
• Paragraph two — what the child needs next. Pending referrals, waitlists, an evaluation that hasn't happened, a service in the case plan that hasn't started. Not what you want the outcome to be — what the child needs regardless of outcome.

Sign it, date it, and give it to the case manager and the child's attorney ahead of the hearing. Keep a copy. If you attend and the judge asks whether you have anything to add, you'll already have said it in writing — out loud, you just hit the two or three items that matter most.

Being left off the notice list? Escalate.

If you learned about a hearing after it happened, that's not an oops — advance written notice is Right 18 in a statute whose title includes "grievances for violations," and the case-planning rights (14–16) travel with it. Jul 2, 2026 The path:

1. Put it in writing to the case manager first. "Under O.C.G.A. §49-5-281(a)(18) I'm entitled to advance written notice of hearings and reviews. Please confirm I'm on the notice list for this case and send me the next court date." Copy their supervisor. Most notice failures end here.
2. PracticeTell the child's attorney and CASA too. They're at every hearing and can flag the court that the caregiver isn't receiving notice.
3. If it keeps happening, file a grievance. Violations of rights 14–16 and 18 are grievable through the same procedure as any other Bill of Rights violation — the step-by-step walkthrough (which form, what to write, timelines) is in Filing a foster parent grievance in Georgia.
4. Call an AFPAG advocate before you file. The Adoptive & Foster Parent Association of Georgia's advocacy line — 1-877-804-6610 — exists for exactly this call, and retaliation for filing is itself prohibited. Jul 2, 2026

Sources & verification

Each statute below was read directly on July 2, 2026 (Georgia sections via FindLaw's mirror of the code, current as of March 28, 2024; the federal section via Cornell LII). Canonical Justia links are included where our access was blocked but the citation is standard.

• 42 U.S.C. §675(5)(G) — caregiver notice and right to be heard; not-a-party clause (read in full Jul 2, 2026)law.cornell.edu Jul 2, 2026
• O.C.G.A. §15-11-102 — dependency case time limitations (read Jul 2, 2026)codes.findlaw.com Jul 2, 2026
• O.C.G.A. §15-11-145 — preliminary protective hearing: 72-hour rule, notice list, participants (read Jul 2, 2026)codes.findlaw.com Jul 2, 2026
• O.C.G.A. §15-11-216 — periodic reviews: 75-day and 4-month reviews, Judicial Citizen Review Panels (read Jul 2, 2026)codes.findlaw.com Jul 2, 2026
• O.C.G.A. §15-11-230 — permanency plan hearing: timing, 5-day written notice naming foster parents (read Jul 2, 2026)codes.findlaw.com Jul 2, 2026
• O.C.G.A. §49-5-281(a)(14)–(16), (18) — case-planning, input, and hearing-notice rights (current text read Jul 2, 2026)codes.findlaw.com Jul 2, 2026
• O.C.G.A. §49-5-281 — canonical citation (Justia; our direct access was blocked, cited for reference)law.justia.com

This page summarizes law and policy in plain language and is not legal advice. Items marked "Practice" describe common experience, not guarantees, and courtroom practice varies by county. Statute text controls; read the linked sections before quoting them in a hearing or grievance, and confirm specifics with your case manager, your agency, an AFPAG advocate, or an attorney.