Guyana Tragedy Points to a Need for Better Care and Protection of Guardianship Children

GAO was requested to review the placement of foster children with members of the Peoples Temple. After finding that some of the children had guardians, GAO examined guardianship children in California.

GAO found that no children in foster care died in Guyana. A few of the victims of the tragedy were wards of Peoples Temple members and were taken to Guyana without court approval. California guardianship children frequently did not receive of all the protection intended for them by State law. California received Federal foster care maintenance payments for guardianship children who did not meet Federal eligibility criteria. Federal overpayments occurred in three California counties, because the counties obtained Federal reimbursement for guardianship children whose care and placement were not the responsibility of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The health and safety of some children may have been jeopardized by placing them in small foster family homes which housed children in excess of capacity.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Franklin A. Curtis Team: General Accounting Office: Human Resources Division Phone: (202) 275-5451