Georgia Foster Care Medicaid: Coverage to Age 26 (2026)

In Georgia, a child in foster care gets Medicaid automatically, with no income or asset test, the day the state takes responsibility for their care.1 That coverage does not end at 18. Under the Affordable Care Act, a young person who was in foster care and enrolled in Medicaid at 18 keeps Medicaid with no income test.1 Georgia runs that coverage to the last day of the month the youth turns 26, and counts foster care from any state.2 This guide explains who qualifies for Georgia foster care Medicaid, how the state delivers it through the Georgia Families 360 specialty plan, what behavioral health and disability services are covered, and what changes at ages 18, 21, and 26.

In This Guide

• Georgia Foster Care Medicaid Eligibility: IV-E and State-Funded Pathways
• Former Foster Youth: Georgia Foster Care Medicaid Through Age 26
• Georgia Families 360: The Specialty Plan for Foster Youth
• Behavioral Health and Trauma Care for Foster Youth
• Adoption Assistance and Kinship Guardianship Medicaid
• Foster Youth With Disabilities
• Pregnant and Parenting Foster Youth
• What Changes at Ages 18, 21, and 26
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

If you are a foster parent who just took in a child, the child's Medicaid is already in place automatically.1 If you are a youth approaching 18, skip to what changes at ages 18, 21, and 26.

Georgia Foster Care Medicaid Eligibility: IV-E and State-Funded Pathways

Foster care Medicaid is one of the few corners of the program where coverage is automatic. A child does not qualify because the family passed an income test; the child qualifies because the state has placed them in foster care. Under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, children who receive foster care maintenance payments are categorically eligible for Medicaid by operation of federal law, with no separate income or asset test on the child.1 States must cover children in Title IV-E foster care, kinship guardianship assistance, and adoption assistance.1

Not every foster child draws federal Title IV-E funding. When a child does not meet the federal IV-E test, Georgia covers them through state-funded foster care instead, and the Medicaid coverage and benefits are the same. From the child's side, the experience is identical regardless of how the placement is funded: the same full Medicaid benefit and the same plan. The funding distinction sits on the state's side, not the family's.

EPSDT: the full benefit for children under 21

Every Medicaid-enrolled child under 21, including all foster youth, receives the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit. EPSDT requires comprehensive periodic screening and the coverage of any medically necessary service to "correct or ameliorate" a physical or mental condition found through screening, whether or not that service is otherwise covered under the state's adult Medicaid plan.4 This is why foster youth can reach services, such as intensive behavioral health or specialty therapy, that the adult benefit does not always include.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 requires all states to provide 12 months of continuous Medicaid and CHIP eligibility for children under age 19, effective January 1, 2024, so a child's coverage cannot be cut mid-year for a change in family income.5 Foster youth are usually protected anyway by their categorical eligibility, but the rule adds a backstop for adoption-assistance and former-foster youth under 19.

Former Foster Youth: Georgia Foster Care Medicaid Through Age 26

The single most valuable thing a foster youth can know is that aging out of foster care does not mean aging out of Medicaid. Section 2004 of the Affordable Care Act created the Former Foster Care Children eligibility group: a young adult who was in foster care under a state's responsibility at age 18, and was enrolled in Medicaid while in that care, keeps Medicaid until age 26, with no income test and no asset test.1 This coverage has been mandatory for states since January 1, 2014.1 Georgia runs it under DFCS policy as Former Foster Care Medicaid, which requires that the youth was in foster care the month of their 18th birthday and carries no income or resource limit.2

The one question that trips up families most is the cross-state case: "I aged out in one state and moved to Georgia. Am I still covered?" In Georgia the answer is yes, with no birth-date cutoff: Georgia's policy counts foster care in any state, and accepts the youth's own attestation of that out-of-state foster care.2 That is broader than the federal floor. The 2018 SUPPORT Act requires every state to cover a young adult who aged out of foster care in any state, but only for youth who turn 18 on or after January 1, 2023.1 So a youth who turned 18 before 2023 and moved to Georgia is not shut out here.

Georgia reviews a Former Foster Care Medicaid case once a year until the recipient turns 26, and an applicant may not be found ineligible because of a diagnosis or a pre-existing condition.2

Georgia Families 360: The Specialty Plan for Foster Youth

Georgia Medicaid runs through managed care plans called Care Management Organizations. As of 2026, Georgia Families has three current plans: Amerigroup Community Care, CareSource, and Peach State Health Plan.3 Rather than spread foster youth across all three (which would disrupt care at every placement change), Georgia channels them into a single statewide specialty plan, Georgia Families 360, administered by Amerigroup.3

The specialty plan is built for continuity. One care manager and one provider network follow the child across placements, so relationships with a pediatrician, therapist, or psychiatrist do not reset each time the child moves. The plan handles early health and behavioral health screening after placement, coordinates complex behavioral health and medication needs, and supports transition planning as a youth approaches adulthood.

Georgia's plan roster is in transition. A 2024 procurement named a different slate of plans for the next contract period, and the state extended the current three-plan contracts through June 30, 2027 while that process works through its protest phase; the state has not published a confirmed switch-over date.3 Until then, Georgia Families 360 remains Amerigroup-administered.

Behavioral Health and Trauma Care for Foster Youth

Foster youth carry rates of behavioral health need well above their peers, driven by trauma, separation, and placement instability. Georgia Medicaid covers a full behavioral health continuum for them, and EPSDT's broad standard means medically necessary services must be furnished even when the adult benefit would not cover them.4

Covered services include outpatient individual, group, and family therapy; evidence-based trauma therapies such as Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT); intensive in-home and family intervention; and, for the most acute needs, psychiatric residential treatment. Georgia Families 360 also applies oversight of psychotropic medication, flagging cases for clinical review when a child has multiple prescribers or several concurrent medications, and applying added caution for very young children.

For a behavioral health crisis, anyone in Georgia can call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which is answered around the clock by the Georgia Crisis and Access Line (GCAL) and can dispatch a mobile crisis team.6

Adoption Assistance and Kinship Guardianship Medicaid

When a foster child is adopted, the funding structure changes but the Medicaid coverage typically continues. Children adopted from foster care under a Title IV-E adoption assistance agreement are part of the mandatory Medicaid coverage group, so the coverage follows the assistance agreement.1 When a child meets Georgia's special-needs criteria but not the federal IV-E test, the state funds the subsidy and extends Medicaid through its state plan.

Kinship guardianship is a third permanency path. When a child is placed long-term with a relative and neither reunification nor adoption is the right fit, a guardianship subsidy supports the relative caregiver, and the child remains in the mandatory coverage group.1 Adoption-assistance Medicaid is also designed to travel across state lines, so a family that moves should notify both states in advance to keep coverage continuous.

Foster Youth With Disabilities

A foster youth with a disability has additional Medicaid pathways at and after 18, when a parent's income no longer counts against them. Georgia's Katie Beckett (TEFRA) pathway can cover a child with significant medical needs at home regardless of parental income, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) brings automatic Medicaid in Georgia for those who qualify on disability once parental income is excluded at 18.7

Georgia operates four Home and Community-Based Services waivers: the Elderly and Disabled Waiver Program (EDWP) for older adults and adults with physical disabilities, delivered through two service models, the Community Care Services Program (CCSP) and Service Options Using Resources in a Community Environment (SOURCE); the Independent Care Waiver Program (ICWP) for adults with severe physical disabilities who apply between the ages of 21 and 64; and the New Options Waiver (NOW) and Comprehensive Supports Waiver (COMP) for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.8 A foster youth with an intellectual or developmental disability that began in the developmental years would transition toward the NOW or COMP waiver, which require an intellectual or developmental disability with onset by age 18 (intellectual) or 22 (developmental) and an institutional level of care.9 Because these waivers can carry waiting periods, planning ahead of a youth's 18th birthday matters.

Pregnant and Parenting Foster Youth

A foster youth who becomes pregnant keeps Medicaid through pregnancy and delivery, and a baby born to a mother enrolled in Georgia Medicaid is covered from birth. Georgia covers pregnant residents up to 220% of the Federal Poverty Level and provides a full 12 months of postpartum coverage after a pregnancy ends.10 That postpartum protection matters for a young parent who is also moving from foster care Medicaid to former-foster-youth coverage, because it prevents a gap during the transition.

What Changes at Ages 18, 21, and 26

Transition planning in a foster youth's case begins years before adulthood, but three ages mark real decision points.

Learn More

Find personalized help navigating Georgia Medicaid for foster youth at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.