Georgia tax credit helps young people aging out of foster care live independently

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Life coach Ryan Mack (left) and former foster child Anwar Hogan pose for a photo.

Credit: Contributed

Georgia’s Fostering Success Tax Credit was recently renewed for 2025 by the Georgia legislature with an annual cap of $30 million dollars to help young people who are aging out of foster care. 

The law lets Georgians, their families and businesses divert a portion of their state tax liability to help foster care programs. Revisions to the act passed by the General Assembly include young people who have experienced foster care, Wellroot CEO Allison Ashe said.

"Meaning a young person who was in foster care and then was either adopted or [who] was in foster care and went back home to live with their parent," Ashe said.

Wellroot is an organization that works with people like 20-year-old Anwar Hogan, who entered the foster care program as a teenager and moved into a group home.

"I think, unfortunately, teenagers get a bad rap," Ashe said. "We need foster parents that would be willing to foster teenagers because it's not fair that kids like Anwar have to go into a group home just because there's not enough foster parents for them."

Hogan arrived at Wellroot last August and earned his General Education Diploma (GED).

"I ended up getting into college [and] got a Wellroot scholarship," Hogan said. His plan is to move from welding as a trade and later transfer to a university to study business.

Organizations like WellRoot support young people who are pursuing post-secondary education, Ashe said. 

"So it's everything from housing to wraparound supports, mental health, food, school supplies, educational scholarships — everything that a young person would need for post-secondary," she said.

The state estimates 700 young people age out of Georgia’s foster care system each year.