(Johnny Edwards, The Center Square) The arrest of a Georgia lobbyist whose wife leads the state’s child protective services agency has created a situation where, legally, her agency is charged with investigating her husband’s child endangerment charges.
The state, however, has declined to explain what steps will be taken to avoid a conflict of interest. Though she wasn’t involved in the incident that led to her husband’s arrest, the commissioner told The Center Square on Tuesday she wants no special treatment for herself.
Her husband, Jason Broce, is accused of driving drunk with the couple’s two young children in his truck, rear ending another vehicle, then fleeing the scene. According to a police incident report, his blood alcohol content was more than four times the legal limit, and he nearly fell over before an officer placed him in handcuffs.
“If a child is in danger, then you’ve got to bring in DFCS,” Benjamin Bell, a former investigator for the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services, told The Center Square.
Broce’s wife is Candice Broce, commissioner of the state Department of Human Services and director of Family Services, which Human Services oversees. Police records show her only involvement was to pick up their two sons from the scene of a traffic stop.
“Professionally, I pour my heart and soul into serving others and aiming to always do what’s right,” the commissioner said in texted statement, declining further comment. “I would never expect nor ask to be treated differently than anyone else in these circumstances.”
Still, neither the office of Gov. Brian Kemp, who appointed her commissioner in 2021, nor child protective services itself, has explained to the public how it can create a buffer between the agency and the family of its chief administrator.
Asked if Family Services will bring in an outside agency to investigate, a Human Services spokeswoman declined to confirm whether there’s a case at all, citing privacy laws around child protection cases. The agency did say that an employee with a potential conflict can’t be personally involved in an investigation.
“The agency cannot confirm or deny the existence of any child abuse or neglect case due to state and federal laws,” an emailed statement said. “Please note, the agency has protocols in place to avoid conflicts of interest if a report is received on an agency employee. Under these protocols, the employee shall be recused from reviewing the case, which shall instead be referred to an impartial, independent reviewer.”
On Oct. 16, Georgia State Patrol arrested Jason Broce, 43, on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, hit and run, following too closely, failure to maintain lane, and two counts of endangering a child under 14, police records show.
According to 911 calls of the incident obtained by The Center Square, he’s accused of rear ending another vehicle at a stop light in his Ford F150, then leaving the scene.
“So I got rear ended by this guy, and now he’s driving away,” the other driver told a Bartow County 911 operator. “When I got out of my car, a lady in the lane next to me said that he was weaving all over the place, and they were trying to get away from him. I hate to say it, but he looked like he might have been intoxicated.”
A Georgia State Patrol trooper later spotted the truck “weaving heavily,” according to the incident report provided to The Center Square on Tuesday. When the truck stopped in a gas station parking lot, “the vehicle began reversing and nearly backed into my patrol car,” the report says.
The trooper found two children, ages 5 and 8, in the rear seat. Broce initially told the trooper that he hadn’t been in an accident and that the damage to the front of his truck happened 16 months ago, the trooper’s report says.
According to the report, he stated he had no alcohol that day; the report says he smelled of it, had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech.
“I then instructed Mr. Broce to walk to my patrol car and he was very unsteady on his feet and nearly fell over,” the trooper wrote in his report, describing Broce as too unsteady for a field sobriety test and testing positive in a breath test.
The report lists his blood alcohol content as 0.333. In Georgia, driving with a 0.08% level or higher is against the law.
Contacted Tuesday, Jason Broce said he had no comment. Broce is a state lobbyist who founded Terminus South government relations firm. His firm’s website says he formerly worked as a campaign policy advisor for Kemp.
Bell, the former Family Services investigator, said that even though Broce’s wife picked up the children, the incident still should have triggered an investigation.
Georgia law says that in cases of potential child neglect or abuse, law enforcement personnel are mandatory reporters, meaning they have a legal obligation to inform child protective services.
Bell, who also worked as an investigator for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, said police in Georgia routinely ignore that step, because the law has no enforcement mechanism. The Georgia State Patrol report does not say if that step was taken, and patrol spokesmen would not elaborate.
In an email, a spokesperson said the State Patrol has no specific policy for charges of child endangerment while driving under the influence. But when traffic offenses endanger children, the State Patrol provides “necessary and appropriate notice to the local prosecutor’s office” by filing the criminal charges and putting the case before a judge, the agency said.
Bell said that in ordinary circumstances, if Family Services did step in, and assuming investigators found the children to be safe with a competent parent, such a case would likely lead to a safety plan for the family to follow.
“The state should 1,000% be more forthcoming in the way that they’re handling this,” he said. “This is the integrity of the entire agency at stake. This is an agency responsible for keeping children safe, and they won’t even comment on whether their own director is keeping their children safe.”
