Metro Atlanta splits its public systems along county lines: your Babies Can't Wait referral number depends on your health district, your Child Find contact depends on your school district, and your disability services application goes to a regional state office. This page collects the right doors for the four core counties — Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, and Gwinnett — with adjacent districts included where families commonly cross lines.

Atlanta is also one of the few places in the country with real local autism data: CDC's metro-Atlanta surveillance program has tracked identification here since 1996, so this page can cite actual metro figures rather than national estimates.

Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the Georgia page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to Atlanta metro (Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett).

Early intervention under 3: Babies Can't Wait (Georgia's early intervention program)

Babies Can't Wait serves children from birth to age 3, and referrals go through Children 1st — the health department's single front door for child health programs — in the county where you live. Anyone can refer by phone, email, fax, or in person; no doctor's referral is needed, and the eligibility evaluation is free. Metro lines: Fulton County Board of Health (770) 520-7500; DeKalb Public Health 404-508-7981; Cobb & Douglas Public Health (770) 319-4717, with a bilingual screening line at 770-514-2759; Gwinnett families go through the ESNG program's Children 1st line at 770-339-5048. Ongoing services use a sliding fee scale after insurance and Medicaid, and the state's parent guide says a family determined unable to pay will not be denied needed services. Around the third birthday, transition planning moves your child to the school district, which decides eligibility under different criteria.

• Babies Can't Wait (Georgia's early intervention program)
• Referral phone: 1-888-651-8224 (state Babies Can't Wait office)

New to early intervention? Read the plain-language guide first.

School districts and special education

Every Georgia district runs Child Find to identify and evaluate children who may need special education, at no cost — including children in private school or homeschool within district boundaries. Put your evaluation request in writing; after your written consent, the district has 60 calendar days to complete the evaluation. Note that school eligibility under Georgia's autism rule is decided by an eligibility team and is separate from a medical diagnosis — a child can have one without the other.

• Gwinnett County Public Schools — families are directed to the district's parent mentor or special education compliance office
• Cobb County School District — referrals via Student Assistance Programs (678) 581-6803; preschool services begin on the third birthday
• DeKalb County School District — Child Find covers birth through 21, including private-school and homeschooled children
• Fulton County Schools — special education sits under Services for Exceptional Children
• Atlanta Public Schools — special education department 404-802-1690
• Clayton County Public Schools — preschool referrals: Preschool Diagnostic Center (770) 472-2460
• Cherokee County School District — (770) 704-4315, Sped.Services@cherokeek12.net
• Forsyth County Schools — 770-887-2461 ext. 310100; forms for preschool and private/homeschool families

IEP or 504 · If you disagree with the school

Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in Atlanta

These are hospital and university programs with public intake information. Listing here is informational — it is not a recommendation, and it is not medical advice. Public school evaluation is free and does not require any of these.

• Marcus Autism Center (Children's Healthcare of Atlanta) — one of the country's largest autism centers: assessment and diagnosis (a one-day multidisciplinary evaluation for children 2 and under; two appointments for 3 and older), plus language, behavior, and feeding programs, for children up to 21. All new patients need a referral from a licensed healthcare provider — start with your pediatrician. The center also warns families to check behavioral-health insurance benefits separately, since it can be in-network for medical but not behavioral coverage · 404-785-9400 · no wait figure is published; the center runs its own 'while waiting for services' resource page, and local news has reported historical waits of six months or more
• Emory Autism Center — diagnostic assessment from about 12 months through adulthood (currently accepting children 17 and younger), in Decatur; intake starts with an interest form and a coordinator phone call · 404-727-8350 · the center's own intake materials describe placement on a wait list as part of the process; no wait figure is published

How assessment works · What to do while you wait

Disability services and waivers: Georgia DBHDD (Region 3 Field Office for the metro core)

Georgia's developmental disability services and its two Medicaid waivers for people with developmental disabilities — NOW and COMP — run through DBHDD. Families in Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale counties apply through the Region 3 Field Office in Decatur; Cobb, Cherokee, and Forsyth families should confirm their region on the DBHDD field office page. Submit the application with documentation of the disability through the state's Individual IDD Connects portal (accessed via the Georgia Collaborative ASO site); DBHDD does not currently publish a specific review-time commitment for that step. Eligible people who cannot be served immediately go on the planning list — which is long (see access notes), so families apply early. Separately, Georgia's Katie Beckett (TEFRA) pathway can qualify a child with significant disabilities for Medicaid without counting parent income.

• Georgia DBHDD (Region 3 Field Office for the metro core)
• Phone: (404) 244-5050 (Region 3, Decatur) · 678-248-7449 (Katie Beckett centralized team)

Local organizations that help Atlanta families

• Parent to Parent of Georgia — Georgia's federally designated parent training and information center and the Babies Can't Wait central directory — free help statewide, birth through 26 (1-800-229-2038)
• Autism Society of Georgia — information and referral specialists, support groups, and workshops across the lifespan (844-404-2742)
• United Way of Greater Atlanta 2-1-1 — dial 211, text your ZIP and need to 898211, or search the database online 24/7
• Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities — the state DD council — publishes the key public documentation of the NOW/COMP waiting list

Documented waits and access notes

Wait times change. Each note below links to the public source it came from — confirm current status directly with the program.

• Georgia's NOW/COMP waiver planning list is persistently large: public budget analysis put it at about 7,900 people as of September 2025, including roughly 3,000 under age 22, and the state DD council reports it has not fallen below about 6,000 in a decade. These are statewide figures — no metro-only count is published. (source)
• Marcus Autism Center requires a licensed provider's referral for all new patients (only its feeding program takes self-referrals), and publishes its own resource page for families waiting for services. Local news reporting has described historical diagnostic waits of six months to a year — press reporting, not a Marcus-published figure. (source)
• GNETS — Georgia's state-operated network of programs for students with intense social, emotional, or behavioral needs — has an extended federal litigation history: the U.S. Department of Justice sued Georgia in 2016, alleging GNETS unnecessarily segregates students with disabilities in violation of the ADA. Parents whose district proposes a GNETS placement can get free help evaluating it from Parent to Parent of Georgia. (source)
• Georgia's autism insurance law (Ava's Law) requires state-regulated plans to cover autism services but permits a $35,000 annual cap on ABA coverage — and it does not reach self-funded employer plans, so two families at different employers can have very different benefits. (source)
• Babies Can't Wait evaluation is free, but ongoing services use a sliding fee scale after insurance and Medicaid; the state's parent guide commits that a family determined unable to pay will not be denied needed services. (source)
• Once a metro-Atlanta district's eligibility team finds a child eligible for special education, Georgia rule gives it 30 calendar days to hold the IEP meeting and build the plan — a second clock families can track alongside the 60-day evaluation window. (source)
• Babies Can't Wait is bound by the same federal 45-day rule as every other state's Part C program: the initial IFSP meeting for a Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, or Gwinnett toddler must happen within 45 days of the referral reaching Children 1st. (source)
• Ava's Law's insurance protection runs out at age 21 — a state-regulated plan can stop covering ABA once a young person crosses that birthday, regardless of continued need. (source)