The Georgia Department of Human Services challenged a superior-court order that terminated parental rights to two children, awarded the Department legal custody, and directed that the foster parents retain physical custody pending adoption assistance. The children had been involved in overlapping juvenile-court, superior-court, legitimation, and adoption proceedings. The Court of Appeals vacated and remanded. A court may not award legal custody to the Department while simultaneously dictating physical placement in a way that prevents the Department from exercising its custodial authority. Legal custody includes the right to determine where and with whom a child lives, subject to statutory judicial oversight. The superior court’s order therefore improperly restrained the Department’s placement authority. The court directed entry of a new order consistent with that allocation of responsibility, while noting that the existing juvenile-court proceedings and foster placement remained in effect unless changed through proper proceedings.