Foster Care Facts

• On any given day, half a million abused and neglected children and youth are in foster care in our nation.

-US Department of Health and Human Services AFCARS report, 2006

• An astounding 60% of foster children spend at least two of their birthdays in the foster care system waiting for a safe, permanent family; nearly 20% wait five years or more.

-US Department of Health and Human Services AFCARS report, 2006

• In 2006, a total of 79,000 children in foster care had their parents’ parental rights terminated.

-US Department of Health and Human Services AFCARS report, 2006

• 129,000 of the children in foster care are currently waiting to be adopted.

-US Department of Health and Human Services AFCARS report, 2006

• According to a national study, 25% of foster youth reported that they had been homeless at least one night within 2.4 and 4 years after exiting foster care.

-Cook, R. (1991). A national evaluation of title IV-E foster care independent living programs for youth. Rockville, MD: Westat, Inc; taken from www.cwla.org.

• Children with disabilities who were abused or neglected are twice as likely to be placed in foster care as children without a disability.

-Sheryl Larson and Lynda Anderson, Children with Disabilities and the Child Welfare System, University of Minnesota, (2006).

• Nearly 10,000 foster children are listed as runaways, and for nearly 6,000 foster children, their living arrangements are listed simply as “unknown”.

-All Children Deserve a Permanent Home: Subsidized Guardianships as a Common Sense Solution for Children in Long-Term Relative Foster Care, Generations United, (2006).

• At least 20,000 of the children in relative foster care should no longer be in the system. A court has determined that these children cannot be safely returned to their parents and that adoption is not viable. Yet, they remain for years in long-term foster care with relatives, many because they have no other options.

-All Children Deserve a Permanent Home: Subsidized Guardianships as a Common Sense Solution for Children in Long-Term Relative Foster Care, Generations United, (2006).

• Approximately 70 percent of children in foster care have siblings who are also in care. By some estimates, 75 percent of siblings are separated from at least one of their siblings while in foster care.

-Time for Reform: Aging Out and On Their Own, More Teens Leaving Foster Care Without a Permanent Family, The Pew Charitable Trusts (2007).

Youth in Transition Facts

• In 2006, over 26,000 young adults exited the nation’s foster care system without the stability and safety of a permanent family.

-Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act: Frequently Asked Questions on the Provisions Designed to Impact Youth and Young Adults, National Foster Care Coalition, (June 2009): 9.

• Estimates of former foster youth who graduate from college range from as low as 1% to as high as 11% compared to approximately 30% of 25-29 year olds in the general population who have at least a bachelor’s degree.

-Clark Peters, Amy Dworsky, Mark Courtney, Harold Pollack, Extending Foster Care to Age 21: Weighing the Costs to Government against the Benefits to Youth, Chapin Hall Research Center for Children, University of Chicago, (June 2009).

• Research has shown a positive and statistically significant relationship between a young person staying in care and being in school or employed.

-Mark Courtney, Amy Dworsky, Gretchen Cusick, Judy Havlicek, Alfred Perez, Tom Keller, Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth:Outcomes at Age 21, Chapin Hall Research Center for Children, University of Chicago, (December 2007). http://www.jimcaseyyouth.org/midwest-evaluation-adult-functioning-former-foster-youth

• Many foster youth approach the transition to adulthood with significant educational deficits as over a third of transitioning foster youth have yet to earn either a high school diploma or a GED.

-Mark Courtney, Amy Dworsky, Gretchen Cusick, Judy Havlicek, Alfred Perez, Tom Keller, Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth:Outcomes at Age 21, Chapin Hall Research Center for Children, University of Chicago, (December 2007).

Many studies have documented that the outlook for foster youth who age out is often grim. For example:

• One in four will be incarcerated within the first two years after they leave the system.
• Over one-fifth will become homeless at some time after age 18.
• Approximately 58% had a high school degree at age 19, compared to 87% of a national comparison group of non-foster youth.
• Of youth who aged out of foster care and are over the age of 25, less than 3% earned their college degrees, compared with 28% of the general population.

-Time for Reform: Aging Out and On Their Own, More Teens Leaving Foster Care Without a Permanent Family, The Pew Charitable Trusts (2007).