Children and youth at risk in 2006:

• 3.6 million children and youth were investigated as potential victims of abuse or neglect.
• 25 percent of children and youth investigated (905,000) were confirmed as victims of abuse or neglect. [2]

Children and youth in foster care in 2007:

The average daily census reported 496,000 children were in foster care as of September 30, 2007, with about 783,000 children served during the 2007 federal fiscal year. [3] 

Children and youth in foster care in 2006:

• 510,000 children and youth were in foster care on September 30, 2006.
• 47 percent of all children and youth in foster care (239,924) were over the age of ten.
• 49 percent (248,054) had reunification with their birth families as their case goal.

Living situation for the 513,000 children and youth in foster care

Kinship care (relatives or tribal members as caregivers) for children and youth

• 24 percent of children and youth in foster care (124,571) were placed with related kinship caregivers who were licensed parents.
• In 2006, more than 2.4 million grandparents were the primary adults responsible for their grandchildren. [4]
• In 2004, there were 9,891 kinship homes licensed as foster homes and 97,665 licensed non-relative family foster homes in the United States. [5]

Siblings in foster care

Note: National statistics are not available, and state data are limited. Estimates are that over half of children and youth in foster care have siblings who are also in care. For example:

• In October 2005, 68 percent of children and youth in the California child welfare system had at least one sibling in foster care. [6]
• In 1998, 64 percent of children and youth in the New York child welfare system had at least one sibling in foster care. [7]
• Over three-quarters of a nationally representative sample of youth in foster care reported wanting to see their siblings more often. [8]

Racial/ethnic group representation

• Research shows no significant racial differences in the overall incidence of abuse and neglect of children and youth. When other potential predictors are taken into account, African American youth suffering certain types of abuse are more likely to be investigated by Child Protective Services than white youth. [9]
• African American children made up 33 percent (162,722) of the children in foster care, although African American children made up only 15 percent of the U.S. Child population. [10]
• American Indian and Alaska Native children made up 2 percent (10,168) of the children in foster care, but American Indian and Alaska Native children made up only 1 percent of the U.S. child population. [11]
• Children and youth of color are less likely to be reunified with their birth families. [12] (See the Casey Racial Disproportionality fact sheet)

Length of stay in care for children and youth

About half of children and youth leaving care in 2006 (49 percent) had been in foster care for less than one year.

Emancipation (when a youth in foster care becomes a legal adult)

One in five youth (21 percent) in foster care were 16 or older (104,003).

Of the 289,000 youth exiting care in 2006, 9 percent(26,517) left foster care through the process of becoming legally emancipated.

Endnotes

[ 1 ]
Except where footnoted, data are for the period ending September 30, 2006 and were taken from Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) Report: Preliminary FY 2006 Estimates. Retrieved July 1, 2008 from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/index.htm.

[ 2 ]
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau. (2008). Child Maltreatment 2006. Washington, D.C.: National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System.

[ 3 ]
At the time of this report, more detailed foster care data for 2007 were not yet available from the AFCARS Web site: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/trends.htm.

[ 4 ]
United States American Community Survey 2006. Table B10050 Living with own grandchildren under 18 years. Retrieved February 13, 2008 from http://factfinder.census.gov.

[ 5 ]
Child Welfare League of America National Data System: Out of Home Care Homes and Facilities, Number of Licensed, Approved and Certified Homes and Facilities, 2004. Retrieved February 15, 2007, from http://ndas.cwla.org.

[ 6 ]
Needell, B., Webster, D., Armijo, M., Lee, S., Cuccaro-Alamin, S., Shaw, T., Dawson, W., Piccus, W., Magruder, J., Exel, M., Conley, A., Smith, J., Dunn, A., Frerer, K., Putnam Hornstein, E., & Kaczorowski, M.R., (2005). Child Welfare Services Reports for California. Retrieved May 15, 2006, from University of California at Berkeley Center for Social Services Research Web site. URL: http://cssr.berkeley.edu/CWSCMSreports.

[ 7 ]
Progress on ACS Reform Initiatives: Status Report 3. Chapter 5: Permanency. Retrieved May 16, 2006, from http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/acs/downloads/pdf/stats_status_report3.pdf.

[ 8 ]
National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being. (2005). Research brief No. 2: Foster children’s caregivers and caregiving environments. Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children & Families.

[ 9 ]
Sedlak, A., & Schultz, D. (2001). Racial differences in child protective services investigation of abused and neglected children. In D. M. Derezotes, J. Poertner, & M. F. Testa, (Eds.). Race Matters in Child Welfare: The Overrepresentation of African American Children in the System. Washington, D.C.: CWLA Press. Source data: National Incident Studies I-III (1980, 1986, 1993) available from National Data Archive of Child Abuse and Neglect at http://www.ndacan.cornell.edu/NDACAN/Datasets_List.html.

[ 10 ]
Rate/ethnicity information is available for 498,714 (98%) of the 510,000 children in foster care on September 30, 2006. This number (498,714) is used as the denominator for all percent calculations. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) (September 2008). The AFCARS (Adoption and Foster Care Reporting System) Report. Retrieved December 5, 2008 from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/tar/report14.htm; and The Annie E. Casey Foundation (2008) KIDS COUNT State level Data On-line. Retrieved December 5, 2008 from http://www.kidscount.org/datacenter/profile_results. jsp?r=1&d=1&c=9&p=5&x=144&y=7.

[ 11 ]
Ibid.

[ 12 ]
Hill, R. (2001). The role of race in parental reunification. Paper presented at the Race Matters Forum meeting, Jan. 9-10, Chicago, IL. Available online on May 15, 2006, from Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Human and Health Services, as Chapter 6 in Assessing the Context of Permanency and Reunification in the Foster Care System at http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/fostercare-reunif01/.