510,000 U.S. Children in Foster Care are Waiting for Reform

Fewer children would be in foster care today if states were allowed to use federal child welfare funds to provide prevention services (avoiding foster care for some children) and to support post-foster care services to help others leave foster care quickly for safe, permanent families – by supporting successful reunification with their parents, adoption or legal guardianships.  Savings created by the decreased need for foster care could be reinvested by States into a continuum of services to keep children safe and strengthen families.

In the United States, only 10% of federal dollars for child welfare can be spent flexibly to serve children and families. Approximately $709 million dollars out of a total of $6.8 billion child welfare dollars are flexible.

Who are the children waiting in the U.S. foster care system?

510,000 National children in foster care
32% of foster children are between the ages of 0 and 5
28% of foster children are between the ages of 6 and 12
40% of foster children are between the ages of 13 and 21

Average # of birthdays a child spends in foster care: 2 birthdays (28 months)
Average # of placements children experience:  3
17% (88,475) of children live in group care or institutional settings

What are United States' foster children waiting for?

248,054 (49%) are waiting to be reunified with their birth families
127,000 (25%) are waiting to be adopted
Average time foster care children have been waiting to be adopted: 39.4 months

Where did the United States' children go after leaving foster care in 2006?

287,691 children exited foster care
152,152 (53%) were returned to their parents
49,741 (17%) were adopted
45,761 (16%) left to live with relatives (some through guardianships)
26,181 (9%) “aged out” or left the system at age of 18 or older
12,086 (4%) left for other reasons (ran away, transferred, died)
2,349 (1%) left for unknown reasons

This information is from federal AFCARS data, 2006