Permanent families through adoption provide stability for the lives of youth. Everyone knows that you need a solid foundation if you want to build a stable building. Look at each child as his own building. Each needs a solid foundation on which to build a better and brighter future.
- Mississippi Former Foster Youth
3,269 Mississippi Children in Foster Care are Waiting for Reform
Children in foster care would benefit from federal financing reform, which would let states use funds flexibly to provide services before, during and after foster care. Savings could be reinvested: to reunite children with their families, place them with adoptive families, or provide guardianships when reunification and adoption are not possible.
In Mississippi, only 46.0% of federal dollars for child welfare can be spent flexibly to serve children and families. Approximately $10.4 million dollars out of a total of $22.6 million child welfare dollars are flexible.
Who are Mississippi's children waiting in the foster care system?
3,269 children in foster care
35.2% of foster children are between ages of 0 and 5
31.5% of foster children are between ages of 6 and 12
33.3% of foster children are between ages of 13 and 21
Average number of birthdays a child spends in foster care: 2 birthdays (22.5 months)
Nationally: 2 birthdays (28.8 months)
42% of children experience three or more foster care placements
Nationally: 42%
25.2% (823) of children live in group care or institutional settings
Nationally: 18.2% (93,521)
What are Mississippi's foster children waiting for?
1,752 (53.6%) are waiting to be reunified with their birth families
Nationally: 251,020 (49.6%)
870 (26.6%) are waiting to be adopted
Nationally: 115,893 (22.9%)
Average time foster care children have been waiting to be adopted: 48 months
Nationally: 38 months
Where did Mississippi's children go after leaving foster care in 2005?
1,659 children exited foster care
809 (48.8%) were returned to their parents
233 (14.0%) were adopted
488 (29.4%) left to live with relatives or via guardianships
98 (5.9%) "aged out" of foster care at 18 or older
14 (0.8%) left for other reasons (ran away, transferred, died)
This information is from federal AFCARS data, 2005
