NATIONAL FACTS ABOUT CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE
- Total Population: 513,000 children were in the U.S. foster care system on September 30, 2005. Most children are placed temporarily in foster care due to parental abuse or neglect. During a given year, 800,000 children are involved with the foster care system.
- Age: The average age of a child in the U.S. foster care system is 10 years old. Six percent of children in foster care are less than 1 year old; 26 percent are 1-5 years old; 20 percent are 6-10 years old; 28 percent are 11-15 years old; 18 percent are 16-18 years old; and 2 percent are 19 years and older.
- Gender: Children in foster care are almost evenly split by gender – 52 percent are male and 48 percent are female.
- Race and Ethnicity: As a percentage, there are more children of color in the foster care system than in the general U.S. population. However, child abuse and neglect occur at about the same rate in all racial/ethnic groups. For example:
- Black (non Hispanic) children account for 32 percent of the out-of-home care population and account for 15 percent of the general population;
- White (non Hispanic) children account for 41 percent of the out-of-home care population and account for 61 percent of the general population;
- Hispanic children account for 18 percent of the out-of-home population and account for 17 percent of the general population;
- American Indian/Alaska Native (non Hispanic) children account for two percent of the out-of-home population and account for one percent of the general population;
- Asian/Pacific Islander (non Hispanic) children account for 1 percent of the out-of-home population and account for 3 percent of the general population;
- Unknown ethnic origin children account for 2 percent of the out-of-home population; and
- Children of two or more races account for 3 percent of the out-of-home population and account for 4 percent of the general population.
- Length of Stay: For the children in foster care on September 30, 2005, the average amount of time they had been in the system was 28.6 months. Half of those leaving care that year had been away from home for a year or longer. Some 54 percent of the young people leaving the system were reunited with their birth parents or primary caregivers.
- Foster Homes: In 2004, there was a total of 153,000 licensed/certified/approved kinship and non relative foster homes nationwide. In 2005, 24 percent of youth living in foster care were residing with their relatives.
- Adoptions: In 2005, 60 percent of adopted children were adopted by their foster parent(s). The "foster parent" category excludes anyone identified as a relative of the child. One quarter of children adopted in FY 2005 were adopted by a relative. A relative includes a step-parent or other relative of the child.
- Siblings and Extended Families: More than two million American children live with grandparents or other relatives because their parents cannot care for them. When relatives provide foster care (known as kinship care), siblings can often stay together. Kinship care also improves stability by keeping displaced children closer to their extended families, their neighborhoods, and their schools.
Please see the PDF document for important notes and sources. Information provided by the National Foster Care Month Partnership.
