Great Information from Website of Child Welfare League of America: Quick Facts About Foster Care
February 17, 2010
The article below is copied from Child Welfare League of America’s (CWLA) website. It contains some important data and reports. For more information about this data or CWLA, visit www.cwla.org
Quick Facts About Foster Care
Children in Care
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.
Age of Children in Foster Care
Average age: 10.0 years
| Age | Percentage |
| Younger than 1 year | 6% |
| Age 1-5 | 26% |
| Age 6-10 years | 20% |
| Age 11-15 years | 28% |
| Age 16-18 years | 18% |
| Over 18 | 2% |
Race/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.
Read the report, Children of Color in the Child Welfare System, from CWLA’s National Data Analysis System.
| Ethnicity | Out-of-Home Care | General Population |
| Black, Non-Hispanic | 32% | 15% |
| White, Non-Hispanic | 41% | 61% |
| Hispanic | 18% | 17% |
| American Indian/Alaska Native, Non-Hispanic | 2% | 1% |
| Asian/Pacific Islander, Non-Hispanic | 1% | 3% |
| Unknown | 2% | N/A |
| Two or More Races, Non-Hispanic | 3% | 4% |
Gender
| Gender | Percentage |
| Male | 52% |
| Female | 48% |
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. 54% of the young people leaving the system were reunified 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% of youth living foster care were residing with their relatives.
Adoptions
In 2005, 60% of adopted children were adopted by their foster parent(s). The “foster parent” category excludes anyone identified as a relative of the child. 25% 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
Over 2 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.
Youth in Transition
Each year, an estimated 20,000 young people “age out” of the U.S. foster care system. Many are only 18 years old and still need support and services. Several foster care alumni studies show that without a lifelong connection to a caring adult, these older youth are often left vulnerable to a host of adverse situations:
| Outcome | National | Regional/Local |
| Earned a high school diploma | 54% | 50%-63% |
| Obtained BA or higher | 2% | 2% |
| Became a parent | 84% | 42% |
| Were unemployed | 51% | 30% |
| Had no health insurance (unable to obtain health care because they lacked health insurance or sufficient money) | 30% | 29% |
| Had been homeless | 25% | 36% |
| Receiving public assistance | 30% | 26% |
Comments
2 Responses to “Great Information from Website of Child Welfare League of America: Quick Facts About Foster Care”
Got something to say?
Due to the simple fact that there is no acknowledgment of or a posted range of error, I find all these data to be suspect.
Perhaps, one would ask why, and they should. U.S. DHHS OIG along with U.S. DOJ, including multiple state reports, have documented false reporting, false claims, and serious improper activities on the legitimacy of placing and maintaining a child in foster care and adoption, by identifying “revenue-maximizing schemes”.
Just look at Pennsylvania’s “Cash for Kids” scandal; the data was never corrected.
As long as poverty is classified as abuse and neglect, the data will always be bogus.
Beverly Tran
An Original Source
You are quick to criticize but, I don’t see where you have offered any solutions. There are a lot of good foster care homes out there that don’t make the headlines just because it is easier to catch someone doing something bad rather than catching them doing something good.