The United States Foster Care System
FY2006 Foster Care Data
The U. S. Department of Health & Human Services Administration for Children & Families collects data each year from the states as to their foster care system. This, along with other resources provide for the base of this analysis. There is usually a 2 year lapse in this data collection; thus this data is from FY 2006…the last fiscal year that data is fully available.
In FY2006:
The U.S. spent $22 billion dollars ($5 billion from the Federal government and the balance from state/county governments) to provide services for children and youth in foster care. This averages out to $40,000 per child.
303,000 youth entered foster care
799,000 youth spent some portion of FY2006 in foster care
209,000 youth exited foster care via reunification, adoption, runaway, aged out, etc
129,000 awaiting adoption
77,000 had TPR completed
26,517 youth aged out
509 youth while in state care
51,000 adopted by foster parents or others
510,000 remained in care at end of FY2006
Placement settings of youth in foster care during FY2006:
Pre-Adoptive Home |
3% |
17,351 |
Foster Family Home (Relative) |
24% |
124,571 |
Foster Family Home (Non-Relative) |
46% |
236,911 |
Group Home |
7% |
33,433 |
Institution |
10% |
53,042 |
Supervised Independent Living |
1% |
5,872 |
Runaway |
2% |
12,213 |
Trial Home Visit |
5% |
26,606 |
Case goals of the youth in foster care FY 2006:
|
|
|
Reunify with Parent(s) or Principal Caretaker(s) |
49% |
248,054 |
Live with Other Relative(s) |
4% |
20,359 |
Adoption |
23% |
117,380 |
Long Term Foster Care |
9% |
43,773 |
Emancipation |
6% |
30,662 |
Guardianship |
4% |
20,945 |
Case Plan Goal Not Yet Established |
6% |
28,827 |
Outcomes for the children exiting foster care during FY 2006:
Reunification with Parent(s) or Primary Caretaker(s) |
53% |
154,103 |
Living with Other Relative(s) |
11% |
30,751 |
Adoption |
17% |
50,379 |
Emancipation |
9% |
26,517 |
Guardianship |
5% |
15,010 |
Transfer to Another Agency |
2% |
6,683 |
Runaway |
2% |
5,049 |
Death of Child |
0% |
509 |
NOTE
: Deaths are attributable to a variety of causes including medical conditions, accidents and homicide.(NOTE: totals do not equal per the US DHHS due to how states submit their data)
Of the youth entering foster care in FY2006 the percentage based on age is as follows:
Less than 1 Year |
6% |
30,418 |
1 Year |
7% |
34,344 |
2 Years |
6% |
30,367 |
3 Years |
5% |
26,966 |
4 Years |
5% |
24,384 |
5 Years |
5% |
23,021 |
6 Years |
4% |
21,574 |
7 Years |
4% |
20,760 |
8 Years |
4% |
20,025 |
9 Years |
4% |
19,263 |
10 Years |
4% |
18,958 |
11 Years |
4% |
19,475 |
12 Years |
4% |
21,532 |
13 Years |
5% |
25,706 |
14 Years |
6% |
30,949 |
15 Years |
8% |
38,259 |
16 Years |
8% |
42,272 |
17 Years |
8% |
39,624 |
18 Years |
3% |
13,303 |
19 Years |
1% |
5,488 |
20 Years |
1% |
3,316 |
The lengths of stay in foster care for youth in care at the end of FY23006 are:
Less than 1 Month |
5% |
24,312 |
1 to 5 Months |
19% |
97,990 |
6 to 11 Months |
18% |
90,875 |
12 to 17 Months |
13% |
67,689 |
18 to 23 Months |
9% |
46,109 |
24 to 29 Months |
7% |
35,047 |
30 to 35 Months |
5% |
25,219 |
3 to 4 Years |
11% |
55,671 |
5 Years or More |
13% |
67,088 |
The 10 states with the most youth of foster care at the end of FY2006 are:
1. California
2. New York
3. Florida
4. Texas
5. Pennsylvania
6. Michigan
7. Illinois
8. Ohio
9. Georgia
10. Massachusetts
Race/Ethnicity of youth in care:
AI/AN-Non Hispanic |
2% |
10,168 |
Asian-Non Hispanic |
1% |
2,978 |
Black -Non Hispanic |
32% |
162,722 |
Hawaiian/ PI-Non Hispanic |
0% |
1,104 |
Hispanic |
19% |
96,967 |
White-Non Hispanic |
40% |
205,662 |
Unknown/Unable to Determine |
2% |
11,286 |
Two or More-Non Hispanic |
4% |
19,112 |
Gender Percentage:
Male |
52% |
267,027 |
Female |
48% |
242,973 |
Foster Homes Available:
In 2006, there were 160,000 licensed non relative foster homes nationwide.
None of the above data includes the more than 2 million U.S. children living with grandparents or other relatives because their parents cannot care for them but are not part of the foster care system. When relatives provide care it is known as kinship care.
There are currently 129,000 youth who are eligible for adoption at the end of FY2006 after 51,000 youth were adopted in FY 2005. The data does NOT include youth age 16 and over who are eligible for adoption but whose case plan is for them to age out of the system. The rate of adoption of youth from care has remained fairly stagnant the past five fiscal years. This is an increase of 15,000 youth awaiting adoption over FY2005.
Age percentages of those waiting for adoption at end of FY2006 are:
Less than 1 Year |
4% |
5,102 |
1 Year |
9% |
11,023 |
2 Years |
8% |
10,420 |
3 Years |
7% |
9,463 |
4 Years |
6% |
8,362 |
5 Years |
6% |
7,840 |
6 Years |
6% |
7,150 |
7 Years |
5% |
6,978 |
8 Years |
5% |
6,688 |
9 Years |
5% |
6,372 |
10 Years |
5% |
6,208 |
11 Years |
5% |
6,267 |
12 Years |
5% |
6,473 |
13 Years |
5% |
6,844 |
14 Years |
5% |
6,907 |
15 Years |
6% |
7,207 |
16 Years |
4% |
5,607 |
17 Years |
3% |
4,089 |
Lengths of stay for those youth awaiting adoption at end of FY2006 are:
Days-11 months 13%
12-23 months 25%
24-35 months 23%
36-5 years or more 42%
Age percentages for those youth that were adopted from foster care during FY2006 are:
0-5 years 53%
6-10 years 28%
11-14 years 14%
15 year-up 5%
The above data clearly shows the older the youth is and the longer the youth remains in care the less opportunity they will have to be adopted and instead will age of out the system.
Top 10 states with the great number of youth adopted from foster care during FY2006 are:
1. California
2. New York
3. Texas
4. Florida
5. Michigan
6. Pennsylvania
7. Ohio
8. New Jersey
9. Missouri
10. Illinois
The 10 states with the greatest number of youth in foster care but eligible for adoption at the end of FY2006 are:
1. Texas
2. New York
3. Florida
4. Michigan
5. New Jersey
6. Ohio
7. California
8. Oklahoma
9. Pennsylvania
10. Illinois
In FY2005 26,517 (this is up 2,210 from FY2005) youth aged out of the 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 often are left vulnerable to a host of adverse situations. Based on previous studies done over the past number of years these youth will face the following:
Will earn a high school diploma 54%
Will obtain BA or higher 2%
Will become a parent 12-18 months after discharge 84%
Will experience unemployment 51%
Will have no health insurance 30%
Will become homeless 25%
Will receiving public assistance 30%
Will experience the justice system 27%
There is vital data missing from what the states report to the federal government (or the state does not provide this data) which would prove vital in analyzing the foster care system and the potential damage caused to youth in care. They are:
1. The number of placements the youth experienced while in care. This is vital as it has been shown the more the placements the higher the possibility of damage to the youth.
* Children have on average three different foster care placements. The longer a child or youth remains in foster care the more moves. Frequent moves in and out of the homes of strangers as well as new schools can be profoundly unsettling for children, and it is not uncommon to hear of children who have been in 20 or 30 different homes or 5 to 7 new schools. Many have been separated not only from their parents, but from their siblings.
*Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Support
2. The percentage of lengths of stay and age percentage for each state. This would show how each state is doing in complying (or not) with the AFSA of 1997 in regards to the 15 months out of 22 months rule.
3. Data be furnished indicating exact number of youth aging out of the system each year from each state rather than just the total count nationwide.
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