AFCARS Report - Preliminary Estimates for FY 2005

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau, www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb

The AFCARS Report

Preliminary FY 2005 Estimates as of September 2006 (13)

SOURCE: Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data submitted for the FY 2005, 10/1/04 through 9/30/05.

NOTES:Data from both the regular and revised submissions received by September 2006 are included in the information below. Missing data are not used in the calculation of percentages. Percentages in some tables may not total 100% due to rounding.

How many children were in foster care on September 30, 2005? 513,000

What were the ages of the children in foster care?


Mean Years	10.0
Median Years	10.6

Less than 1 Year	6%	29,034
1 Year	6%	32,439
2 Years	6%	29,580
3 Years	5%	26,552
4 Years	5%	24,558
5 Years	4%	22,405
6 Years	4%	21,521
7 Years	4%	20,687
8 Years	4%	19,717
9 Years	4%	19,375
10 Years	4%	19,488
11 Years	4%	20,693
12 Years	5%	23,570
13 Years	5%	27,081
14 Years	6%	33,002
15 Years	8%	38,589
16 Years	8%	41,695
17 Years	8%	39,018
18 Years	3%	14,007
19 Years	1%	5,963
20 Years	1%	4,027

What were the lengths of stay in foster care?


Mean Months	28.6
Median Months	15.5

Less than 1 Month	5%	26,302
1 to 5 Months	20%	100,275
6 to 11 Months	17%	89,460
12 to 17 Months	12%	63,885
18 to 23 Months	9%	45,912
24 to 29 Months	7%	34,928
30 to 35 Months	5%	24,302
3 to 4 Years	11%	58,341
5 Years or More	14%	69,595

What were the placement settings of children in foster care?


Pre-Adoptive Home	4%	18,691
Foster Family Home (Relative)	24%	124,153
Foster Family Home (Non-Relative)	46%	236,775
Group Home	8%	43,440
Institution	10%	51,210
Supervised Independent Living	1%	5,918
Runaway	2%	10,930
Trial Home Visit	4%	21,883

What were the case goals of the children in foster care?


Reunify with Parent(s) or Principal Caretaker(s)	51%	262,706
Live with Other Relative(s)	4%	21,722
Adoption	20%	100,949
Long Term Foster Care	7%	37,628
Emancipation	6%	31,938
Guardianship	3%	15,653
Case Plan Goal Not Yet Established	8%	42,403

What was the gender of the children in foster care?


Male	52%	269,036
Female	48%	243,964

What was the race/ethnicity of the children in foster care?


AI/AN-Non Hispanic	2%	10,617
Asian-Non Hispanic	1%	2,973
Black -Non Hispanic	32%	166,482
Hawaiian/ PI-Non Hispanic	0%	1,433
Hispanic	18%	93,996
White-Non Hispanic	41%	208,537
Unknown/Unable to Determine	2%	11,771
Two or More-Non Hispanic	3%	17,191

NOTE: Using U.S. Bureau of the Census standards, children of Hispanic origin may be of any race. Beginning in FY 2000, children could be identified with more than one race designation.

How many children entered foster care during FY 2005? 311,000

What were the ages of the children who entered care during FY 2005?


Mean Years	8.2
Median Years	7.7

Less than 1 Year	15%	46,954
1 Year	7%	20,981
2 Years	6%	18,427
3 Years	5%	16,728
4 Years	5%	15,229
5 Years	5%	14,359
6 Years	4%	13,505
7 Years	4%	12,323
8 Years	4%	11,528
9 Years	3%	10,833
10 Years	3%	10,643
11 Years	4%	11,448
12 Years	4%	13,085
13 Years	5%	16,362
14 Years	7%	20,426
15 Years	7%	23,291
16 Years	7%	21,624
17 Years	4%	12,345
18 Years	0%	730
19 Years	0%	138
20 Years	0%	41

What was the race/ethnicity of the children who entered care during FY 2005?


AI/AN-Non Hispanic	2%	7,036
Asian-Non Hispanic	1%	2,454
Black -Non Hispanic	26%	80,430
Hawaiian/ PI-Non Hispanic	0%	1,031
Hispanic	18%	56,603
White-Non Hispanic	47%	144,679
Unknown/Unable to Determine	3%	8,126
Two or More-Non Hispanic	3%	10,642

NOTE: Using U.S. Bureau of the Census standards, children of Hispanic origin may be of any race. Beginning in FY 2000, children could be identified with more than one race designation.

How many children exited foster care during FY 2005? 287,000

What were the ages of the children who exited care during FY 2005?


Mean Years	9.8
Median Years	9.7

Less than 1 Year	5%	14,081
1 Year	7%	19,053
2 Years	7%	19,013
3 Years	6%	17,404
4 Years	5%	15,551
5 Years	5%	14,177
6 Years	5%	13,296
7 Years	4%	12,089
8 Years	4%	11,367
9 Years	4%	10,593
10 Years	4%	10,378
11 Years	4%	10,501
12 Years	4%	10,738
13 Years	4%	12,144
14 Years	5%	14,215
15 Years	6%	16,989
16 Years	6%	18,559
17 Years	6%	17,635
18 Years	8%	23,282
19 Years	1%	3,781
20 Years	1%	2,154

What were the outcomes for the children exiting foster care during FY 2005?

Reunification with Parent(s) or Primary Caretaker(s)	54%	155,608
Living with Other Relative(s)	11%	31,362
Adoption	18%	51,323
Emancipation	9%	24,407
Guardianship	4%	12,881
Transfer to Another Agency	2%	6,440
Runaway	2%	4,445
Death of Child	0%	534

NOTE: Deaths are attributable to a variety of causes including medical conditions, accidents and homicide.

What were the lengths of stay of the children who exited foster care during FY 2005?


Mean Months	21.0
Median Months	12.0

Less than 1 Month	17%	49,072
1 to 5 Months	16%	46,904
6 to 11 Months	17%	48,053
12 to 17 Months	13%	37,041
18 to 23 Months	9%	25,639
24 to 29 Months	6%	18,389
30 to 35 Months	5%	13,597
3 to 4 Years	9%	26,755
5 Years or More	8%	21,550

What was the race/ethnicity of the children who exited care during FY 2005?

AI/AN-Non Hispanic	2%	5,857
Asian-Non Hispanic	1%	2,328
Black -Non Hispanic	28%	81,542
Hawaiian/ PI-Non Hispanic	0%	982
Hispanic	17%	49,398
White-Non Hispanic	45%	130,235
Unknown/Unable to Determine	3%	7,363
Two or More-Non Hispanic	3%	9,295

NOTE: Using U.S. Bureau of the Census standards, children of Hispanic origin may be of any race. Beginning in FY 2000, children could be identified with more than one race designation.

How many children were waiting to be adopted on September 30, 2005? 114,000

NOTES: Waiting children are identified as children who have a goal of adoption and/or whose parental rights have been terminated. Children 16 years old and older whose parental rights have been terminated and who have a goal of emancipation have been excluded from the estimate.

What is the gender distribution of the waiting children?


Male	53%	60,843
Female	47%	53,157

How many months have the waiting children been in continuous foster care?


Mean Months	41.6
Median Months	30.7

Less than 1 Month	1%	587
1 through 5 Months	4%	4,219
6 through 11 Months	8%	9,314
12 through 17 Months	12%	13,769
18 through 23 Months	13%	14,555
24 through 29 Months	12%	13,210
30 through 35 Months	9%	9,731
36 through 59 Months	21%	24,220
60 or more Months	21%	24,395

What is the racial/ethnic distribution of the waiting children?


AI/AN-Non Hispanic	2%	2,120
Asian-Non Hispanic	0%	448
Black -Non Hispanic	36%	40,840
Hawaiian/ PI-Non Hispanic	0%	307
Hispanic	15%	17,240
White-Non Hispanic	40%	45,096
Unknown/Unable to Determine	3%	3,328
Two or More-Non Hispanic	4%	4,620

NOTE: Using U.S. Bureau of the Census standards, children of Hispanic origin may be of any race. Beginning in FY 2000, children could be identified with more than one race designation.

How old were the waiting children when they were removed from their parents or caretakers?


Mean Years	5.1
Median Years	4.5

Less than 1 Year	23%	26,769
1 Year	8%	9,498
2 Years	7%	8,393
3 Years	7%	8,072
4 Years	7%	7,841
5 Years	7%	7,506
6 Years	7%	7,547
7 Years	6%	7,110
8 Years	6%	6,517
9 Years	5%	5,936
10 Years	5%	5,223
11 Years	4%	4,416
12 Years	3%	3,553
13 Years	2%	2,576
14 Years	2%	1,715
15 Years	1%	910
16 Years	0%	350
17 Years	0%	67

Where were the waiting children living on September 30, 2005?


Pre-Adoptive Home	13%	14,752
Foster Family Home (Relative)	19%	21,147
Foster Family Home (Non-Relative)	55%	63,235
Group Home	4%	5,094
Institution	7%	8,354
Supervised Independent Living	0%	121
Runaway	1%	648
Trial Home Visit	1%	651

How old were the waiting children on September 30, 2005?


Mean Years	8.6
Median Years	8.4

Less than 1 Year	4%	4,203
1 Year	7%	8,374
2 Years	7%	8,456
3 Years	7%	7,694
4 Years	6%	7,166
5 Years	6%	6,585
6 Years	5%	6,179
7 Years	5%	5,972
8 Years	5%	5,734
9 Years	5%	5,688
10 Years	5%	5,786
11 Years	5%	6,144
12 Years	6%	6,583
13 Years	6%	6,718
14 Years	6%	6,996
15 Years	6%	6,841
16 Years	5%	5,214
17 Years	3%	3,668

How many children in foster care had their parental rights terminated for all living parents? 66,000

As of September 30, 2005, how many months had elapsed since the parental rights of these foster children were terminated?


Mean Months	27.0
Median Months	15.3

How many children were adopted with public agency involvement in FY 2005? 51,000

SOURCE: Adoptions can be reported to the AFCARS adoption database at any time after the adoption has been finalized. This report includes adoptions finalized in FY 2005 reported in regular and revised submissions by August 25, 2006.

NOTES: The number of adoptions reported here does not equal the number of adoption discharges reported under foster care exits because the adoptions reported here include adoptions of some children who were not in foster care but received other support from the public agency. In addition, states have historically underreported adoption discharges. In contrast, states tend to more accurately report the adoptions to the AFCARS adoption database because those are the adoptions used to calculate adoption incentive awards. Missing data are not used in the calculation of the percentages. Percentages in some tables may not total 100% due to rounding.

What is the gender distribution of the children adopted from the public foster care system?


Male	51%	25,962
Female	49%	25,038

How old were the children when they were adopted from the public foster care system?


Mean Years	6.7
Median Years	5.6

Less than 1 Year	2%	1,108
1 Year	10%	5,280
2 Years	13%	6,458
3 Years	11%	5,449
4 Years	9%	4,638
5 Years	8%	3,937
6 Years	7%	3,589
7 Years	6%	3,085
8 Years	5%	2,753
9 Years	5%	2,454
10 Years	5%	2,367
11 Years	4%	2,147
12 Years	4%	1,986
13 Years	3%	1,702
14 Years	3%	1,367
15 Years	2%	1,125
16 Years	2%	830
17 Years	1%	579
18 Years	0%	120
19 Years	0%	20
20 Years	0%	7

What percentage of the children adopted receive an adoption subsidy?


Yes	89%	45,590
No	11%	5,410

What is the racial/ethnic distribution of the children adopted from the public foster care system?


AI/AN-Non Hispanic	1%	694
Asian-Non Hispanic	1%	337
Black-Non Hispanic	30%	15,230
Hawaiian/PI-Non Hispanic	0%	162
Hispanic	18%	8,959
White-Non Hispanic	43%	22,088
Unknown/Unable to Determine	2%	1,098
Two or More-Non Hispanic	5%	2,433

NOTE: Using U.S. Bureau of the Census standards, children of Hispanic origin may be of any race. Beginning in FY 2000, children could be identified with more than one race designation.

How many months did it take after termination of parental rights for the children to be adopted?


Mean Months	15.2
Median Months	10.7

Less than 1 Month	3%	1,315
1 thru 5 Months	22%	11,299
6 thru 11 Months	31%	15,879
12 thru 17 Months	18%	9,381
18 thru 23 Months	9%	4,833
24 thru 29 Months	5%	2,740
30 thru 35 Months	3%	1,639
3 thru 4 Years	5%	2,686
5 Years or More	2%	1,228

What is the family structure of the child’s adoptive family?


Married Couple	68%	34,898
Unmarried Couple	2%	797
Single Female	27%	13,822
Single Male	3%	1,483

What was the relationship of the adoptive parents to the child prior to the adoption?


Non-Relative	15%	7,502
Foster Parent	60%	30,683
Step-Parent	0%	56
Other Relative	25%	12,759

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families,Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau, www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb
Preliminary Estimates for FY 2005 as of September 2006.