AFCARS Report - Interim Estimates as of June 2006

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

Interim FY 2003 Estimates as of June 2006 (10)

How many children were in foster care on September 30, 2003? 520,000

SOURCE: Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data submitted for the FY 2003, 10/1/02 through 9/30/03.

NOTES: Data from both the regular and revised submissions received by June 2006 are included in the information below. Missing data are not used in the calculation of percentages.

What were the ages of the children in foster care?

Mean Years	10.2
Median Years	10.9

Less than 1 Year	5%	25,169
1 Year	6%	29,717
2 Years	5%	27,979
3 Years	5%	25,426
4 Years	5%	23,911
5 Years	4%	22,360
6 Years	4%	21,118
7 Years	4%	21,012
8 Years	4%	21,046
9 Years	4%	21,711
10 Years	4%	23,346
11 Years	5%	24,705
12 Years	5%	26,964
13 Years	6%	30,029
14 Years	7%	34,152
15 Years	7%	38,540
16 Years	8%	40,696
17 Years	7%	37,749
18 Years	3%	14,767
19 Years	1%	5,848
20 Years	1%	3,755

What were the lengths of stay in foster care?

Mean Months	31.2
Median Months	17.6

Less than 1 Month	4%	23,381
1 to 5 Months	18%	93,495
6 to 11 Months	16%	83,742
12 to 17 Months	12%	63,383
18 to 23 Months	9%	45,686
24 to 29 Months	7%	35,691
30 to 35 Months	5%	26,856
3 to 4 Yrs	12%	64,417
5 Years or More	16%	83,349

What were the placement settings of children in foster care?

Pre-Adoptive Home	5%	24,806
Foster Family Home (Relative)	23%	121,511
Foster Family Home (Non-Relative)	46%	240,916
Group Home	9%	45,828
Institution	10%	51,549
Supervised Independent Living	1%	5,525
Runaway	2%	10,657
Trial Home Visit	4%	19,206

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

Reunify with Parent(s) or Principal Caretaker(s)	48%	249,549
Live with Other Relative(s)	5%	24,450
Adoption	20%	105,171
Long Term Foster Care	8%	44,006
Emancipation	6%	31,793
Guardianship	3%	15,561
Case Plan Goal Not Yet Established	10%	49,469

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

AI/AN Non-Hispanic	2%	10,153
Asian-Non Hispanic	1%	3,261
Black-Non Hispanic	35%	183,901
Hawaiian/PI-Non Hispanic	0%	1,524
Hispanic	17%	90,846
White-Non Hispanic	39%	202,992
Unknown/Unable to Determine	3%	13,010
Two or More-Non Hispanic	3%	14,312

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.

What was the gender of the children in foster care?

Male	53%	273,138
Female	47%	246,862

How many children entered foster care during FY 2003? 296,000

What were the ages of the children who entered care during FY 2003?

Mean Years	8.4
Median Years	8.3

Less than 1 Year	14%	41,539
1 Year	6%	18,678
2 Years	6%	17,059
3 Years	5%	15,211
4 Years	5%	14,141
5 Years	4%	13,041
6 Years	4%	12,415
7 Years	4%	11,918
8 Years	4%	11,439
9 Years	4%	11,449
10 Years	4%	11,496
11 Years	4%	12,239
12 Years	5%	13,859
13 Years	6%	16,869
14 Years	7%	20,113
15 Years	8%	22,209
16 Years	7%	19,739
17 Years	4%	11,872
18 Years	0%	573
19 Years	0%	116
20 Years	0%	25

What was the race/ethnicity of the children who entered care during FY 2003?

AI/AN-Non Hispanic	2%	6,717
Asian-Non Hispanic	1%	2,631
Black-Non Hispanic	27%	80,063
Hawaiian/PI-Non Hispanic	0%	1,093
Hispanic	17%	51,247
White-Non Hispanic	46%	137,471
Unknown/Unable to Determine	3%	7,749
Two or More-Non Hispanic	3%	9,029

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 2003? 282,000

What were the ages of the children who exited care during FY 2003?

Mean Years	10.0
Median Years	10.0

Less than 1 Year	4%	12,660
1 Year	6%	17,269
2 Years	6%	17,761
3 Years	6%	16,339
4 Years	5%	15,002
5 Years	5%	13,682
6 Years	4%	12,668
7 Years	4%	12,038
8 Years	4%	11,905
9 Years	4%	11,781
10 Years	4%	11,417
11 Years	4%	11,540
12 Years	4%	11,838
13 Years	4%	12,560
14 Years	5%	14,458
15 Years	6%	16,713
16 Years	6%	17,675
17 Years	8%	23,530
18 Years	5%	14,919
19 Years	1%	3,512
20 Years	1%	2,732

What were the outcomes for the children exiting foster care during FY 2003?

Reunification with Parent(s) or Primary Caretaker(s)	55%	155,499
Living with Other Relative(s)	11%	31,572
Adoption	18%	50,355
Emancipation	8%	22,432
Guardianship	4%	10,959
Transfer to Another Agency	2%	6,439
Runaway	1%	4,158
Death of a Child	0%	586

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

What were the lengths of stay of the children who exited foster care during FY 2003?

Mean Months	21.7
Median Months	11.9

Less than 1 Month	18%	51,619
1 to 5 Months	16%	45,811
6 to 11 Months	16%	45,371
12 to 17 Months	12%	33,985
18 to 23 Months	8%	23,440
24 to 29 Months	6%	16,872
30 to 35 Months	5%	12,719
3 to 4 Years	10%	27,973
5 Years or More	9%	24,209

What was the race/ethnicity of the children who exited care during FY 2003?

AI/AN-Non Hispanic	2%	5,733
Asian-Non Hispanic	1%	2,633
Black-Non Hispanic	29%	82,839
Hawaiian/PI-Non Hispanic	0%	972
Hispanic	16%	46,123
White-Non Hispanic	45%	128,256
Unknown/Unable to Determine	3%	7,348
Two or More-Non Hispanic	3%	8,097

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, 2003? 120,000

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%	63,811
Female	47%	56,189

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

Mean Months	44.5
Median Months	34.0

Less than 1 Month	0%	446
1 through 5 Months	3%	4,016
6 through 11 Months	7%	8,349
12 through 17 Months	11%	13,065
18 through 23 Months	11%	13,623
24 through 29 Months	11%	13,029
30 through 35 Months	9%	10,587
36 through 59 Months	23%	27,125
60 or more Months	25%	29,760

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

AI/AN-Non Hispanic	2%	2,204
Asian-Non Hispanic	0%	501
Black-Non Hispanic	40%	48,305
Hawaiian/PI-Non Hispanic	0%	346
Hispanic	14%	16,307
White-Non Hispanic	37%	44,346
Unknown/Unable to Determine	4%	4,218
Two or More-Non Hispanic	3%	3,773

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	5.0
Median Years	4.4

Less than 1 Year	24%	28,568
1 Year	8%	10,018
2 Years	8%	9,113
3 Years	7%	8,523
4 Years	7%	8,146
5 Years	7%	8,132
6 Years	7%	8,067
7 Years	6%	7,672
8 Years	6%	6,982
9 Years	5%	6,375
10 Years	5%	5,497
11 Years	4%	4,349
12 Years	3%	3,336
13 Years	2%	2,418
14 Years	1%	1,530
15 Years	1%	797
16 Years	0%	362
17 Years	0%	101
18 Years	0%	10
19 Years	0%	3
20 Years	0%	0

Where were the waiting children living on September 30, 2003?

Pre-Adoptive Home	17%	19,938
Foster Family Home (Relative)	16%	19,541
Foster Family Home (Non-Relative)	55%	65,629
Group Home	4%	5,194
Institution	7%	8,376
Supervised Independent Living	0%	186
Runaway	1%	693
Trial Home Visit	0%	444

How old were the children on September 30, 2003?

Mean Years	8.7
Median Years	8.8

Less than 1 Year	3%	3,826
1 Year	6%	7,731
2 Years	7%	8,405
3 Years	6%	7,767
4 Years	6%	7,320
5 Years	6%	6,990
6 Years	5%	6,582
7 Years	5%	6,382
8 Years	5%	6,418
9 Years	6%	6,860
10 Years	6%	7,172
11 Years	6%	7,512
12 Years	6%	7,549
13 Years	6%	7,317
14 Years	6%	6,981
15 Years	5%	6,456
16 Years	4%	4,534
17 Years	3%	3,031
18 Years	1%	856
19 Years	0%	220
20 Years	06%	93

How many children in foster care had their parental rights terminated for all living parents? 67,000

As of September 30, 2003, how many months had elapsed since the parental rights of these foster children were terminated?

Mean Months	26.8
Median Months	16.3

How many children were adopted from the public foster care system in FY 2003? 50,000

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 2003 reported in regular and revised submissions by June 1, 2006.

NOTES: The number of adoptions reported here do 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.

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

Male	50%	25,118
Female	50%	24,882

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

Mean Years	7.0
Median Years	6.1

Less than 1 Year	2%	932
1 Year	9%	4,482
2 Years	11%	5,562
3 Years	10%	5,126
4 Years	9%	4,505
5 Years	8%	3,912
6 Years	7%	3,514
7 Years	6%	3,117
8 Years	6%	2,932
9 Years	6%	2,939
10 Years	5%	2,700
11 Years	5%	2,490
12 Years	4%	2,193
13 Years	3%	1,720
14 Years	3%	1,395
15 Years	2%	1,077
16 Years	1%	732
17 Years	1%	496
18 Years	0%	134
19 Years	0%	29
20 Years	0%	13

What percentage of the children adopted receive an adoption subsidy?

Yes	87%	43,703
No	13%	6,297

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

AI/AN-Non Hispanic	1%	695
Asian-Non Hispanic	1%	315
Black-Non Hispanic	33%	16,554
Hawaiian/PI-Non Hispanic	0%	131
Hispanic	16%	7,923
White-Non Hispanic	42%	20,869
Unknown/Unable to Determine	3%	1,334
Two or More-Non Hispanic	4%	2,180

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	16.2
Median Months	12.0

Less than 1 Month	3%	1,670
1 thru 5 Months	19%	9,262
6 thru 11 Months	28%	14,198
12 thru 17 Months	19%	9,474
18 thru 23 Months	11%	5,731
24 thru 29 Months	7%	3,312
30 thru 35 Months	4%	2,067
3 thru 4 Years	6%	3,175
5 Years or More	2%	1,111

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

Married Couple	67%	33,647
Unmarried Couple	2%	788
Single Female	28%	14,206
Single Male	3%	1,358

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

Non-Relative	15%	7,267
Foster Parent	62%	31,094
Step-Parent	0%	76
Other Relative	23%	11,563

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.
Interim Estimates for FY 2003 as of June 2006 (10)