AFCARS Report - Preliminary 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

Preliminary FY 2004 Estimates as of June 2006 (11)

How many children were in foster care on September 30, 2004? 517,000

SOURCE: Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data submitted for the FY 2004, 10/1/03 through 9/30/04.

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	10.1
Median Years	10.9

Less than 1 Year	5%	26,642
1 Year	6%	30,749
2 Years	6%	28,446
3 Years	5%	26,263
4 Years	5%	23,638
5 Years	4%	22,338
6 Years	4%	21,382
7 Years	4%	20,495
8 Years	4%	20,242
9 Years	4%	20,292
10 Years	4%	21,151
11 Years	4%	23,051
12 Years	5%	25,194
13 Years	6%	29,406
14 Years	7%	33,929
15 Years	8%	39,041
16 Years	8%	41,872
17 Years	7%	38,379
18 Years	3%	14,706
19 Years	1%	6,185
20 Years	1%	3,601

What were the lengths of stay in foster care?

Mean Months	30.0
Median Months	16.5

Less than 1 Month	5%	25,136
1 to 5 Months	18%	94,559
6 to 11 Months	17%	88,610
12 to 17 Months	12%	64,394
18 to 23 Months	9%	44,543
24 to 29 Months	7%	35,534
30 to 35 Months	5%	26,081
3 to 4 Yrs	12%	61,206
5 Years or More	15%	76,938

What were the placement settings of children in foster care?

Pre-Adoptive Home	4%	21,483
Foster Family Home (Relative)	24%	122,528
Foster Family Home (Non-Relative)	46%	238,084
Group Home	9%	45,609
Institution	10%	51,585
Supervised Independent Living	1%	5,858
Runaway	2%	10,931
Trial Home Visit	4%	20,923

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

Reunify with Parent(s) or Principal Caretaker(s)	49%	255,280
Live with Other Relative(s)	4%	22,785
Adoption	20%	102,777
Long Term Foster Care	8%	40,832
Emancipation	6%	32,370
Guardianship	3%	16,277
Case Plan Goal Not Yet Established	9%	46,679

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

AI/AN Non-Hispanic	2%	10,323
Asian-Non Hispanic	1%	3,099
Black-Non Hispanic	34%	175,089
Hawaiian/PI-Non Hispanic	0%	1,474
Hispanic	18%	93,759
White-Non Hispanic	40%	205,561
Unknown/Unable to Determine	2%	12,050
Two or More-Non Hispanic	3%	15,645

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%	271,780
Female	47%	245,220

How many children entered foster care during FY 2004? 305,000

What were the ages of the children who entered care during FY 2004?

Mean Years	8.3
Median Years	8.1

Less than 1 Year	14%	43,721
1 Year	6%	19,667
2 Years	6%	17,614
3 Years	5%	16,246
4 Years	5%	14,631
5 Years	5%	13,803
6 Years	4%	12,957
7 Years	4%	12,069
8 Years	4%	11,473
9 Years	4%	11,129
10 Years	4%	11,366
11 Years	4%	11,897
12 Years	5%	13,943
13 Years	6%	16,993
14 Years	7%	20,445
15 Years	8%	23,164
16 Years	7%	20,636
17 Years	4%	12,394
18 Years	0%	703
19 Years	0%	112
20 Years	0%	37

What was the race/ethnicity of the children who entered care during FY 2004?

AI/AN-Non Hispanic	2%	6,728
Asian-Non Hispanic	1%	2,468
Black-Non Hispanic	27%	81,253
Hawaiian/PI-Non Hispanic	0%	1,057
Hispanic	18%	54,433
White-Non Hispanic	46%	141,506
Unknown/Unable to Determine	3%	7,830
Two or More-Non Hispanic	3%	9,726

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 2004? 283,000

What were the ages of the children who exited care during FY 2004?

Mean Years	9.9
Median Years	9.8

Less than 1 Year	5%	13,413
1 Year	6%	17,882
2 Years	7%	18,522
3 Years	6%	17,012
4 Years	5%	15,143
5 Years	5%	14,137
6 Years	4%	12,733
7 Years	4%	12,076
8 Years	4%	11,429
9 Years	4%	11,781
10 Years	4%	11,059
11 Years	4%	11,191
12 Years	4%	11,499
13 Years	4%	12,522
14 Years	5%	14,531
15 Years	6%	16,403
16 Years	6%	17,599
17 Years	7%	19,762
18 Years	7%	19,608
19 Years	1%	3,514
20 Years	1%	2,073

What were the outcomes for the children exiting foster care during FY 2004?

Reunification with Parent(s) or Primary Caretaker(s)	54%	151,648
Living with Other Relative(s)	12%	33,397
Adoption	18%	51,413
Emancipation	8%	23,121
Guardianship	4%	12,519
Transfer to Another Agency	2%	6,126
Runaway	2%	4,261
Death of Child	0%	514

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 2004?

Mean Months	21.5
Median Months	11.9

Less than 1 Month	18%	50,565
1 to 5 Months	16%	46,183
6 to 11 Months	16%	45,802
12 to 17 Months	12%	34,751
18 to 23 Months	9%	24,316
24 to 29 Months	6%	17,756
30 to 35 Months	5%	13,142
3 to 4 Years	10%	27,137
5 Years or More	8%	23,347

What was the race/ethnicity of the children who exited care during FY 2004?

AI/AN-Non Hispanic	2%	5,846
Asian-Non Hispanic	1%	2,400
Black-Non Hispanic	29%	82,373
Hawaiian/PI-Non Hispanic	0%	1,043
Hispanic	17%	47,832
White-Non Hispanic	45%	127,866
Unknown/Unable to Determine	3%	7,191
Two or More-Non Hispanic	3%	8,449

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, 2004? 118,000

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%	62,886
Female	47%	55,114

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

Mean Months	43.8
Median Months	32.5

Less than 1 Month	1%	661
1 through 5 Months	4%	4,151
6 through 11 Months	8%	9,191
12 through 17 Months	11%	13,415
18 through 23 Months	11%	13,390
24 through 29 Months	11%	13,352
30 through 35 Months	9%	10,361
36 through 59 Months	21%	25,335
60 or more Months	24%	28,144

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

AI/AN-Non Hispanic	2%	2,316
Asian-Non Hispanic	0%	484
Black-Non Hispanic	38%	45,025
Hawaiian/PI-Non Hispanic	0%	357
Hispanic	14%	16,997
White-Non Hispanic	38%	44,991
Unknown/Unable to Determine	3%	3,644
Two or More-Non Hispanic	4%	4,186

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	24%	27,732
1 Year	8%	9,730
2 Years	7%	8,808
3 Years	7%	8,211
4 Years	7%	8,031
5 Years	7%	7,815
6 Years	7%	7,902
7 Years	6%	7,399
8 Years	6%	6,849
9 Years	5%	6,353
10 Years	5%	5,534
11 Years	4%	4,444
12 Years	3%	3,538
13 Years	2%	2,635
14 Years	1%	1,663
15 Years	1%	878
16 Years	0%	386
17 Years	0%	80
18 Years	0%	8
19 Years	0%	3
20 Years	0%	2

Where were the waiting children living on September 30, 2004?

Pre-Adoptive Home	15%	17,165
Foster Family Home (Relative)	17%	20,510
Foster Family Home (Non-Relative)	55%	65,324
Group Home	4%	5,370
Institution	7%	8,282
Supervised Independent Living	0%	209
Runaway	1%	707
Trial Home Visit	0%	432

How old were the children on September 30, 2004?

Mean Years	8.8
Median Years	8.7

Less than 1 Year	4%	4,207
1 Year	7%	8,079
2 Years	7%	8,358
3 Years	6%	7,870
4 Years	6%	7,011
5 Years	6%	6,672
6 Years	5%	6,403
7 Years	5%	6,148
8 Years	5%	5,950
9 Years	5%	6,145
10 Years	5%	6,397
11 Years	6%	6,800
12 Years	6%	6,956
13 Years	6%	7,062
14 Years	6%	6,931
15 Years	6%	6,553
16 Years	5%	5,976
17 Years	3%	3,252
18 Years	1%	899
19 Years	0%	237
20 Years	0%	90

How many children in foster care had their parental rights terminated for all living parents? 65,000

As of September 30, 2004, how many months had elapsed since the parental rights of these foster children were terminated?

Mean Months	28.3
Median Months	16.8

How many children were adopted from the public foster care system in FY 2004? 52,000

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 2004 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	51%	26,324
Female	49%	25,676

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

Mean Years	6.9
Median Years	5.9

Less than 1 Year	2%	957
1 Year	2%	4,482
2 Years	12%	6,141
3 Years	11%	5,557
4 Years	9%	4,742
5 Years	8%	4,092
6 Years	7%	3,536
7 Years	6%	3,241
8 Years	5%	2,848
9 Years	5%	2,708
10 Years	5%	2,572
11 Years	5%	2,477
12 Years	4%	2,227
13 Years	4%	1,891
14 Years	3%	1,474
15 Years	2%	1,109
16 Years	2%	834
17 Years	1%	587
18 Years	0%	149
19 Years	0%	28
20 Years	0%	7

What percentage of the children adopted receive an adoption subsidy?

Yes	89%	46,531
No	11%	5,469

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

AI/AN-Non Hispanic	1%	630
Asian-Non Hispanic	0%	258
Black-Non Hispanic	32%	16,726
Hawaiian/PI-Non Hispanic	0%	128
Hispanic	17%	8,719
White-Non Hispanic	42%	21,971
Unknown/Unable to Determine	2%	1,280
Two or More-Non Hispanic	4%	2,288

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	15.8
Median Months	11.3

Less than 1 Month	3%	1,511
1 thru 5 Months	20%	10,642
6 thru 11 Months	29%	15,257
12 thru 17 Months	19%	9,673
18 thru 23 Months	11%	5,512
24 thru 29 Months	6%	3,203
30 thru 35 Months	4%	1,901
3 thru 4 Years	6%	2,998
5 Years or More	3%	1,304

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

Married Couple	68%	35,578
Unmarried Couple	2%	812
Single Female	27%	14,240
Single Male	3%	1,370

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

Non-Relative	16%	8,435
Foster Parent	59%	30,884
Step-Parent	0%	56
Other Relative	24%	12,624

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 2004 as of June 2006 (11)