Statistics & Research

The Children's Bureau provides State and national data on adoption and foster care, child abuse and neglect, and child welfare. The Children's Bureau also funds research in collaboration with other organizations.

Adoption and Foster Care Statistics

The Adoption and Foster Care Reporting and Analysis System (AFCARS) collects case level information on all children in foster care for whom State child welfare agencies have responsibility for placement, care or supervision, and on children who are adopted under the auspices of the State's public child welfare agency. See Federal and State Reporting Systems for more information.

• Trends in Foster Care and Adoption (PDF - 23 KB) - Graphically represented national estimates of foster care and adoption population characteristics. NOTE: The AFCARS Reports below do not reflect the updated foster care and adoption information reported in the chart. (Updated August 2008)
• Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) reports:
  • AFCARS Report #14 (Preliminary Estimates for FY 2006). (PDF - 90 KB)
  • AFCARS Report #13 (Preliminary Estimates for FY 2005). (PDF - 47 KB)
  • AFCARS Report #12 (Final for FY 1998 through FY 2002). (PDF - 83 KB)
  • AFCARS Report #11 (Preliminary Estimates for FY 2004). (PDF - 39 KB)
  • AFCARS Report #10 (Interim Estimates for FY 2003). (PDF - 39 KB)

The difference among Preliminary, Interim, and Final AFCARS Reports:

• Preliminary reports of AFCARS data include data received by September 30 for the report period ending March 31 and by March 31 for the report period ending September 30. This generally encompasses the required data submissions and submission of corrected data by States to avoid possible financial penalties.
• Interim reports of AFCARS data include subsequent submissions of data made by States to improve the quality of data used to calculate awards for the Adoption Incentive Program, the Children's Bureau's Annual Report to Congress, and/or data utilized in the Child and Family Services Review or for other purposes. These are generally the data officially reported in the Children's Bureau's Annual Report to the Congress.
• Final reports are issued when it appears that States have resubmitted data to the point that outcomes no longer can be improved. These reports may be issued 3 or more years after the year of interest.
• AFCARS Assessment Reviews - Evaluate the ability of a State's automated information system to gather, extract and submit the correct AFCARS data accurately.

State-by-State Adoption and Foster Care Statistics

• State-Specific Adoption Statistics
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002
• 2001
• 2000
• Adoptions of Children with Public Child Welfare Agency Involvement By State FY 1995-FY 2006 - revised March 2008. (PDF - 24 KB)
• Children in Public Foster Care Waiting to be Adopted: FY 1999 thru FY 2006 - revised March 2008. (PDF - 23 KB)
• Analysis of State Child Welfare Data: VCIS Survey Data From 1990 Through 1994
• State Specific Foster Care Statistics
• FY 2002 - FY 2006 Foster Care: Entries, Exits, and In Care on the Last Day of Each Federal Fiscal Year - Updated June 2008 (PDF - 29 KB)

Child Abuse & Neglect Research

Children's Bureau research on child abuse and neglect includes the annual Child Maltreatment reports.

• Child Maltreatment Annual Reports: Reports from the States to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data Systems - National statistics on child abuse and neglect.
• 2006 (PDF - 6,355 KB)
• 2005 (PDF - 4,364 KB)
• 2004 (PDF - 1,819 KB)
• 2003 (PDF - 3,009 KB)
• 2002 (PDF - 1,269 KB)
• 2001 (PDF - 1,438 KB)
• 2000 (PDF - 1,205 KB)
• 1999 (PDF - 1085 KB)
• 1998
• 1997
• 1996
• 1995
• Abstracts and Findings from Federally Funded Child Abuse and Neglect Research - Fiscal Year 1998 Projects- A compendium of project descriptions (08/2000). (PDF - 955 KB)

Child Welfare Research

Children's Bureau research on child welfare issues includes a series of annual Child Welfare Outcomes Reports to Congress. These reports include data from AFCARS and NCANDS.

• Child Welfare Outcomes reports - A series of reports required by the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA).
• 2002-2005 (PDF - 12.20 MB)
• 2003 (PDF - 3.41 MB)
• 2002 (PDF - 3.22 MB)
• 2001 (PDF - 4.26 MB)
• 2000 (PDF - 4.3 MB)
• 1999 (PDF - 1.20 MB)
• 1998 (PDF - 4.11 MB)
• Legislative Brief: Child Welfare Caseworker Visits with Children and Parents - Presents background information about caseworker visits, including the elements that comprise quality visits. It also offers questions that legislators and their staff can use to facilitate a dialogue about caseworker visits with their child welfare agency administrators. (PDF - 344 KB)
• State Child Welfare Legislation: 2005 - Describes some of the State legislation related to child welfare issues that was enacted during calendar year 2005. It includes citations and summaries of specific child-welfare-related laws in each State. (PDF - 875 KB)
• Focusing on Child Welfare Systems: Collaborating With State Legislators on Reform This report offers State child welfare agency administrators information on effective strategies for using the child and family services reviews to work more closely with legislators to improve child welfare systems. This report covers the importance of legislative engagement in child welfare and strategies for building partnerships with State legislators and engaging them in the reviews.
• The Child and Family Services Reviews: The Role of State Legislators and Focusing on Child Welfare Systems: The Role of State Legislators - This report offers legislators information on using the CFSRs to enhance their role in supporting State child welfare agency administrators in creating effective child welfare policies and practices. The reports discuss the CFSRs as a resource for legislators, and offer strategies that legislators can use to become involved in the reviews. The report is also available in a three-page brief format.
• Comprehensive Family Assessment Guidelines for Child Welfare - These guidelines address the components of comprehensive family assessment, show the linkages to service planning and service provision, and illustrate how child welfare agencies can support their use. These guidelines are provided as an initial framework to facilitate efforts to move the child welfare community towards comprehensive assessment as a best practice. (PDF - 301 KB)
• SECTION 11. CHILD PROTECTION, FOSTER CARE, AND ADOPTION ASSISTANCE (2000 Green Book) PDF (9 KB) - The House Ways and Means Committee Green Book provides program descriptions and historical data on a wide variety of social and economic topics. This section focuses on child welfare.
• Progress Report to Congress on Conducting A Study of Performance-Based Financial Incentives in Child Welfare - This report presents issues relevant to the development of outcome measures and performance-based incentives as mandated by ASFA (12/1998)

Children's Bureau-Funded Research

The Children's Bureau funds research in collaboration with other organizations.

• A Report to Congress on Interjurisdictional Adoption of Children in Foster Care - Describes the nature, scope, and impact of interjurisdictional adoption placement efforts and the strategies that improve outcomes for children in foster care who are placed for adoption in other jurisdictions. (PDF - 218 KB)
• Chafee Independent Living Evaluation Project - The goal of this Project is to identify programs that can be rigorously evaluated and ultimately determine the effects of Independent Living Programs funded under CFCIP in achieving key outcomes for participating youth. This evaluation was called for in the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999.
• Child Welfare Systems' Responses to Children of Color - This ongoing research project was funded to review research examining the child welfare system's response to children of color, to identify programs and practices that address perceived racial or cultural disparities within the system, and to pilot intensive qualitative observational studies on policies and practices related to services for children of color in the child welfare system.
• Family Preservation and Family Support Services Program (FP/FS) - This study evaluates how States and communities implemented the FP/FS program, the ways in which program implementation altered the pre-existing service delivery system, and the effects this had on service delivery.
• Feasibility of Evaluating the State Court Improvement Program Volume I: Final Report (PDF - 300 KB): and
  Feasibility of Evaluating the State Court Improvement Program Volume II: Evaluability Assessment Site Visit Summaries (PDF - 670 KB) - These evaluability assessments were completed through a contract awarded in the Fall of 2001 by the Children's Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to determine the feasibility of evaluating state Court Improvement Program (CIP) projects.
• LONGSCAN reports - The website of the Consortium of Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) provides information about the study, sample demographics, measures utilized, and more.
• Implementation of Promoting Safe and Stable Families by Indian Tribes (PSSF) - The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which Indian Tribes use funds received under title IV-B, subpart 2 to provide services that strengthen families’ abilities to care for their children.
• National Incidence Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect - A congressionally mandated, periodic research effort to assess the incidence of child abuse and neglect in the United States.
• National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) - To learn what happens to the children and families who come in contact with the child welfare system, the Children’s Bureau of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has undertaken the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW).
• Terminating the Parental Rights of Older Children (TPR) - This Project provides a descriptive study of the effects of the termination of parental rights on older foster youths' foster care and adoptive experiences.

Other Related Links

• National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) - The mission of NDACAN is to facilitate the secondary analysis of research data relevant to the study of child abuse and neglect. By making data available to a larger number of researchers, NDACAN seeks to provide a relatively inexpensive and scientifically productive means for researchers to explore important issues in the child maltreatment field.

• CFSP/APSR Toolkit - This toolkit is designed to create a central location for all technical assistance documents and materials, as well as references to specific laws, policies, and checklists that relate to the development of the State and Tribal Child and Family Service Plan (CFSP)/Annual Progress and Services Report (APSR).

• Methamphetamine: The Child Welfare Impact and Response — Conference Proceedings - Proceedings from the May 2006 Children's Bureau conference on Methamphetamines and the impact of the drug on children and families, held in partnership with SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment and the Child Care Bureau.

• Federal and State Reporting Systems - Information on the Children's Bureau Federal and State reporting systems, which provide data to monitor and improve child welfare outcomes.

• Child Welfare Monitoring - Information on the programs provided by the Children's Bureau that monitor State child welfare services, including the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs), Title IV-E Foster Care Eligibility Reviews, the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), and the Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS) Assessment Reviews.