Home > Statistics & Research > Foster Care FY2002 - FY2006 Entries, Exits, and Numbers of Children In Care on the Last Day of Each Federal Fiscal Year

 

Foster Care FY2002 - FY2006 Entries, Exits, and
Numbers of Children In Care on the Last Day of Each Federal Fiscal Year

NOTE: This table reflects State data submitted to the Children's Bureau as of June 2008. Jurisdictions with insufficient data ("NA") are not included in the total for that year.

State	Numbers of Children
		Entering Foster Care during the Year						Exiting Care during the Year						In Foster Care on Last Day of Year (September 30)
		FY 2002	FY 2003	FY 2004	FY 2005	FY 2006		FY 2002	FY 2003	FY 2004	FY 2005	FY 2006		FY 2002	FY 2003	FY 2004	FY 2005	FY 2006
Alabama		3,125	3,246	3,598	3,844	3,791		2,692	2,818	3,046	3,279	3,474		5,883	6,079	5,934	6,913	7,157
Alaska		1,096	943	665	940	920		844	781	715	791	697		2,072	2,040	1,825	1,789	1,993
Arizona		5,049	6,208	7,173	7,546	7,388		4,778	4,796	5,108	6,358	7,171		6,173	7,469	9,194	9,685	9,731
Arkansas		3,350	3,561	3,486	3,615	3,924		3,196	3,411	3,265	3,372	3,621		2,971	3,014	3,124	3,238	3,434
California		39,425	39,919	39,366	41,075	41,082		42,508	41,557	41,031	40,723	40,144		90,692	87,278	82,641	80,247	78,373
Colorado		7,738	7,613	7,782	7,651	7,059		6,343	7,284	7,577	7,182	6,896		9,209	8,754	8,196	8,213	8,139
Connecticut		2,763	3,130	2,922	2,964	3,246		2,787	2,142	2,119	2,550	3,045		6,007	6,742	6,803	6,249	6,365
Delaware		918	861	880	925	1,021		928	810	749	681	791		886	814	849	962	1,074
District of Columbia		812	719	777	919	668		396	757	1,052	1,049	952		3,321	3,092	2,641	2,519	2,378
Florida		20,800	20,549	19,932	22,147	21,999		17,340	21,585	21,097	20,539	21,238		31,963	30,677	28,864	29,312	29,229
Georgia		9,766	10,568	11,699	10,887	9,764		9,431	9,946	11,094	11,064	10,513		13,149	13,578	14,216	13,965	13,175
Hawaii		2,231	2,347	2,262	1,891	1,673		2,066	2,081	2,152	2,017	2,008		2,665	2,919	2,942	2,745	2,355
Idaho		1,213	1,292	1,557	1,722	1,552		1,047	1,101	1,337	1,409	1,471		1,246	1,401	1,565	1,818	1,850
Illinois		5,973	5,794	5,669	5,718	5,007		7,986	7,002	6,472	6,106	5,534		24,344	21,608	19,931	19,431	18,367
Indiana		5,676	6,084	7,026	7,541	7,379		4,579	4,846	5,472	6,168	6,722		8,478	8,815	9,778	11,243	11,401
Iowa		5,821	5,736	5,962	6,781	5,591		5,647	5,723	5,484	4,725	5,279		5,238	5,011	5,384	6,794	9,040
Kansas		2,766	2,677	3,038	3,117	3,506		1,710	2,285	2,216	2,940	2,918		6,190	5,781	6,060	5,833	6,237
Kentucky		5,250	5,476	5,561	5,950	6,315		4,406	4,980	5,092	5,494	5,690		6,814	6,898	6,998	7,220	7,606
Louisiana		2,974	2,809	2,754	3,371	3,965		2,996	2,866	2,671	2,762	3,386		4,829	4,541	4,397	4,833	5,213
Maine		850	904	808	727	737		740	933	967	991	967		3,084	2,760	2,584	2,309	2,076
Maryland		3,563	3,470	3,564	3,353	3,541 *		3,445	3,062	3,265	2,679	3,534 *		12,026	11,521	11,111	10,867	10,681 *
Massachusetts		6,555	6,507	6,616	6,252	6,377		5,548	6,139	6,347	6,329	6,747		12,510	12,608	12,562	12,197	11,499
Michigan		10,019	9,650	9,741	9,296	9,005		9,827	8,979	9,234	9,546	8,695		21,251	21,376	21,173	20,498	20,142
Minnesota		10,317	8,080	7,806	8,166	8,017		9,700	8,195	7,554	7,308	7,248		8,052	6,770	6,540	6,978	7,156
Mississippi		1,582	1,570	1,852	2,048	1,950		1,510	1,525	1,560	1,659	2,018		2,686	2,721	2,989	3,269	3,126
Missouri		7,139	6,342	6,618	6,451	5,657		6,342	6,560	6,028	6,213	6,376		13,029	11,900	11,778	11,433	10,181
Montana		1,306	1,175	1,228	1,432	1,153		1,280	1,087	992	1,149	1,309		1,912	1,866	2,030	2,222	1,909
Nebraska		3,351	2,907	4,155	3,942	3,799		3,195	3,147	3,118	3,425	3,659		5,724	5,148	6,292	6,231	6,187
Nevada		3,239	3,202	3,495	3,646	3,397		3,248	3,866	3,053	3,064	3,492		3,027	3,605	4,037	4,654	5,069
New Hampshire		563	578	560	548	557		512	613	523	549	557		1,291	1,217	1,236	1,178	1,146
New Jersey		6,052	6,994	6,673	5,287	6,298		5,404	5,485	6,746	7,053	6,963		11,442	12,816	12,289	11,211	10,623
New Mexico		1,968	1,941	2,243	2,241	2,121		1,606	1,426	1,842	2,039	2,061		1,885	2,122	2,157	2,316	2,357
New York		15,432	13,598	12,705	11,283	13,353		17,970	16,905	16,085	14,667	13,289		40,753	37,067	33,445	30,458	29,973
North Carolina		5,615	5,461	6,089	6,529	6,413		5,404	5,067	5,194	5,482	5,577		9,527	9,534	10,077	10,698	11,115
North Dakota		1,044	1,050	1,048	1,098	948		864	878	874	911	881		1,197	1,238	1,314	1,370	1,331
Ohio		14,982	13,997	13,152	12,311	12,016		14,421	14,437	13,574	12,201	11,285		21,038	19,323	18,004	17,446	16,631
Oklahoma		6,923	6,713	6,507	7,129	6,927		6,328	5,762	5,203	6,021	6,313		8,812	9,252	11,325	11,393	11,816
Oregon		5,095	4,976	5,544	6,197	5,294		4,646	4,313	4,455	5,019	5,475		9,101	9,117	10,048	11,020	10,661
Pennsylvania		13,684	13,039	14,574	14,658	14,209		12,024	11,985	12,625	13,582	13,307		21,410	20,845	21,944	21,691	21,135
Rhode Island		1,582	1,567	1,649	1,561	2,024		1,378	1,347	1,462	1,358	1,582		2,383	2,357	2,414	2,509	2,842
South Carolina		3,537	3,416	3,108	3,234	3,485		3,407	3,353	3,151	3,071	3,259		4,818	4,801	4,635	4,757	4,920
South Dakota		1,348	1,375	1,274	1,368	1,356		1,153	1,091	1,139	1,180	1,359		1,396	1,537	1,582	1,704	1,648
Tennessee		6,047	6,305	6,715	7,056	6,612		5,443	4,288	4,877	6,421	6,841		9,359	9,487	9,590	9,017	8,818
Texas		11,766	11,513	13,613	16,933	16,928		9,108	10,245	10,842	12,160	14,695		21,353	21,880	24,529	28,883	30,848
Utah		2,177	1,928	1,954	2,215	2,173		2,118	1,821	1,791	1,791	1,984		2,025	2,033	2,108	2,285	2,427
Vermont		832	725	840	770	701		657	760	763	714	729		1,526	1,409	1,432	1,436	1,379
Virginia		3,274	3,351	3,418	3,518	3,936		2,307	2,459	2,772	3,417	3,044		7,109	7,046	6,869	7,022	7,843
Washington		6,704	6,196	6,554	7,004	6,738		6,374	6,303	6,082	6,124	6,163		9,669	9,213	9,368	10,068	10,457
West Virginia		2,358	2,347	2,402	2,846	2,810		2,502	1,268	1,283	2,458	2,551		3,220	4,069	3,990	4,627	4,012
Wisconsin		5,054	5,010	5,643	6,099	5,375		5,186	5,832	5,682	5,754	5,249		8,744	7,824	7,812	8,109	7,556
Wyoming		819	1,029	1,168	1,208	1,187		758	884	954	1,070	1,045		921	1,052	1,184	1,244	1,304
Puerto Rico		3,483	3,652	2,138	1,936	1,877		2,369	2,624	1,937	1,748	1,521		8,179	7,585	7,663	6,786	6,661
Total		294,978	289,100	297,563	307,486	303,381		278,454	278,411	279,723	286,582	291,296		522,579	509,600	507,453	510,895	508,446

NOTE: Examination of the relationship between the number of exits and entries for each year gives the erroneous impression that the number of entries each year is greater than the number of exits even though the number of children in care on September 30 may be steady, be declining, or even be increasing but at a much slower pace than the exit numbers imply. This occurs because in the AFCARS database each child is counted only once and the information included on the child in the database is from their most recent foster care episode. However, there are some children who were in foster care on the first day of the year and exited and re-entered during the year one or more times prior to entering their most recent foster care episode. In addition, they remained in foster care through the last day of the fiscal year (September 30) in their most recent foster care episode. In these circumstances, the exit associated with their "in care" status on the first day of the year is not counted. We estimate that the number of these uncounted exits exceeds 10,000 annually.

^* Maryland 2006 entries, exits and children in care as of September 30th are estimates provided by the State. Back