AFCARS Report - Preliminary FY 2006 Estimates as of January 2008 (14)

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 2006 Estimates as of January 2008 (14)

SOURCE: Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data submitted for the FY 2006, 10/1/05 through 9/30/06.

NOTES: Data from both the regular and revised submissions received by January 16, 2008 are included in the information below. Missing data are not used in the calculation of percentages. Due to rounding, percentages in some tables may not total 100% and numbers in some tables may not equal the total number of children in the population described. There are significant differences between some of the national estimates reported in this FY2006 report and the FY2005 AFCARS Report as of September, 2006. In 2007, California resubmitted foster care data for FY2002 through FY2007, which dramatically changed some of the national estimates. This is because California's revised data excludes groups of children it previously included as being in foster care. These groups did not meet the AFCARS population definition. In addition, the numbers reported for children waiting to be adopted, and whose parental rights have been terminated, is much higher than previously reported. This is because California's revised data more comprehensively identify children with a goal of adoption, and children for whom parental rights had been terminated, both of which are factors in the definition commonly used by the Children's Bureau to identify children waiting to be adopted.

How many children were in foster care on September 30, 2006? 510,000

What were the ages of the children in foster care?

Mean Years	9.8
Median Years	10.2

Less than 1 Year	6%	30,418
1 Year	7%	34,344
2 Years	6%	30,367
3 Years	5%	26,966
4 Years	5%	24,384
5 Years	5%	23,021
6 Years	4%	21,574
7 Years	4%	20,760
8 Years	4%	20,025
9 Years	4%	19,263
10 Years	4%	18,958
11 Years	4%	19,475
12 Years	4%	21,532
13 Years	5%	25,706
14 Years	6%	30,949
15 Years	8%	38,259
16 Years	8%	42,272
17 Years	8%	39,624
18 Years	3%	13,303
19 Years	1%	5,488
20 Years	1%	3,316

What were the lengths of stay in foster care?

Mean Months	28.3
Median Months	15.5

Less than 1 Month	5%	24,312
1 to 5 Months	19%	97,990
6 to 11 Months	18%	90,875
12 to 17 Months	13%	67,689
18 to 23 Months	9%	46,109
24 to 29 Months	7%	35,047
30 to 35 Months	5%	25,219
3 to 4 Years	11%	55,671
5 Years or More	13%	67,088

What were the placement settings of children in foster care?

Pre-Adoptive Home	3%	17,351
Foster Family Home (Relative)	24%	124,571
Foster Family Home (Non-Relative)	46%	236,911
Group Home	7%	33,433
Institution	10%	53,042
Supervised Independent Living	1%	5,872
Runaway	2%	12,213
Trial Home Visit	5%	26,606

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


Reunify with Parent(s) or Principal Caretaker(s)	49%	248,054
Live with Other Relative(s)	4%	20,359
Adoption	23%	117,380
Long Term Foster Care	9%	43,773
Emancipation	6%	30,662
Guardianship	4%	20,945
Case Plan Goal Not Yet Established	6%	28,827

What was the gender of the children in foster care?


Male	52%	267,027
Female	48%	242,973

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


AI/AN-Non Hispanic	2%	10,168
Asian-Non Hispanic	1%	2,978
Black -Non Hispanic	32%	162,722
Hawaiian/ PI-Non Hispanic	0%	1,104
Hispanic	19%	96,967
White-Non Hispanic	40%	205,662
Unknown/Unable to Determine	2%	11,286
Two or More-Non Hispanic	4%	19,112

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 2006? 303,000

What were the ages of the children who entered care during FY 2006?


Mean Years	8.1
Median Years	7.5

Less than 1 Year	16%	47,536
1 Year	7%	20,646
2 Years	6%	18,234
3 Years	5%	16,145
4 Years	5%	14,919
5 Years	5%	14,159
6 Years	4%	13,196
7 Years	4%	12,380
8 Years	4%	11,312
9 Years	4%	10,649
10 Years	3%	10,136
11 Years	3%	10,316
12 Years	4%	11,910
13 Years	5%	14,944
14 Years	6%	18,981
15 Years	8%	22,729
16 Years	7%	21,062
17 Years	4%	12,829
18 Years	0%	702
19 Years	0%	154
20 Years	0%	62

What was the race/ethnicity of the children who entered care during FY 2006?


AI/AN-Non Hispanic	2%	6,430
Asian-Non Hispanic	1%	2,420
Black -Non Hispanic	26%	80,212
Hawaiian/PI-Non Hispanic	0%	772
Hispanic	19%	57,444
White-Non Hispanic	45%	136,354
Unknown/Unable to Determine	3%	7,793
Two or More-Non Hispanic	4%	11,575

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 2006? 289,000

What were the ages of the children who exited care during FY 2006?


Mean Years	9.8
Median Years	9.5

Less than 1 Year	5%	13,948
1 Year	7%	19,929
2 Years	7%	19,851
3 Years	6%	17,770
4 Years	6%	15,960
5 Years	5%	14,355
6 Years	5%	13,276
7 Years	4%	12,776
8 Years	4%	11,402
9 Years	4%	10,584
10 Years	3%	10,044
11 Years	3%	9,803
12 Years	4%	10,201
13 Years	4%	11,128
14 Years	5%	13,364
15 Years	6%	16,355
16 Years	6%	18,264
17 Years	9%	24,597
18 Years	7%	19,230
19 Years	1%	3,599
20 Years	1%	2,561

What were the outcomes for the children exiting foster care during FY 2006?

Reunification with Parent(s) or Primary Caretaker(s)	53%	154,103
Living with Other Relative(s)	11%	30,751
Adoption	17%	50,379
Emancipation	9%	26,517
Guardianship	5%	15,010
Transfer to Another Agency	2%	6,683
Runaway	2%	5,049
Death of Child	0%	509

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 2006?


Mean Months	20.9
Median Months	12.2

Less than 1 Month	15%	42,960
1 to 5 Months	16%	47,506
6 to 11 Months	18%	52,921
12 to 17 Months	14%	39,485
18 to 23 Months	9%	26,487
24 to 29 Months	7%	19,128
30 to 35 Months	5%	13,604
3 to 4 Years	9%	26,415
5 Years or More	7%	20,492

What was the race/ethnicity of the children who exited care during FY 2006?

AI/AN-Non Hispanic	2%	6,243
Asian-Non Hispanic	1%	2,384
Black -Non Hispanic	27%	77,720
Hawaiian/ PI-Non Hispanic	0%	840
Hispanic	18%	51,711
White-Non Hispanic	46%	130,945
Unknown/Unable to Determine	2%	6,910
Two or More-Non Hispanic	4%	10,246

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, 2006? 129,000

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%	68,006
Female	47%	60,994

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


Mean Months	39.4
Median Months	28.9

Less than 1 Month	1%	656
1 through 5 Months	4%	4,843
6 through 11 Months	9%	11,079
12 through 17 Months	14%	17,463
18 through 23 Months	14%	17,557
24 through 29 Months	12%	15,536
30 through 35 Months	9%	11,767
36 through 59 Months	20%	25,792
60 or more Months	19%	24,307

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


AI/AN-Non Hispanic	2%	2,223
Asian-Non Hispanic	1%	651
Black-Non Hispanic	32%	41,591
Hawaiian/PI-Non Hispanic	0%	301
Hispanic	20%	25,481
White-Non Hispanic	38%	49,637
Unknown/Unable to Determine	3%	3,362
Two or More-Non Hispanic	4%	5,754

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	4.9
Median Years	4.2

Less than 1 Year	25%	32,082
1 Year	9%	11,270
2 Years	8%	9,920
3 Years	7%	9,139
4 Years	7%	8,836
5 Years	7%	8,449
6 Years	6%	8,269
7 Years	6%	7,645
8 Years	5%	6,956
9 Years	5%	6,220
10 Years	4%	5,552
11 Years	4%	4,647
12 Years	3%	3,811
13 Years	2%	2,850
14 Years	1%	1,856
15 Years	1%	1,041
16 Years	0%	372
17 Years	0%	87

Where were the waiting children living on September 30, 2006?


Pre-Adoptive Home	13%	16,163
Foster Family Home (Relative)	21%	27,619
Foster Family Home (Non-Relative)	54%	70,230
Group Home	4%	4,834
Institution	6%	8,216
Supervised Independent Living	0%	109
Runaway	1%	982
Trial Home Visit	1%	847

How old were the waiting children on September 30, 2006?


Mean Years	8.2
Median Years	7.7

Less than 1 Year	4%	5,102
1 Year	9%	11,023
2 Years	8%	10,420
3 Years	7%	9,463
4 Years	6%	8,362
5 Years	6%	7,840
6 Years	6%	7,150
7 Years	5%	6,978
8 Years	5%	6,688
9 Years	5%	6,372
10 Years	5%	6,208
11 Years	5%	6,267
12 Years	5%	6,473
13 Years	5%	6,844
14 Years	5%	6,907
15 Years	6%	7,207
16 Years	4%	5,607
17 Years	3%	4,089

How many children in foster care had their parental rights terminated for all living parents? 79,000

As of September 30, 2006, how many months had elapsed since the parental rights of these foster children were terminated?


Mean Months	24.9
Median Months	13.0

How many children were adopted with public agency involvement in FY 2006? 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 2006 reported in regular and revised submissions by January 16, 2008.

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. 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%	25,994
Female	49%	25,006

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


Mean Years	6.6
Median Years	5.4

Less than 1 Year	2%	1,099
1 Year	11%	5,567
2 Years	13%	6,735
3 Years	11%	5,647
4 Years	9%	4,666
5 Years	8%	3,914
6 Years	7%	3,562
7 Years	6%	3,063
8 Years	5%	2,686
9 Years	5%	2,422
10 Years	4%	2,138
11 Years	4%	2,012
12 Years	4%	1,785
13 Years	3%	1,618
14 Years	3%	1,378
15 Years	2%	1,070
16 Years	2%	830
17 Years	1%	636
18 Years	0%	148
19 Years	0%	17
20 Years	0%	6

What percentage of the children adopted receive an adoption subsidy?


Yes	89%	45,541
No	11%	5,459

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


AI/AN-Non Hispanic	1%	693
Asian-Non Hispanic	1%	289
Black-Non Hispanic	27%	13,783
Hawaiian/PI-Non Hispanic	0%	125
Hispanic	19%	9,569
White-Non Hispanic	45%	22,979
Unknown/Unable to Determine	2%	1,049
Two or More-Non Hispanic	5%	2,512

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	14.5
Median Months	10.4

Less than 1 Month	3%	1,576
1 thru 5 Months	22%	11,325
6 thru 11 Months	32%	16,379
12 thru 17 Months	18%	9,320
18 thru 23 Months	10%	4,988
24 thru 29 Months	5%	2,638
30 thru 35 Months	3%	1,424
3 thru 4 Years	5%	2,322
5 Years or More	2%	1,028

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


Married Couple	69%	35,278
Unmarried Couple	2%	857
Single Female	26%	13,370
Single Male	3%	1,496

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


Non-Relative	15%	7,646
Foster Parent	59%	29,997
Step-Parent	0%	36
Other Relative	26%	13,321

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 2006 as of January 2008 (14).