The AFCARS Report-Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) FY 2008 data (October 1, 2007 through September 30, 2008).

Home > Statistics & Research > AFCARS Report - Preliminary FY 2008 Estimates as of October 2009 (16)

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

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/tar/report16.htm

The AFCARS Report
Preliminary FY 2008 Estimates as of October 2009 (16)

SOURCE: Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) FY 2008 data (October 1, 2007 through September 30, 2008).

NOTES: Data from both the regular and revised foster care file submissions received by October 9, 2009, and data from adoption file submissions received by July 1, 2009, are included in the information below. Missing data are not used in the calculation of percentages.


How many children were in foster care on September 30, 2008? 463,000

What were the ages of the children in foster care?

Mean Age

9.7

Median Age

9.8









Less than 1 Year

6%

26,812

1 Year

7%

33,495

2 Years

6%

29,912

3 Years

6%

25,838

4 Years

5%

22,960

5 Years

5%

20,844

6 Years

4%

19,777

7 Years

4%

19,000

8 Years

4%

18,090

9 Years

4%

17,436

10 Years

4%

17,113

11 Years

4%

16,890

12 Years

4%

17,853

13 Years

4%

20,542

14 Years

6%

25,505

15 Years

7%

32,720

16 Years

8%

38,475

17 Years

9%

39,832

18 Years

3%

13,069

19 Years

1%

4,088

20 Years

1%

2,749


What were the lengths of stay of children in foster care?

Mean Months

27.2



Median Months

15.8









Less than 1 Month

5%

20,860

1 – 5 Months

20%

90,295

6 – 11 Months

17%

79,691

12 – 17 Months

13%

61,492

18 – 23 Months

10%

44,672

24 – 29 Months

7%

33,971

30 – 35 Months

5%

24,547

3 – 4 Years

12%

53,709

5 Years or More

12%

53,763


What were the placement settings of children in foster care?

Pre-Adoptive Home

4%

17,485

Foster Family Home (Relative)

24%

112,643

Foster Family Home (Non-Relative)

47%

217,243

Group Home

6%

29,122

Institution

10%

47,165

Supervised Independent Living

1%

5,217

Runaway

2%

9,766

Trial Home Visit

5%

24,358


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

Reunify with Parent(s) or Principal Caretaker(s)

49%

226,867

Live with Other Relative(s)

4%

16,922

Adoption

24%

111,225

Long Term Foster Care

8%

37,522

Emancipation

6%

29,556

Guardianship

4%

18,266

Case Plan Goal Not Yet Established

5%

22,642


What was the gender of the children in foster care?

Male

53%

243,740

Female

47%

219,260


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

Alaska Native/American Indian

2%

8,802

Asian

1%

2,631

Black

31%

142,502

Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander

0%

877

Hispanic (of any race)

20%

92,464

White

40%

183,149

Unknown/Unable to Determine

2%

10,753

Two or more races

5%

21,822

NOTE: Using U.S. Bureau of the Census standards, all races exclude children of Hispanic origin. Beginning in FY 2000, children could be identified with more than one race designation.


How many children entered foster care during FY 2008? 273,000


What were the ages of the children who entered care during FY 2008?

Mean Age

8.0

Median Age

7.3
Less than 1 Year

16%

44,365

1 Year

7%

19,721

2 Years

6%

16,909

3 Years

5%

14,889

4 Years

5%

13,204

5 Years

4%

12,264

6 Years

4%

11,547

7 Years

4%

10,782

8 Years

4%

9,966

9 Years

4%

9,581

10 Years

3%

8,813

11 Years

3%

8,875

12 Years

4%

9,913

13 Years

5%

12,573

14 Years

6%

16,026

15 Years

7%

20,101

16 Years

7%

19,953

17 Years

5%

12,816

18 Years

0%

563

19 Years

0%

95

20 Years

0%

44


What was the race/ethnicity of the children who entered care during FY 2008?

Alaska Native/American Indian

2%

5,646

Asian

1%

2,269

Black

26%

70,378

Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander

0%

675

Hispanic (of any race)

20%

54,802

White

44%

119,242

Unknown/Unable to Determine

3%

7,431

Two or more races

5%

12,558

NOTE: Using U.S. Bureau of the Census standards, all races exclude children of Hispanic origin. Beginning in FY 2000, children could be identified with more than one race designation.


How many children exited foster care during FY 2008? 285,000


What were the ages of the children who exited care during FY 2008?

Mean Age

9.6



Median Age

9.0









Less than 1 Year

5%

13,328

1 Year

8%

21,538

2 Years

7%

21,317

3 Years

6%

18,381

4 Years

6%

16,133

5 Years

5%

14,140

6 Years

5%

13,400

7 Years

4%

12,440

8 Years

4%

11,488

9 Years

4%

10,639

10 Years

3%

9,888

11 Years

3%

9,469

12 Years

3%

9,169

13 Years

3%

9,953

14 Years

4%

11,904

15 Years

5%

14,692

16 Years

6%

17,011

17 Years

8%

22,325

18 Years

8%

22,274

19 Years

1%

3,728

20 Years

1%

1,783


What were the outcomes for the children exiting foster care during FY 2008?


Reunification with Parent(s) or Primary Caretaker(s)

52%

148,340

Living with Other Relative(s)

8%

23,944

Adoption

19%

54,284

Emancipation

10%

29,516

Guardianship

7%

19,941

Transfer to Another Agency

2%

5,195

Runaway

1%

3,324

Death of Child

0%

456

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 2008?

Mean Months

21.8



Median Months

13.3

Less than 1 Month

13%

38,303

1 – 5 Months

15%

42,933

6 – 11 Months

18%

51,025

12 – 17 Months

14%

40,796

18 – 23 Months

10%

28,785

24 – 29 Months

7%

20,428

30 – 35 Months

5%

15,040

3 – 4 Years

10%

27,567

5 Years or More

7%

20,123


What was the race/ethnicity of the children who exited care during FY 2008?

Alaska Native/American Indian

2%

5,605

Asian

1%

2,316

Black

26%

75,441

Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander

0%

763

Hispanic (of any race)

20%

56,741

White

44%

124,688

Unknown/Unable to Determine

2%

6,577

Two or more races

5%

12,869

NOTE: Using U.S. Bureau of the Census standards, all races exclude children of Hispanic origin. 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, 2008? 123,000

NOTES: Waiting children are identified as children who have a goal of adoption and/or whose parents' 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%

64,725

Female

47%

58,275


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

Mean Months

38.0



Median Months

28.7

Less than 1 Month

0%

586

1 – 5 Months

4%

5,076

6 – 11 Months

8%

9,577

12 – 17 Months

13%

15,884

18 – 23 Months

14%

17,418

24 – 29 Months

13%

15,822

30 – 35 Months

10%

11,939

36 – 59 Months

21%

26,268

60 or more Months

17%

20,430


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

Alaska Native/American Indian

2%

2,042

Asian

0%

587

Black

30%

36,913

Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander

0%

251

Hispanic (of any race)

21%

26,223

White

39%

47,392

Unknown/Unable to Determine

2%

2,649

Two or more races

6%

6,943

NOTE: Using U.S. Bureau of the Census standards, all races exclude children of Hispanic origin. 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 Age

4.9



Median Age

4.1









Less than 1 Year

25%

31,199

1 Year

9%

10,734

2 Years

8%

9,567

3 Years

7%

8,655

4 Years

7%

8,258

5 Years

7%

8,034

6 Years

6%

7,779

7 Years

6%

7,093

8 Years

5%

6,578

9 Years

5%

5,830

10 Years

4%

5,072

11 Years

4%

4,323

12 Years

3%

3,514

13 Years

2%

2,757

14 Years

2%

1,904

15 Years

1%

1,084

16 Years

0%

516

17 Years

0%

103


Where were the waiting children living on September 30, 2008?

Pre-Adoptive Home

13%

15,701

Foster Family Home (Relative)

23%

28,346

Foster Family Home (Non-Relative)

53%

65,651

Group Home

4%

4,313

Institution

6%

7,408

Supervised Independent Living

0%

118

Runaway

1%

718

Trial Home Visit

1%

745


How old were the waiting children on September 30, 2008?

Mean Age

8.1



Median Age

7.5

Less than 1 Year

4%

4,628

1 Year

9%

10,636

2 Years

9%

10,852

3 Years

8%

9,336

4 Years

7%

8,327

5 Years

6%

7,516

6 Years

6%

7,067

7 Years

5%

6,664

8 Years

5%

6,466

9 Years

5%

6,251

10 Years

5%

6,019

11 Years

5%

5,725

12 Years

5%

5,643

13 Years

5%

5,771

14 Years

5%

6,040

15 Years

5%

6,350

16 Years

4%

5,388

17 Years

4%

4,320


How many children in foster care had their parental rights terminated for all living parents? 75,000


As of September 30, 2008, how many months had elapsed since the parental rights of these foster children were terminated?

Mean Months

24.7



Median Months

13.0



How many children were adopted with public agency involvement in FY 2008? 55,000

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 2008 reported in regular and revised submissions by July of 2009.

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

50%

27,718

Female

50%

27,282


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

Mean Age

6.4

Median Age

5.2

Less than 1 Year

2%

1,098

1 Year

12%

6,333

2 Years

14%

7,932

3 Years

11%

6,225

4 Years

9%

5,065

5 Years

8%

4,170

6 Years

7%

3,801

7 Years

6%

3,254

8 Years

5%

2,947

9 Years

5%

2,480

10 Years

4%

2,271

11 Years

4%

2,050

12 Years

3%

1,673

13 Years

3%

1,458

14 Years

2%

1,308

15 Years

2%

1,102

16 Years

2%

934

17 Years

1%

704

18 Years

0%

164

19 Years

0%

20

20 Years

0%

12


What percentage of the children adopted receive an adoption subsidy?

Yes

89%

49,032

No

11%

5,968


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

Alaska Native/American Indian

1%

793

Asian

1%

303

Black

25%

13,687

Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander

0%

111

Hispanic (of any race)

21%

11,441

White

44%

24,377

Unknown/Unable to Determine

2%

1,045

Two or more races

6%

3,242

NOTE: Using U.S. Bureau of the Census standards, all races exclude children of Hispanic origin. 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

14.1



Median Months

10.3









Less than 1 Month

2%

1,318

1 – 5 Months

23%

12,721

6 – 11 Months

32%

17,743

12 – 17 Months

19%

10,309

18 – 23 Months

10%

5,434

24 – 29 Months

5%

2,836

30 – 35 Months

3%

1,490

3 – 4 Years

4%

2,168

5 Years or More

2%

981


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

Married Couple

68%

37,164

Unmarried Couple

2%

1,280

Single Female

28%

15,165

Single Male

3%

1,392


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

Non-Relative

16%

8,597

Foster Parent

54%

29,610

Stepparent

0%

44

Other Relative

30%

16,749

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 2008 as of October 2009 (16).

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/tar/report16.htm