Foster Care Statistics

Foster Care Statistics | Sandals Church Blog

Posted on May 3, 2011
Martha Villalobos, head of Sandals’ Foster Care ministry, Abundant Love, shared current statistics on foster-related statistics in America. Please read over these statistics and ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance in praying for children who are in need of a safe and loving home.

Over 500,000 children in foster care in the in the U.S.A.; 58,000 in California; and 7,500 in Inland area.
80% of children are removed from their home due to neglect, 11% due to abuse, and 3.5% due to sexual abuse.
In California infants entered foster care at 3 or more times the rate of any other group.
5 children are killed every day in America due to abuse.
The greatest cause of death in small children is child abuse.
One year after entering foster care 52% were still in care.
African and Native American children consistently have the highest rates of foster care entry.
Only 46% of foster youth will graduate high school and less then 1% college.
30,000 foster youth will age out this year at 18, up from 26,000 last year, within one and a half years 93% of those youth will be homeless, in prison or die.
Child abuse is the most common cause of brain injury in children under one year of age, the number one reason a baby is shaken is inconsolable crying.
Parents abusing drugs or alcohol are at higher risk of abusing or neglecting their children.
Child abuse and neglect affect children of all ages, races, and incomes.
Children under the age of two years of age are at the greatest risk of abuse.
In Riverside County we do not have enough safe, loving, foster children available for kids that need placement, they end up being sent out of the area.
Children in foster care that are older then 7 years old or are in a sibling group, or are children of color are much harder to find adoptive homes.
over 1,000 children in the U.S. are waiting to find an adoptive home, many of those will not and end up aging out of the system at 18.