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Children in foster care in a group home or institution placement setting by race and Hispanic origin in United States

Children in foster care in a group home or institution placement setting by race and Hispanic origin

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Definition and Source

PROVIDER

Definition

The number of children and youth from birth up to age 20 in the foster care system in a group home or institution only by race or Hispanic origin. Most states allow children to remain in the foster care system until their 18th birthday, though some states have age limits that extend a few years beyond this. The current indicator includes children up to age 20 regardless of their state limit.

Percent estimates of children in each placement type are based on the total ages 0 to 20 in foster care, where placement type is known. Missing placement type data are excluded from percentage and frequency distributions. Youth are categorized as being in foster care if they entered prior to the end of the current fiscal year and have not been discharged from their latest foster care spell by the end of the current fiscal year.  Placement type is the setting in which the child was living at the end of the fiscal year. National estimates include Puerto Rico.

A small number of AFCARS records across many states were missing information on the child’s race/Hispanic group and were also not included in the “unable to determine” category. These missing data are excluded from percentage and frequency distributions. Youth are categorized as being in foster care if they entered prior to the end of the current fiscal year and have not been discharged from their latest foster care spell by the end of the current fiscal year. Race or Hispanic origin are mutually exclusive categories. Children who are of Hispanic origin are not classified as any other race.

Data Source

Child Trends analysis of data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), made available through the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect.

Notes

N.A. - Data not available.

N.R. - No data are reported.

All racial categories are mutually exclusive.  Children missing racial/Hispanic origin data were included in totals.

Last Updated

May 2024