Rate of children in foster care by age group

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Definition and Source

PROVIDER

Definition

The number and rate per 1,000 of children and youth from birth up to age 20 in the foster care system by age group. Some states allow children to remain in the foster care system until their 18th birthday while other 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.

Rates are based on Census Bureau estimates of the population of children and youth ages 0 to 20 in each state, as of July 1st of the respective year. National estimates do not include Puerto Rico.

Missing age data are excluded from rate 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.

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.

Population data: U.S. Census Bureau. "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Single Year of Age and Sex for the United States, States, and Puerto Rico Commonwealth.

Starting with data from FY2022, files released by the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) are now referred to as “AB” files as opposed to annual files. The new AB file format produces slightly different estimates than the old annual file format (used for and prior to FY2021), which limits comparability across years. Furthermore, the data presented here will not match the ACF Dashboards because the Dashboards use files that are different than the AB files.

Notes

N.A. - Data not available.

Last Updated

August 2025

Location

Rate of children in foster care by age group in United States