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United States
Children in foster care by race and Hispanic origin in United States
Children in foster care by race and Hispanic origin
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Definition and Source
PROVIDER
Definition
The number of children and youth in the foster care system by race or Hispanic origin. 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 of all ages.
Percent estimates of children in each race/Hispanic group are based on the total number of children in foster care with race/ethnicity data. 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. National estimates include Puerto Rico.
Percent estimates of children in each race/Hispanic group are based on the total number of children in foster care with race/ethnicity data. 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. National estimates include Puerto Rico.
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.
The data used in this publication, Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) 2021 #274, were obtained from the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect and have been used in accordance with its Terms of Use Agreement license. The Administration on Children, Youth and Families, the Children's Bureau, the original dataset collection personnel or funding source, NDACAN, Cornell University and their agents or employees bear no responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here.
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.
The data used in this publication, Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) 2021 #274, were obtained from the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect and have been used in accordance with its Terms of Use Agreement license. The Administration on Children, Youth and Families, the Children's Bureau, the original dataset collection personnel or funding source, NDACAN, Cornell University and their agents or employees bear no responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here.
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. - Not available.
N.R. - No data available.
N.R. - No data available.
Last Updated
August 2025