The Annie E. Casey Foundation
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Pennsylvania

Statistics on children, youth and families in Pennsylvania from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children

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Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children

Change Indicator

Foster Care - September 30 snapshot by placement setting in Pennsylvania

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Why This Indicator Matters

Foster care, also known as out-of-home care, is a court-monitored process that involves removing children from their families following a substantiated report of abuse or neglect. [1] All child maltreatment reports are investigated by either Child Protective Services (CPS) or General Protective Services (GPS), depending on the nature of the referral, to determine the child’s safety within the household as well as the level of risk for future harm.[2] Children are typically only placed in foster care after family preservation and in-home services fail to improve their safety and well-being in the home. Out-of-home placement is often viewed as temporary, as achieving and maintaining permanency is always the primary priority of child welfare agencies, whether that be in the form of reunification with their caregivers or finding new homes with relatives or adoptive families.[3] Family issues with substance use, mental illness, or domestic abuse are among the most common factors that lead to children entering the foster care system.[4]

 By examining a snapshot of the foster care population by placement setting, researchers are able to infer what placement within the foster care system looks like on a typical day and track longitudinal trends associated with children in out-of-home care. As shown in the following table, foster children can be placed in pre-adoptive homes, foster family homes with a relative, foster family homes with a non-relative, group homes, institutions, supersized independent living, trial home visit, or classified as a runaway. On the given day under analysis in 2021, the majority of foster children were placed in a family home with either a relative or non-relative. This is consistent with research that suggests children thrive best in familiar environments, so placement with family members or close friends, known as kinship care, is increasingly preferred. Nationally, an estimated three in five children in foster care return home to their parents or other family members after being removed from their home.[5] Family preference, cultural backgrounds, strengths and needs of the child, caretaker ability to meet these needs, location of their school, and connection to the community are additional factors considered when making placement decisions.[6]

[1] Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2023). Overview: Out-of-Home Care. United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau. https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/outofhome/overview/

[2] Rizvi, M. B., Conners, G. P., King, K. C., Lopez, R. A., & Rabiner, J. (2022). Pennsylvania Child Abuse Recognition and Reporting. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33351411/

[3], [4]  Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2023). Achieving & Maintaining Permanency. United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau. https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/permanency/

[5] Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2016). Reunification: Bringing Your Child Home From Foster Care. United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau. https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/reunification.pdf

[6] Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2023). Placement Decisions. United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau. https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/outofhome/placement/

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Definition and Source

PROVIDER

Definition

Shows the known latest placement setting for children in foster care on a given day (9/30). Placement settings are the different environments that children can be placed in while in the foster care system.  Pre-adoptive settings, as well as foster family settings (both relative and non-relative) are family-based placement settings.  Group homes and institutions are more restrictive placement settings and are often referred to as congregate care settings.

Data Source

PPC analysis of AFCARS longitudinal file produced by Public Consulting Group for Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, Office of Children, Youth and Families.

Notes

Totals and percentages are based on those children for whom the placement is known.

S = Suppressed.  Statistics (rates, ratios, percents) are not calculated and displayed for counts less than 10 (or less than 3 for Bayesian/Nearest Neighbor rates). This is due to the unreliability of statistics based on small numbers of events.

Last Updated

April 2024