Definitions: Children and youth waiting for adoption from birth up to age 20 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.
Race or Hispanic origin is reported according to mutually exclusive categories. Children who are of Hispanic origin are not classified as any other race. For this indicator, missing data are explicitly included. That is, the number and percentage of children whose race and Hispanic origin are unknown are included in the analysis. National estimates include Puerto Ric
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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.
Footnotes:
Updated May 2013.
N.A. - Data not available.
Note: Maps use the natural break classification method, which reflects patterns
in the data by dividing the map into naturally occurring groups. Using statistical tools, this method
determines cut-off points for each group by identifying large gaps in data values.
Note: The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are
not included in maps and rankings because they are not states and therefore comparisons on many
indicators of child well being are not meaningful.