Children exiting foster care in the United States
Children exiting foster care
Definitions:
The number of children and youth exiting the foster care system. Some 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 of all ages. Children are categorized as leaving foster care if they exited during the current fiscal year and remained out of foster care on the last day of the year. Indicator includes children who have entered foster care in the current fiscal year or in a prior fiscal year. National estimates include Puerto Rico.
The data used in this publication, Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) 2020 #255, 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.
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 April 2022.
N.A. - Data not available.