Child Welfare Outcomes 2007-2010: Report to Congress

September 12, 2012

Child Welfare Outcomes 2007-2010: Report to Congress

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families

The Child Welfare Outcomes Reports are created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (the Department) to meet requirements of section 203(a) of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA). 1 ASFA amended section 479A of the Social Security Act (the Act) to require an annual report that assesses State performance in operating child protection and child welfare programs under titles IV-B and IV-E of the Act. Child Welfare Outcomes 1998 was the first report created in the Child Welfare Outcomes series of reports. The present report, Child Welfare Outcomes 2007–2010, is the eleventh report since the series’ inception.

CONTEXTUAL FACTORS The Child Welfare Outcomes Report presents data on child welfare-related contextual factors relevant to understanding and interpreting State performance on the outcome measures. 2 Below is a summary of fiscal year (FY) 2010 data for these contextual factors.

Characteristics of child victims

• In 2010, 754,000 children were confirmed to be victims of maltreatment. The overall national child victim rate was 10.0 child victims per 1,000 children in the population. 5 State child victim rates varied dramatically, ranging from 1.3 child victims per 1,000 children to 24.6 child victims per 1,000 children.

• The national child victim rate decreased from 10.4 child victims per 1,000 children in the population in FY 2007 to 10.0 in FY 2010. This is a continuation of a long-term, downward trend in the child victimization rate that began in the early 1990s.

Foster care information overview

• Nationally, there were approximately 415,000 children in foster care on the last day of FY 2010. During that year, an estimated 250,000 children entered foster care, and 248,000 children exited foster care. Among the States, the foster care entry rate ranged from 1.4 children per 1,000 to 7.5 children per 1,000 in a State’s population.

• Between FY 2002 and 2010, the number of children in care on the last day of the FY decreased by 22 percent. While currently it is not possible to determine the cause of the decrease in the number of children in foster care using the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) database, several States have made deliberate efforts to safely reduce the number of children in care through various programmatic and policy initiatives.

• Nationally, 213,000 children exited foster care to a permanent home in 2010 (i.e., were discharged to reunification, adoption, or legal guardianship). Of these 213,000 children, 145,000 were discharged to reunification; 52,000 were discharged to adoption; and 16,000 were discharged to legal guardianship. In addition, 27,000 children were emancipated from foster care in 2010. There were approximately 7,000 children who exited care for reasons other than permanency or emancipation, such as transfer to another agency or to another State.

• Approximately 107,000 children were waiting for adoption in 2010.

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Categories: adoption and foster care, children and families, government and politics, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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