Alabama

Context Data | Outcomes Data | State Comment | Federal Comment

Alabama [Context Data]

A. Context Statistics1

General Child Population (Census Bureau)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Total children under 18 years	1,107,108	1,107,973	1,094,533	1,089,753
Race/ethnicity (%)2
Alaska Native/American Indian	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.4
Asian	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7
Black (non-Hispanic)	31.9	31.8	31.7	31.6
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1
Hispanic (of any race)	2.6	2.8	3.0	3.2
White (non-Hispanic)	63.1	63.0	62.8	62.6
Two or More Races	1.2	1.3	1.3	1.3
Child population in poverty (%)	19.1	22.3	24.2	24.7

Child Welfare Summary
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Child maltreatment victims3	9,903	9,290	9,414	9,029
Children in foster care on 9/30	5,883	6,079	5,934	6,913
Children adopted	249	329	398	336

B. Child Maltreatment Data [National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS)]

Overview Maltreatment Information4
	2002		2003		2004		2005
	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate
Children subject of an investigated report alleging child maltreatment	32,682	29.5 per 1,000	29,679	26.8 per 1,000	31,300	28.6 per 1,000	27,378	25.1 per 1,000
Total child maltreatment victims5	9,903	8.9 per 1,000	9,290	8.4 per 1,000	9,414	8.6 per 1,000	9,029	8.3 per 1,000
Child fatalities	29	2.6 per 100,000	22	2.0 per 100,000	11	1.0 per 100,000	24	2.2 per 100,000

1 A calendar year is the basis for data from the Census Bureau (in Section A. Context Statistics) and the 2002 data only from NCANDS (in Section B. Child Maltreatment Data). All other data on this page are based on the Federal fiscal year, October 1 through September 30. Back
2 Race/ethnicity data represent population estimates from the Census Bureau. Child poverty data are from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS). Back
3 A child victim is defined as a child who is the subject of a substantiated or indicated maltreatment report. Back
4 The rate for maltreatment investigations and victims is per 1,000 children under age 18; for fatalities, the rate is per 100,000 children under age 18. Back
5 Children with more than one report of substantiated or indicated maltreatment may be counted more than once. Back

B. Child Maltreatment Data (Continued)

Age of Child Victims (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Under 1 year	7.5	7.4	8.8	9.6
1-5 years	26.4	27.0	28.1	28.8
6-10 years	25.4	24.1	22.5	22.7
11-15 years	28.3	29.8	28.8	27.2
16+ years	5.7	5.6	5.4	4.6
Unknown	6.6	6.2	6.4	7.1
Number	9,903	9,290	9,414	9,029

Race/Ethnicity of Child Victims (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Alaska Native/American Indian	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Asian	0.3	0.1	0.1	0.1
Black (non-Hispanic)	30.3	29.9	29.5	23.5
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	N/A	--	0.0	0.0
Hispanic (of any race)	2.1	2.2	2.3	2.5
White (non-Hispanic)	54.5	48.9	52.2	45.5
Two or More Races	--	--	--	0.2
Unknown	12.7	16.1	15.7	28.1
Number	9,903	9,290	9,414	9,029

Maltreatment Types of Child Victims (%)6
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Emotional abuse	2.3	1.3	0.8	0.7
Medical neglect	--	--	--	--
Neglect	42.0	39.6	43.6	44.5
Physical abuse	45.6	38.6	40.5	40.5
Sexual abuse	23.8	24.7	24.0	23.5
Unknown	--	--	--	--
Other	--	--	--	--
Number	9,903	9,290	9,414	9,029

Time to Investigation (in hours)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Mean	--	--	--	55.8
Median	--	--	--	>24, but <48

6 Percentages may total more than 100 because children can be victims of more than one type of maltreatment. Back

C. Characteristics of Children in Foster Care (Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) Foster Care File)

	In Foster Care on 10/1 FY				Entered Foster Care in FY				Exited Foster Care in FY				In Foster Care on 9/30 FY
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Total number	5,450	5,651	5,382	6,348	3,125	3,246	3,598	3,844	2,692	2,818	3,046	3,279	5,883	6,079	5,934	6,913
Median length of stay (months)	20.8	19.7	18.1	19.9	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	11.1	11.1	8.1	9.4	19.1	18.3	17.7	19.2

Age of Children in Foster Care (%)
	In Foster Care on 10/1 FY				Entered Foster Care in FY				Exited Foster Care in FY				In Foster Care on 9/30 FY
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Under 1 year	3.7	3.7	3.6	3.8	14.9	13.3	14.5	15.2	6.2	5.4	6.1	5.5	4.1	3.9	4.2	4.9
1 year	4.7	5.0	4.3	5.3	6.7	6.2	7.1	6.7	6.4	6.5	6.9	6.2	4.8	4.4	5.2	5.2
2 years	4.3	4.6	4.5	4.7	6.0	5.5	5.8	6.8	6.9	6.5	6.5	6.4	4.6	4.6	4.4	5.4
3 years	4.5	4.0	4.2	4.7	4.6	5.7	5.2	5.8	6.2	6.2	6.4	7.0	3.9	4.3	4.2	4.6
4 years	4.5	4.0	4.5	4.0	4.9	5.1	4.9	5.0	5.8	5.0	5.6	5.6	4.0	4.3	3.7	4.4
5 years	3.9	3.6	3.5	4.3	4.0	4.0	4.8	4.6	4.8	5.1	5.0	5.3	3.9	3.4	4.2	3.7
6 years	4.1	4.0	4.1	3.7	4.2	4.8	4.6	4.8	4.3	4.5	5.2	4.9	3.8	4.0	3.5	4.2
7 years	4.2	4.2	4.2	4.0	4.4	4.2	4.0	4.2	4.2	4.1	4.8	3.9	4.2	3.8	3.8	3.9
8 years	4.5	4.0	4.1	3.9	5.1	3.9	4.0	3.8	5.1	4.4	4.4	4.0	4.0	4.0	3.9	4.0
9 years	4.6	4.9	4.3	3.6	4.8	3.9	4.0	3.2	4.4	4.1	4.9	2.9	5.0	4.0	3.6	3.7
10 years	5.3	4.7	4.8	4.1	4.5	3.9	3.9	3.7	3.9	4.2	4.1	3.8	4.7	4.6	4.2	3.6
11 years	5.6	5.2	5.1	4.3	3.9	4.8	4.3	3.9	3.8	3.9	4.4	3.8	5.2	4.8	4.5	4.0
12 years	5.8	5.9	6.3	5.2	4.9	5.5	4.9	4.5	3.9	3.8	4.4	3.9	5.8	5.8	5.3	4.9
13 years	6.2	6.4	7.4	6.5	5.5	6.0	6.2	5.4	3.7	4.2	4.8	4.5	6.4	6.7	6.9	5.1
14 years	6.5	6.9	7.5	6.9	6.6	5.9	5.3	6.6	4.4	4.2	4.6	4.9	7.0	7.0	7.4	7.2
15 years	7.4	7.2	8.1	7.8	6.4	6.7	6.3	6.6	6.4	5.4	4.5	4.8	7.2	7.6	8.3	7.8
16 years	7.7	7.4	8.5	8.0	5.4	6.0	6.3	5.3	5.2	5.5	6.3	5.6	7.3	7.7	8.5	7.8
17 years	6.3	7.3	7.8	7.4	2.8	4.0	3.6	3.3	4.0	5.5	4.4	5.0	7.1	7.1	7.8	7.5
18 years	3.8	4.2	3.1	4.9	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.4	5.4	5.7	5.4	5.7	4.1	4.9	5.2	4.9
19 years	1.6	1.9	0.0	2.3	0.0	0.2	<.1	0.2	2.8	3.4	1.3	4.0	1.9	2.1	1.3	2.3
20+ years	0.8	0.9	0.0	0.6	0.0	<.1	0.0	<.1	1.6	1.9	0.0	1.8	0.8	1.0	0.0	1.0
Missing data	<.1	<.1	0.0	0.0	<.1	<.1	0.0	0.0	0.7	0.7	0.0	0.4	0.1	<.1	0.0	<.1

C. Characteristics of Children in Foster Care (Continued)

Race/Ethnicity of Children in Foster Care (%)
	In Foster Care on 10/1 FY				Entered Foster Care in FY				Exited Foster Care in FY				In Foster Care on 9/30 FY
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Alaska Native/American Indian	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.2	<.1	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	<.1	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2
Asian	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1	0.1	0.0	<.1	0.0	0.2	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1
Black (non-Hispanic)	51.6	51.0	50.2	48.1	41.3	41.9	41.2	40.0	42.6	42.9	42.2	42.3	50.3	49.9	48.8	46.4
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	<.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	<.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	<.1
Hispanic (of any race)	0.9	1.2	1.6	1.9	1.5	2.6	2.9	3.3	1.2	2.2	2.8	3.5	1.1	1.5	1.8	1.9
White (non-Hispanic)	46.4	46.8	47.3	48.4	56.3	54.5	53.9	55.4	55.2	54.0	53.7	52.8	47.7	47.6	48.0	50.2
Two or More Races	0.6	0.7	0.6	1.2	0.4	0.5	1.4	0.8	0.5	0.5	0.9	0.9	0.6	0.6	1.0	1.1
Unknown	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

D. Characteristics of Children "Waiting for Adoption"7 (AFCARS Foster Care File)

Children Waiting for Adoption
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Total waiting children	1,476	1,546	1,599	2,128
Number of waiting children whose parents' rights have been terminated	900	865	730	1,189

Age of Children Waiting for Adoption (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Under 1 year	3.7	3.6	5.7	5.5
1 year	5.3	4.3	6.8	7.0
2 years	5.7	6.3	5.4	7.0
3 years	5.1	5.0	6.1	6.3
4 years	4.9	5.4	5.1	6.5
5 years	6.6	5.5	5.8	5.0
6 years	5.2	6.1	5.1	6.4
7 years	6.1	5.1	5.8	6.2
8 years	6.4	6.1	5.5	5.8
9 years	6.8	6.0	5.3	5.1
10 years	6.5	6.6	5.6	5.3
11 years	7.4	6.2	6.1	5.4
12 years	7.6	7.2	5.1	5.2
13 years	6.1	8.2	6.4	4.3
14 years	5.8	5.8	6.8	5.4
15 years	4.0	5.3	5.3	5.5
16 years	3.8	3.8	4.5	4.3
17 years	2.9	3.4	3.5	3.8
18 years	--	--	--	--
19 years	--	--	--	--
20+ years	--	--	--	--

7 There is no Federal definition for a child waiting to be adopted. The definition used in the table above includes children who have a goal of adoption and/or whose parental rights have been terminated. It excludes children 16 years old and older whose parental rights have been terminated and who have a goal of emancipation. A State's own definition may differ from that used here. Furthermore, some numbers in this table may be lower than the numbers reported in the Child Welfare Outcomes reports. Only children with terminations prior to the end of the fiscal year of interest are included in the current table. Back

D. Characteristics of Children "Waiting for Adoption" (Continued)

Race/Ethnicity of Children Waiting for Adoption (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Alaska Native/American Indian	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1
Asian	0.0	0.0	<.1	<.1
Black (non-Hispanic)	49.6	48.3	47.5	43.8
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Hispanic (of any race)	1.2	1.2	1.4	1.9
White (non-Hispanic)	48.4	49.3	49.3	52.1
Two or More Races	0.5	0.6	1.5	1.9
Unknown	0.3	0.5	0.1	<.1
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

E. Characteristics of Children Adopted (AFCARS Adoption File)

Children Adopted
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Total children adopted	249	329	398	336

Age of Children Adopted (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Under 1 year	0.8	1.2	2.0	0.3
1 year	5.6	8.2	6.8	5.4
2 years	10.4	9.7	7.0	8.3
3 years	12.9	12.5	11.6	15.2
4 years	12.4	8.5	8.3	11.6
5 years	6.4	5.5	7.5	8.3
6 years	8.4	8.8	7.3	6.8
7 years	4.4	7.3	9.0	4.8
8 years	6.0	8.5	6.3	6.3
9 years	8.0	5.5	6.5	5.1
10 years	6.0	5.5	5.8	4.2
11 years	6.8	3.6	5.8	4.8
12 years	2.8	4.9	5.5	5.1
13 years	2.0	3.0	4.5	5.1
14 years	1.6	2.7	2.5	2.4
15 years	2.0	1.8	2.0	2.4
16 years	1.2	1.5	1.3	2.4
17 years	1.6	0.9	0.3	1.5
18 years	0.4	0.3	0.0	0.3
19 years	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
20+ years	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Race/Ethnicity of Children Adopted (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Alaska Native/American Indian	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Asian	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Black (non-Hispanic)	40.6	45.6	35.4	34.5
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Hispanic (of any race)	0.4	1.5	1.8	1.5
White (non-Hispanic)	56.2	51.4	61.8	61.3
Two or More Races	2.4	1.5	0.8	2.7
Unknown	0.4	0.0	0.3	0.0
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Alabama [Outcomes Data]

1. Reduce Recurrence of Child Abuse and/or Neglect (NCANDS)

1.1 Recurrence of Maltreatment Within 6 Months (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Children without a recurrence	--	--	--	98.1
Children with one or more recurrences	--	--	--	1.9
Number	--	--	--	4,012

2. Reduce the Incidence of Child Abuse and/or Neglect in Foster Care (NCANDS and AFCARS Foster Care File8)

2.1 Maltreatment in Foster Care (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Children maltreated while in foster care	N/A	--	--	0.14
Children not maltreated while in foster care	N/A	--	--	99.86
Number	N/A	--	--	10,192

8 For the years 2003, 2004, and 2005, the denominator for this measure includes all children served in foster care during the 12-month fiscal year. In 2002, only children served in the first 9 months of the calendar year were included in the denominator because of differences in the NCANDS and AFCARS reporting periods. Therefore, the data for 2002 are not provided for this measure. Back

3. Increase Permanency for Children in Foster Care (AFCARS Foster Care File)

3.1 Exits of Children From Foster Care (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	9.2	11.7	13.0	10.2
Guardianship	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Reunification	77.1	75.7	79.9	79.0
Other	8.2	12.1	7.1	10.8
Missing data	5.5	0.6	0.0	0.0
Number	2,692	2,818	3,046	3,279

3.2 Exits of Children With a Diagnosed Disability (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	13.0	14.8	17.4	20.7
Guardianship	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Reunification	53.0	59.6	68.6	56.2
Other	24.7	24.8	14.0	23.2
Missing data	9.3	0.7	0.0	0.0
Number	215	270	236	276

3.3 Exits of Children Older Than Age 12 at Entry Into Foster Care (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	0.3	0.3	0.0	0.7
Guardianship	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Reunification	72.2	75.1	83.8	77.0
Other	16.7	23.5	16.2	22.3
Missing data	10.8	1.2	0.0	0.0
Number	665	758	742	915

3.4 Exits to Emancipation (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Children age 12 or younger at entry	52.2	47.5	50.8	43.9
Children older than 12 at entry	47.8	52.5	49.2	56.1
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	115	177	61	189

3. Increase Permanency for Children in Foster Care (Continued)

3.5 Exits by Race/ethnicity (%)
	Alaska Native/Am. In.				Asian				Black (non-Hispanic)
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	8.8	12.4	11.0	8.4
Guardianship	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Reunification	100.0	100.0	66.7	100.0	50.0	0.0	60.0	0.0	73.6	71.5	81.7	77.4
Other	0.0	0.0	33.3	0.0	50.0	0.0	40.0	100.0	10.9	15.1	7.3	14.3
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	6.6	0.9	0.0	0.0
Number	3	3	3	4	2	0	5	1	1,146	1,208	1,284	1,388

3.5 Exits by Race/ethnicity (%)
	Native Hawaiian/Other Pac. Is.				Hispanic (of any race)				White (non-Hispanic)
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.1	7.9	7.1	4.3	9.3	11.1	15.0	11.8
Guardianship	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Reunification	0.0	0.0	0.0	100.0	62.5	77.8	85.7	81.7	80.3	79.1	78.3	80.3
Other	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	31.3	14.3	7.1	13.9	5.8	9.5	6.8	7.9
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	4.6	0.3	0.0	0.0
Number	0	0	0	2	32	63	84	115	1,487	1,523	1,637	1,732

3.5 Exits by Race/ethnicity (%)
	Unable to Determine				Two or More Races				Missing Data
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Adoption	12.5	0.0	16.7	0.0	42.9	33.3	11.1	29.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Guardianship	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Reunification	75.0	50.0	83.3	100.0	57.1	60.0	85.2	67.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Other	0.0	50.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	6.7	3.7	3.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Missing data	12.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	8	6	6	6	14	15	27	31	0	0	0	0

4. Reduce Time to Reunification Without Increasing Reentry (AFCARS Foster Care File)

4.1 Time to Reunification (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Less than 12 mos.	61.4	64.4	68.5	67.1
At least 12 mos., but less than 24 mos.	20.9	20.3	19.0	18.4
At least 24 mos., but less than 36 mos.	7.5	6.8	7.2	7.7
At least 36 mos., but less than 48 mos.	3.8	3.5	2.1	3.1
48 or more mos.	6.4	5.0	3.2	3.6
Missing data	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0
Number	2,076	2,132	2,435	2,591

4.2 Children Reentering Foster Care (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Children entering care for the first time	82.3	81.8	81.7	80.6
Children reentering care within 12 mos. of a prior episode	8.6	8.7	9.9	9.4
Children reentering care more than 12 mos. after a prior episode	9.0	9.1	7.9	9.2
Missing data	0.2	0.4	0.5	0.8
Number	3,125	3,246	3,598	3,844

5. Reduce Time in Foster Care to Adoption (AFCARS Foster Care File)

5.1 Time to Adoption (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Less than 12 mos.	2.4	1.8	2.5	0.9
At least 12 mos., but less than 24 mos.	11.3	13.4	13.1	16.7
At least 24 mos., but less than 36 mos.	24.3	21.3	21.0	19.1
At least 36 mos., but less than 48 mos.	17.4	21.6	28.8	26.0
48 or more mos.	44.5	41.9	34.6	37.3
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	247	329	396	335

6. Increase Placement Stability (AFCARS Foster Care File)

6.1 Number of Placements by Time in Care (%)
	In Care Less Than 12 Months				In Care at Least 12 months but Less Than 24 months				In Care for 24 Months or Longer				Missing Time in Care
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005	2002	2003	2004	2005
Children with 2 or fewer placements	92.2	92.6	89.3	89.1	79.8	75.7	73.1	72.4	53.5	51.9	51.0	50.0	100.0	100.0	95.5	87.5
Children with 3 or more placements	7.8	7.4	10.7	10.9	20.2	24.3	26.9	27.6	46.5	48.1	49.0	50.0	0.0	0.0	4.5	12.5
Number	3,617	3,726	4,081	4,412	1,589	1,787	1,725	1,907	3,365	3,369	3,152	3,865	4	15	22	8

7. Reduce Placement of Young Children in Group Homes or Institutions (AFCARS Foster Care File)

7.1 Most Recent Placement Settings of Children Who Entered Care During the Fiscal Year and Were Age 12 or Younger at the Time of This Placement (%)
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Group homes	3.2	2.3	1.4	1.1
Institutions	4.3	4.2	3.2	2.6
Other settings	92.4	92.5	94.1	93.7
Missing data	0.1	0.9	1.3	2.5
Number	1,731	1,707	1,783	1,935

Composite and Individual Measures Established for the Federal Child and Family Services Reviews9

Composite One: Timeliness and Permanency of Reunification
	2004	2005
Composite Score	--	120.0
C1.1: Percent of reunifications that occur in less than 12 months (with adjustments)	66.3	65.5
C1.2: Median length of stay in months of children exiting to reunification (with adjustments)	7.0	7.6
C1.3: Percent of children in entry cohort who are reunified in less than 12 months (with adjustments)	48.2	48.8
C1.4: Percent of children reentering foster care in less than 12 months	7.8	10.6

Composite Two: Timeliness of Adoptions
	2004	2005
Composite Score	--	56.5
C2.1: Percent of adoptions occurring in less than 24 months	15.7	17.7
C2.2: Median length of stay in months of children who are adopted	41.5	41.4
C2.3: Percent of children in foster care for 17+ months on first day of fiscal year who are adopted by the end of the year	14.6	10.6
C2.4: Percent of children in foster care for 17+ months on first day of fiscal year who are not legally free for adoption who become legally free within 6 months	4.6	9.1
C2.5: Percent of children legally free for adoption who are adopted in less than 12 months of becoming legally free	32.5	31.4

Composite Three: Achieving Permanency for Children in Foster Care for Long Periods of Time
	2004	2005
Composite Score	--	106.6
C3.1: Percent of children in foster care for 24+ months on the first day of fiscal year who exit to permanency by age 18 or by the end of the fiscal year	20.8	17.8
C3.2: Percent of children who are legally free for adoption who exit to a permanent home	97.5	97.1
C3.3: Percent of children emancipated or reaching age 18 who were in foster care for at least 3 years	49.1	50.8

Composite Four: Placement Stability While in Foster Care
	2004	2005
Composite Score	--	109.5
C4.1: Percent of children in care for less than 12 months with 2 or fewer placement settings	87.4	87.5
C4.2: Percent of children in care for 12 to 24 months with 2 or fewer placement settings	73.4	72.6
C4.3: Percent of children in care for at least 24 months with 2 or fewer placement settings	51.9	51.4

9 State composite scores for 2004 are not provided because that year's data served as the source data for the establishment of the national standards. Composite scores are not used for performance assessment purposes until 2005; therefore, only 2005 composite scores are provided. Individual measure performance is shown under each composite unless the State did not provide the data necessary to calculate those measures. Back

Alabama [State Comment]

Paul J. Butler, Director
Family Services Division
Alabama Department of Human Resources

The following are Alabama's comments on the State data presented in Child Welfare Outcomes 2002-2005: Report to Congress.

Section B: The increase in the percentage of children for whom age and race/ethnicity is missing is due to our current SACWIS not requiring data in these fields. We are currently in the process of changing systems, therefore this problem should be eliminated in the near future.

Section C and Outcome Measure 3.4: The number of children age 18 or older discharged to emancipation may appear to be low due to a large number of children in this age group exiting to reunification.

Section D: Of the children awaiting adoption, approximately only half were reported as having a termination of parental rights for both parents. State definitions counts children in this category as soon as the case plan of adoption is established, not necessarily when termination has been achieved.

Outcome Measure 1.1: Recurrence of maltreatment within 6 months is at 1.9 percent, which is 4.7 percent below the national median of 6.6 percent.

Outcome Measure 3.1: The percentage of children exiting to a permanent home is at 89.2 percent, which is 1.7 percent above the national median of 87.5 percent.

Outcome Measure 3.2: The percent of children exiting foster care who had a diagnosed disability who exited foster care to a permanent home increased by 10.9 percent from 2002 to 2005 to 76.9 percent.

Outcome Measure 3.3: The percent of children exiting foster care who were older than age 12 at the time of entry into foster care who exited to a permanent home is at 77.7 percent, which is 4.7 percent above the national median of 73.0 percent.

Outcome Measure 3.4: The percent of children emancipating who were ages 12 or younger at entry improved by 6.9 percent from 2004 to 2005 to 43.9 percent.

Outcome Measure 4.1: The percentage of reunifications occurring within 12 months of a child's entry into foster care increased by 5.7 percent from 2002 to 2005 to 67.3 percent.

Outcome Measure 5.1: The percentage of adoptions occurring within 24 months of a child's entry into foster care increased by 3.9 percent from 2002 to 2005 to 17.6 percent.

Outcome Measure 6.1: The percentage of children experiencing two or fewer placements who were in foster care for less than 12 months is 89.1 percent, which is 5.9 percent above the national median of 83.2 percent.

Outcome Measure 7.1: The percentage of children entering foster care at age 12 and younger who were placed in a group home or institution is 3.7 percent, which is below the national median of 7.2 percent.

Alabama [Federal Comment]

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

Alabama's performance in achieving outcomes related to the safety and permanency of children served by the child welfare system is discussed below. The discussion focuses on performance in 2005 and change in performance over time, which is determined by calculating the percent change from a prior year to 2005. The prior year selected varies depending on the availability and reliability of data. A percent change that is less than 5.0 (either positive or negative) is considered to represent "no change."

The discussion incorporates information about performance on the seven outcomes that have been part of the Report to Congress since its inception. In general, data are provided for these outcomes from 2002 to 2005 and their measures are identified using the labels provided in the data pages (e.g., measure 1.1, 2.1, etc.). The discussion also incorporates information about performance on measures included in four composite data indicators recently developed for the Federal Child and Family Services Reviews. (See appendix B for a discussion of these measures.) The composites and measures are presented on the last page of the data pages and are identified below using the labels provided on the data page (e.g., measure C1.2, C1.3, etc.). Data are available for these outcome measures for 2004 and 2005 only.

Outcomes Pertaining to Safety

In 2005, 1.9 percent of the children who were victims of child maltreatment in the first 6 months of the fiscal year experienced another maltreatment incident within a 6-month period (measure 1.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 6.6 percent.
In 2005, 0.14 percent of children in foster care in Alabama were found to be victims of maltreatment by foster parents or facility staff members (measure 2.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 0.42 percent.

Outcomes Pertaining to Permanency

Performance with regard to exits from foster care to a permanent home (i.e., children discharged from foster care to adoption, guardianship, or reunification).

In 2005, 89.2 percent of all children exiting foster care (measure 3.1), 76.9 percent of children exiting foster care who had a diagnosed disability (measure 3.2), and 77.9 percent of children exiting foster care who were older than age 12 when they entered foster care (measure 3.3) were discharged to a permanent home. All percentages are about equal to or exceed the national median for each measure (medians for measures 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3 are 87.8 percent, 79 percent, and 73.1 percent, respectively).
In 2005, 17.8 percent of children in foster care for 24 months or longer on the first day of the fiscal year were discharged to a permanent home by the end of the fiscal year and prior to their 18th birthday (measure C3.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 26.4 percent and represents a decline in performance from 2004 (14.4 percent change).
In 2005, 97.1 percent of the children exiting foster care whose parents' rights had been terminated were discharged to a permanent home (measure C3.2). This percentage exceeds the national median of 95.7 percent.

Performance with regard to children remaining in foster care until emancipated.

In 2005, 5.8 percent of the children who exited foster care had a discharge reason of "emancipation," and 43.9 percent of these children were age 12 or younger when they entered foster care (measure 3.4). This latter percentage exceeds the national median of 27.6 percent, but represents improvement in performance from 2002 (15.9 percent change).
In 2005, 50.8 percent of the children who exited foster care with a discharge reason of emancipation had been in foster care for 3 years or longer (measure C3.3). This percentage exceeds the national median of 48.1 percent.

Performance with regard to the timeliness and permanency of reunifications.

In 2005, 65.5 percent of reunifications of children who were in foster care for 8 days or longer occurred in less than 12 months from the time of the child's entry into foster care (measure C1.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 70.4 percent for this measure.
Measure C1.3 indicates that 48.8 percent of all children entering foster care in the last 6 months of 2005 were reunified in less than 12 months from the time of entry into foster care. This percentage exceeds the national median of 38.7 percent.
Measure C1.4 indicates that 10.6 percent of children exiting foster care to reunification in 2005 reentered foster care in less than 12 months. This percentage is less than the national median of 14.8 percent, but represents a decline in performance from 2004 (35.9 percent change). Because measure C1.4 is a longitudinal measure of foster care reentry, it is replacing measure 4.2 as an assessment of foster care reentry.

Performance with regard to the timeliness of adoptions.

In 2005, 17.6 percent of the finalized adoptions occurred in less than 24 months from the child's entry into foster care (measures 5.1 and C2.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 29.1 percent, but represents an improvement in performance from 2002 (28.5 percent change).
In 2005, 10.6 percent of the children in foster care for 17 months or longer at the start of the fiscal year who did not exit to reunification or guardianship were discharged from foster care to a finalized adoption by the end of the year (measure C2.3). This percentage is less than the national median of 20.9 percent and represents a decline in performance from 2004 (27.4 percent change).
Measure C2.5 indicates that 31.4 percent of children who became legally free for adoption in 2005 (i.e., there was a termination of parental rights date reported for mother and father) were adopted in less than 12 months of becoming legally free. This percentage is less than the national median of 45.1 percent.

Outcomes Pertaining to the Stability and Appropriateness of Placements

In 2005, 87.5 percent of the children in foster care for at least 8 days but less than 12 months had two or fewer placement settings (measure C4.1). This percentage exceeds the national median of 82.4 percent.
In 2005, 51.4 percent of children in foster care for 24 months or longer experienced two or fewer placement settings. This percentage exceeds the national median of 32.3 percent.
In 2005, 3.7 percent of the children entering foster care at age 12 or younger were placed in a group home or institution (measure 7.1). This percentage is less than the national median of 7.2 percent and represents an improvement in performance from 2002 (50.7 percent change).