Home > Statistics & Research > Child Welfare Outcomes 1998: Appendices

Additional National Statistics

The AFCARS Report: Interim Estimates
for Fiscal Year 1998, as of April 2000

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families,
Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau, www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb

The AFCARS Report

---

Interim estimates for Fiscal Year 1998--April 2000 (3)

How many children were in foster care on September 30, 1998?   560,000

SOURCE: Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data submitted for federal fiscal year (FY) 1998. FY 1998 ran from 10/1/97 through 9/30/98

NOTES: The foster care data used for this report come from the AFCARS annual foster care database for federal fiscal year (FY) 1998 (10/1/97 through 9/30/98). This database includes all children who have experienced foster care in 41 jurisdictions, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, during FY 1998 and whose information was reported prior April 1, 2000. The data have been de-duplicated so that children who experienced more than one foster care episode during FY 1998 only appear once in the database, their last episode. For national estimation purposes, if a State's data is not included in this database, the total number of children in foster care from the most recent submission to AFCARS was used to develop national estimates. Because of the use of different estimation procedures and file construction techniques, and improvement in AFCARS reporting,the data in this report, (number 3), should not be compared to data in earlier reports (numbers 1 and 2). Some percentages do not add up to 100% and/or the estimated numbers do not add up to the total number in the category due to rounding.

What were the ages of the children in foster care?					What were the placement settings of children in foster care?
Mean Yrs		9.6			Pre-Adoptive Home		3%	15,489
Median Yrs		9.5			Foster Family Home (Relative)		29%	161,179
					Foster Family Home (Non-Relative)		48%	268,225
Under 1 Yr		4%	22,064		Group Home		8%	42,412
1 thru 5 Yrs		26%	147,258		Institution		8%	46,532
6 thru 10 Yrs		27%	153,218		Supervised Independent Living		1%	3,731
11 thru 15 Yrs		27%	152,690		Runaway		1%	5,202
16 thru 18 Yrs		14%	76,784		Trial Home Visit		3%	17,231
19+ Yrs		1%	7,886

What were the lengths of stay for the children in foster care?					What were the case goals of children in foster care?
Mean Months		33			Reunify with Parent(s) or Principal Caretaker(s)		40%	221,839
Median Months		21			Live with Other Relative(s)		3%	19,561
					Adoption		20%	109,638
< 1 Month		4%	20,806		Guardianship		7%	37,161
1 to 5 Mos		15%	85,328		Long Term Foster Care		5%	30,246
6 to 11 Mos		15%	86,490		Emancipation		3%	14,657
12 to 17 Mos		11%	62,568		Case Plan Goal Not Yet Established		23%	126,899
18 to 23 Mos		9%	48,056
24 to 29 Mos		7%	40,514
30 to 35 Mos		5%	30,496
3 to 4 Yrs		16%	88,183
5 Yrs or More		18%	99,359

What was the race/ethnicity of the children in foster care?					What was the gender of the children in foster care?
White		34%	192,426		Male		52%	289,185
Black		44%	244,356		Female		48%	270,815
Hispanic		15%	85,889
American Indian/Alaskan Native		2%	8,832
Asian/Pacific Islander		1%	6,125
Unknown/Unable to Determine		4%	22,373
NOTE: Using U.S. Bureau of the Census standards, children of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

How many children entered foster care during the Fiscal Year 1998?  286,000

What were the ages of the children who entered care during Fiscal Year 1998?					What was the race/ethnicity of the children who entered care during Fiscal Year 1998?
Mean Yrs	8.6				White		45%	128,435
Median Yrs	8.5				Black		30%	86,469
					Hispanic		16%	46,160
Under 1 Yr		13%	37,574		American Indian/Alaskan Native		2%	6,698
1 thru 5 Yrs		25%	72,740		Asian/Pacific Islander		2%	4,957
6 thru 10 Yrs		22%	61,981		Unknown/Unable to Determine		5%	13,081
11 thru 15 Yrs		29%	82,440
16 thru 18 Yrs		11%	31,013		NOTE: Using U.S. Bureau of the Census standards, children of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
19+ Yrs		0%	252

How many children exited foster care during the Fiscal Year 1998?  248,000

What were the ages of the children who exited care during Fiscal Year 1998?					What was the race/ethnicity of the children who exited care during Fiscal Year 1998?
Mean Yrs	10.2				White		44%	108,692
Median Yrs	10.3				Black		33%	81,428
					Hispanic		15%	37,183
Under 1 Yr		4%	9,942		American Indian/Alaskan Native		2%	5,797
1 thru 5 Yrs		26%	64,610		Asian/Pacific Islander		2%	4,288
6 thru 10 Yrs		23%	56,352		Unknown/Unable to Determine		4%	10,612
11 thru 15 Yrs		24%	60,503
16 thru 18 Yrs		20%	50,442		NOTE: Using U.S. Bureau of the Census standards, children of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
19+ Yrs		2%	6,151

What were the lengths of stay for the children who exited foster care during Fiscal Year 1998?					What were the outcomes for the children exiting foster care during Fiscal Year 1998?
Mean Months	22				Reunification		62%	154,150
Median Months	11				Live with Other Relative(s)		9%	23,548
					Adoption		14%	34,203
< 1 Month		21%	52,873		Emancipation		7%	16,384
1 to 5 Mos		17%	43,327		Guardianship		2%	5,836
6 to 11 Mos		14%	34,250		Transfer to Another Agency		3%	6,943
12 to 17 Mos		10%	25,492		Runaway		3%	6,356
18 to 23 Mos		7%	17,793		Death of Child		0%	581
24 to 29 Mos		5%	12,668
30 to 35 Mos		4%	10,146		NOTE: Deaths are attributable to a variety of cases including medical conditions, accidents and homicide.
3 to 4 Yrs		11%	26,066
5 Yrs or More		10%	25,386

How many children are waiting to be adopted?   122,000 NOTES: Waiting children are identified as children who have a goal of adoption and/or whose parental rights have been terminated. Children 16 years old and older with a goal of emancipation have been excluded from the estimate.

What is the gender distribution of the waiting children?					What is the race/ethnicity distribution of the waiting children?
Male		52%	63,468		White		29%	35,299
Female		48%	58,532		Black		53%	64,717
					Hispanic		11%	13,095
					American Indian/Alaskan Native		1%	1,459
					Asian/Pacific Islander		1%	834
					Unknown/Unable to Determine		5%	6,597
					NOTE: Using U.S. Bureau of the Census standards, children of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

How old were the waiting children when they were removed from their parents or caretakers?					How old were the waiting children on September 30, 1998?
Mean Yrs	4.0				Mean Yrs	7.9
Median Yrs	3.1				Median Yrs	7.6
less than 1 Yr		30%	37,050		less than 1 Yr		3%	3,489
1-5 Yrs		42%	50,778		1-5 Yrs		35%	42,565
6-10 Yrs		22%	27,137		6-10 Yrs		37%	44,747
11-15 Yrs		6%	6,780		11-15 Yrs		22%	27,380
16-18 Yrs		0%	255		16-18 Yrs		3%	3,818

How many months have the waiting children been in continuous foster care?					Where were the waiting children living on September 30, 1998?
Mean Mos		46			Pre-Adoptive Home		11%	13,539
Median Mos		39			Foster Family Home (Relative)		24%	28,925
					Foster Family Home (Non-Relative)		57%	70,054
less than 1 month		1%	790		Group Home		3%	3,546
1 through 5 mos		4%	4,920		Institution		4%	3,647
6 through 11 mos		7%	8,074		Supervised Independent Living		0%	73
12 through 17 mos		8%	9,996		Runaway		0%	366
18 through 23 mos		9%	11,141		Trial Home Visit		1%	729
24 through 29 mos		10%	11,714
30 through 35 mos		8%	9,651
36 through 59 mos		27%	32,548
60 or more mos		27%	33,165

How many children in foster care had their parental rights terminated for all living parents?  52,000

As of September 30, 1998, how many months had elapsed since the parental rights of these foster children were terminated?

	Mean Mos	23
	Median Mos	14

How many children were adopted from the public foster care system in FY1998?  36,000 SOURCE: Adoptions finalized in federal fiscal year reported to AFCARS prior to November 14, 1999. NOTES: The number of jurisdictions reporting useable data was 49 including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. An estimate of finalized adoptions for these states which did not report useable data was developed from their contribution to the total number of adoptions in FY 1997. The total figure differs from figures reported for the Adoption Incentive Program because reported adoptions for that program had to meet more restrictive criteria. The federal fiscal year runs from October 1, 1997 through September 30, 1998. Some percentages do not add up to 100% and/or the estimated numbers do not add up to the total number in the category due to rounding.

What is the gender distribution of the children adopted from the public foster care system?					What is the race/ethnicity distribution of the children adopted from the public foster care system?
Male		51%	18,251		White Non-Hispanic		38%	13,824
Female		49%	17,749		Black Non-Hispanic		46%	16,423
					Hispanic		13%	4,800
					American Indian/Alaskan Native		1%	483
					Asian/Pacific Islander		1%	470
					NOTE: Using U.S. Bureau of the Census standards, children of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

How old were the children when they were adopted from the public foster care system?					How many months did it take after termination of parental rights for the children to be adopted?
Mean Yrs	6.9				Mean Mos	17
Median Yrs	6.3				Median Mos	13
under 1 Yr		2%	577		< 1 mos		3%	956
1-5 Yrs		46%	16,387		1-5 mos		16%	5,636
6-10 Yrs		37%	13,177		6-11 mos		30%	10,629
11-15 Yrs		14%	5,145		12-17 mos		20%	7,125
16-18 Yrs		2%	714		18-23 mos		12%	4,248
					24-29 mos		7%	2,526
					30-35 mos		4%	1,510
					3-4 yrs		7%	2,474
					5+ yrs		2%	896

What proportion of the children adopted from the public foster care system are receiving an adoption subsidy?					What was the relationship of the adoptive parents to the child in the public foster care system prior to the adoption?
Receiving subsidy		86%	31,115		Non-relative		20%	7,031
Not receiving subsidy		14%	4,885		Foster parent (unrelated)		65%	23,452
					Step-parent		0%	66
					Other relative		15%	5,451
Adoptive Family Structure
					NOTE: Relatives who were also foster parents were counted as relatives.
Married Couple		66%	23,763
Unmarried Couple		1%	447
Single Female		31%	11,145
Single Male		2%	645

Return to Table of Contents