General Population	1998	1999
Total children under 18 years	653,721	660,224
Race/ethnicity (%)
Alaska Native/American Indian	0.6	0.6
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.8	0.8
Black	21.2	21.1
Hispanic	3.0	3.2
White	74.5	74.3
% Child population in poverty	27.4	18.5
% Child population living in metropolitan areas	49.1	45.4

 

Child Welfare	1998	1999
Child maltreatment victims	8,578	7,564
Children in foster care on 9/30	3,138	2,919
Children adopted	258	318

 

B. Child Maltreatment Data (NCANDS SDC, 1998 & 1999)

	Number		Rate
Maltreatment Information Overview	1998	1999	1998	1999
Children subject of an investigated report alleging child maltreatment	29,572	23,970	45.2 per 1,000	36.3 per 1,000
Child maltreatment victims1	8,578	7,564	13.1 per 1,000	11.5 per 1,000
Child fatalities	5	9	0.8 per 100,000	1.4 per 100,000

Age of Child Victims (%)	1998	1999
Under 1 year	3.2	2.8
1-5 years	28.0	27.4
6-10 years	31.3	29.8
11-15 years	26.5	29.0
16+ years	8.9	10.3
Unknown	2.0	0.7
Total %	100.0	100.0
Number	8,578	7,564

 

Race/Ethnicity of Child Victims (%)	1998	1999
Alaska Native/American Indian	0.5	0.2
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.1	0.1
Black	27.2	19.1
Hispanic	2.3	2.3
White	67.0	56.6
Other	2.5	2.3
Unknown	0.4	21.6
Total %2	100.0	102.3
Number	8,578	7,564

 

Maltreatment Type of Child Victims (%)	1998	1999
Emotional abuse	1.0	0.6
Medical neglect	4.5	4.8
Neglect	67.2	68.9
Physical abuse	27.5	27.2
Sexual abuse	27.2	37.0
Other	-	-
Unknown	-	-
Total %3	127.4	138.5
Number	8,578	7,564

1) Children with more than one report of substantiated or indicated maltreatment may be counted more than once. Back
2) Percentages may total more than 100 percent because Hispanics may be counted both by Hispanic ethnicity and by race. Back
3) Percentages may total more than 100 percent because children could have been victims of more than one type of maltreatment. Back

C. Children in Foster Care
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database, FY 1998 & FY 1999)

Number of Children	In Care on 10/1	Entered Care	Exited Care	In Care on 9/30	Total Served
FY1998 (10/1/97-9/30/98)	2,490	2,737	2,094	3,138	5,227
FY1999 (10/1/98-9/30/99)	2,589	2,489	2,160	2,919	5,078
Median Length of Stay (Months)	<	<	<	<	<
FY1998 (10/1/97-9/30/98)	11.3	N/A	3.8	12.2	N/A
FY1999 (10/1/98-9/30/99)	15.2	N/A	5.5	12.5	N/A

 

Age of Children in Foster Care (%)	In Care on 10/1/97	In Care on 10/1/98	Entered Care During FY 1998	Entered Care During FY 1999	Exited Care During FY 1998	Exited Care During FY 1999	In Care on 9/30/98	In Care on 9/30/99
Under 1 year	4.6	3.8	9.6	9.3	5.1	4.0	4.2	3.8
1-5 years	23.0	23.0	24.4	25.8	27.6	26.9	22.5	23.4
6-10 years	21.5	23.9	23.9	23.2	20.7	23.8	23.6	22.4
11-15 years	30.1	29.4	32.1	31.5	25.1	24.3	30.5	31.1
16-18 years	19.8	18.6	9.9	10.2	20.4	19.3	17.8	18.1
19+ years	0.7	1.2	-	0.0	0.8	1.6	1.1	1.0
Missing	0.3	0.1	0.1	-	0.3	0.1	0.3	0.2
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	2,490	2,589	2,737	2,489	2,094	2,160	3,138	2,919

 

Race/Ethnicity of Children in Foster Care (%)	In Care on 10/1/97	In Care on 10/1/98	Entered Care During FY 1998	Entered Care During FY 1999	Exited Care During FY 1998	Exited Care During FY 1999	In Care on 9/30/98	In Care on 9/30/99
Alaska Native/American Indian	0.6	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.8	0.5	0.4	0.3
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.1	0.2
Black	41.7	41.6	31.7	31.9	29.6	29.9	40.9	42.1
Hispanic	1.3	1.6	2.2	2.6	2.2	2.3	1.5	1.9
White	55.6	55.2	61.8	61.5	63.9	64.4	55.5	53.8
Unknown	0.6	0.9	3.7	2.9	3.2	2.5	1.6	1.5
Not applicable	-	0.1	-	0.3	-	0.1	-	0.3
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	2,490	2,589	2,737	2,489	2,094	2,160	3,138	2,919

 

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Overview	9/30/98	9/30/99
Children waiting to be adopted	335	867
Children whose parents' rights have been terminated (TPR)	37	287

 

Age of Waiting Children (%)	1998	1999
Under 1 year	4.5	4.6
1-5 years	30.4	36.1
6-10 years	33.1	31.4
11-15 years	30.1	26.0
16+ years	1.8	1.8
Unknown	-	0.1
Total %	100	100.0
Number	335	867

 

Race/Ethnicity of Waiting Children (%)	1998	1999
Alaska Native/American Indian	-	0.1
Asian/Pacific Islander	-	0.1
Black	42.7	41.6
Hispanic	0.3	1.8
White	55.2	54.8
Unknown	1.8	1.3
Not applicable	-	0.2
Total %	100.0	100.0
Number	335	867

 

E. Children Adopted
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database, FY 1998 & 1999)

 

Age of Adopted Children (%)	1998	1999
Under 1 year	3.1	3.5
1-5 years	38.4	41.2
6-10 years	38.8	30.8
11-15 years	17.1	20.4
16+ years	2.7	4.1
Unknown	-	-
Total %	100.0	100.0
Number	258	318

 

Race/Ethnicity of Adopted Children (%)	1998	1999
Alaska Native/American Indian	1.2	0.3
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.4	0.3
Black	22.1	40.3
Hispanic	2.3	1.6
White	73.6	53.1
Unknown	0.4	4.4
Not applicable	-	-
Total %	100.0	100.0
Number	258	318

 

 

Arkansas [ Outcomes Data ]

 

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1. Reduce Recurrence of Child Abuse and/or Neglect
(NCANDS, DCDC 1998 & 1999)

1.1 Recurrence of Maltreatment Within 6 Months (%)	1998	1999
Children without a recurrence	-	95.5
Children with one or more recurrences	-	4.5
Total %	-	100.0
Number	-	3,662

2. Reduce the Incidence of Child Abuse and/or Neglect in Foster Care
(NCANDS, DCDC Jan —Sept, AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database Jan —Sept 1998 & 1999)

2.1 Maltreatment in Foster Care (%)	1998	1999
Children maltreated while in Foster Care	-	0.3
Children not maltreated while in Foster Care	-	99.7
Total %	-	100.0
Number	-	4,530

 

3. Increase Permanency for Children in Foster Care
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database FY 1998 & FY 1999)

3.1 Exits from Foster Care (%)	1998	1999
Adoption	1.8	11.4
Guardianship	-	-
Reunification	61.9	49.0
Other	7.5	4.4
Missing	28.7	35.1
Total %	100.0	100.0
Number	2,094	2,160

 

3.2 Exits of Disabled Children (%)	1998	1999
Adoption	4.2	16.5
Guardianship	-	-
Reunification	63.9	44.6
Other	9.6	4.7
Missing	22.3	34.2
Total %	100.0	100.0
Number	166	278

 

3.3 Exits of Children Over Age 12 at Entry (%)	1998	1999
Adoption	0.1	1.3
Guardianship	-	-
Reunification	45.5	40.1
Other	18.3	11.9
Missing	36.1	46.7
Total %	100.0	100.0
Number	743	673

 

3.4 Exits to Emancipation (%)	1998	1999
Children age 12 or younger at entry	10.2	9.4
Children older than 12 at entry	89.8	90.6
Missing	-	-
Total %	100.0	100.0
Number	49	32

 

3.5 Exits by Race/Ethnicity (%)	Alaska Native/A.I.		Asian/P.I.		Black		Hispanic
	1998	1999	1998	1999	1998	1999	1998	1999
Adoption	18.8	9.1	-	14.3	1.5	15.7	-	4.0
Guardianship	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Reunification	62.5	36.4	100.0	28.6	61.5	48.4	63.0	66.0
Other	6.3	9.1	-	-	5.3	3.7	4.3	2.0
Missing	12.5	45.5	-	57.1	31.8	32.2	32.6	28.0
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	16	11	7	7	620	645	46	50
	White		Unable to Determine		Not Applicable		Missing
	1998	1999	1998	1999	1998	1999	1998	1999
Adoption	1.9	9.8	-	15.4	N/A	-	-	-
Guardianship	-	-	-	-	N/A	-	-	-
Reunification	61.6	48.8	80.6	34.6	N/A	100.0	54.8	66.7
Other	8.9	4.9	5.6	3.8	N/A	-	3.2	3.7
Missing	27.6	36.5	13.9	46.2	N/A	-	41.9	29.6
Total %	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	N/A	100.0	100.0	100.0
Number	1,338	1,392	36	26	N/A	2	31	27

 

4. Reduce Time to Reunification Without Increasing Re-entry
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database FY 1998 & FY 1999)

4.1 Time to Reunification (%)	1998	1999
Less than 12 mos.	83.4	83.4
At least 12 mos., but less than 24 mos.	12.4	10.9
At least 24 mos., but less than 36 mos.	2.2	3.8
At least 36 mos., but less than 48 mos.	1.1	0.6
48 or more mos.	0.5	1.3
Missing	0.3	0.1
Total (%)	100.0	100.0
Number	1,297	1,059

 

4.2 Children Who Entered Foster Care (%)	1998	1999
Children entering care for the first time	89.7	78.7
Children re-entering care within 12 mos. of a prior episode	7.1	10.6
Children re-entering care more than 12 mos. after a prior episode	0.1	1.6
Missing	3.0	9.2
Total (%)	100.0	100.0
Number	2,737	2,489

 

 

5. Reduce Time in Foster Care to Adoption
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database FY 1998 & FY 1999)

5.1 Time to Adoption (%)	1998	1999
Less than 12 mos.	7.9	4.5
At least 12 mos., but less than 24 mos.	34.2	21.5
At least 24 mos., but less than 36 mos.	21.1	26.4
At least 36 mos., but less than 48 mos.	23.7	15.9
48 or more mos.	13.2	29.7
Missing	-	2.0
Total (%)	100.0	100.0
Number	38	246

 

6. Increase Placement Stability
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database FY 1998 & FY 1999)

6.1 Number of Placements by Time in Care (%)	Year	Children With 2 or Fewer Placements	Children With 3 or More Placements	Missing Placements	Total %	Number
Less than 12 mos.	1998 1999	71.0 68.6	28.7 31.2	0.3 0.2	100.0 100.0	3,112 2,808
At least 12 mos., but <24 mos.	1998 1999	64.8 39.9	35.0 59.7	0.2 0.5	100.0 100.0	1,014 865
At least 24 mos., but <36 mos.	1998 1999	72.2 49.6	27.8 50.1	- 0.3	100.0 100.0	432 617
At least 36 mos., but <48 mos.	1998 1999	79.1 54.5	20.9 44.8	- 0.7	100.0 100.0	211 279
48 or more mos.	1998 1999	83.9 67.8	16.1 31.6	- 0.6	100.0 100.0	440 475
Missing	1998 1999	72.2 82.4	22.2 14.7	5.6 2.9	100.0 100.0	18 34

 

7. Reduce Placements of Young Children in Group Homes or Institutions
(AFCARS Annual Foster Care Database FY 1998 & FY 1999)

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 (%)	1998	1999
Group homes	-	-
Institutions	8.7	8.8
Other settings	88.9	90.7
Missing	2.3	0.4
Total (%)	100.0	100.0
Number	1,547	1,640

 

Arkansas [ State Comments]

 

Roy Kindle, Director
Division of Children and Family Services
Arkansas Department of Human Services
501-682-8772

 

For the measures under Outcome 3, there are a number of exits from foster care in FY 1999 that do not have “reason for discharge ” information and therefore are entered as “missing. ” We have been reviewing the problem and will be receiving technical assistance from the National Resource Center on Information Technology to assist us in these areas.

The data in Section C regarding the difference in the number of children from the last day of the Federal fiscal year reporting period (3,138) to the first day of the FFY 1999 reporting period (2,589) seems to be related to client merge and delayed data entry by workers. We have been reviewing the problem and will be receiving technical assistance from the National Resource Center on Information Technology to assist us in this area.

 

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