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Children in Public Foster Care Waiting to be Adopted: FY 1999 thru FY 2003

This table is also available for download in PDF format.

NOTE: There is no federal definition for a child waiting to be adopted. For analytical purposes, 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. The number of children waiting to be adopted reported by individual States will likely differe somewhat from those in this table because State definitions vary according to State polices and practices.

Futhermore, some numbers in this table may be lower than the numbers reported in the prior version of this table. Children were included in the previous table who only met the criteria of having their parental rights terminated could have had them terminated at any time. Only those children with terminations prior to the end of the fiscal year of interest are included in the current table. This provides a more accurate picture of the size and nature of the "waiting" popluation at the end of each fiscal year.

In contrast to the previous version of this table, FY 1998 data are not included because of the extensive amount of missing data for that year. However, as in the previous version of the table, jurisdictions with insufficient data ("NA") are not included in the totals. Therefore, the totals in this table may differe from those reported elsewhere which include estimates for missing data.