Resource Library

The Children's Bureau Data Analytics and Reporting Team held an AFCARS Open Office Hours for the implementation of AFCARS 2020 in December 2022. This session was for state and tribal program administrators, child welfare data leaders, and information system programmers. It was an opportunity to ask questions specific to an agency's implementation. Below is the slide deck of the question and answers that were presented during the session.

This report provides preliminary estimates of Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data for FY 2021. As states are permitted to resubmit AFCARS data, the estimates may change over time. This report reflects all AFCARS data received as of June 28, 2022 related to AFCARS reporting periods through September 30, 2021.

The Children's Bureau Data Analytics and Reporting Team held three AFCARS Open Office Hours for the implementation of AFCARS 2020 in August, September, and October of 2022.  

This webinar was a part of the AFCARS Final Rule Training Series. For this webinar, the Children's Bureau shared a revised version of Technical Bulletin 23: Compliance and Data Quality.  

This report provides preliminary estimates of Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data for FY 2020. As states are permitted to resubmit AFCARS data, the estimates may change over time. This report reflects all AFCARS data received as of October 4, 2021 related to AFCARS reporting periods through September 30, 2020.

This webinar was the seventh session in the AFCARS Final Rule Training Series. For this webinar, the Children's Bureau shared two new Technical Bulletins: 

• Technical Bulletin 22: Reporting Population and Data Extraction
• Technical Bulletin 23: Compliance and Data Quality

And a revised version of the previously released Technical Bulletin 21: File Structure and Encryption. There was also an opportunity to continue to ask questions so that the Children’s Bureau may develop relevant technical assistance resources.   We encourage you to submit any questions to AFCARS@acf.hhs.gov.

This technical bulletin provides title IV-E agencies with information on the standards an AFCARS data file must meet to comply with the provisions of the AFCARS regulations found at 45 CFR §1355.41— §1355.47. This technical bulletin was last revised on June 10, 2024. 

This technical bulletin addresses how to extract data for the Out-of-Home Care and Adoption and Guardianship Assistance Files defined in AFCARS Technical Bulletin #21. Additionally, this document includes guidance on extracting corrected files (previously referred to as subsequent files) after the required AFCARS reporting periods. This technical bulletin was last revised on June 10, 2024.

This technical bulletin provides agencies with information required to create the AFCARS data files.  It provides technical specifications on the structural layout of the XML data and shares the XML schema for the Out-of-Home Care File and the Adoption and Guardianship Assistance File.  It also covers information on encryption of the file records. This Technical Bulletin was last revised on October 10, 2023.

This technical bulletin gives reporting instructions and provides examples for the AFCARS 2020 out-of-home care and adoption and guardianship assistance data elements. The regulation for each element is shown in a blue box. Following the regulation language, CB provides explanatory text, examples, differences between AFCARS 1993 and AFCARS 2020, and data reporting standards. This Technical Bulletin was last revised on June 10, 2024.