About
The Who Cares report is a project of Fostering Media Connections, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that publishes The Imprint and Fostering Families Today, and offers the Youth Voices Rising media training program. Learn more at fosteringmediaconnections.org, or get in touch at info@fosteringmediaconnections.org.
Methodology
The goal of this project is to identify recent trends in foster home capacity for each state and Washington, D.C., along with several key indicators of the overall use of family separation.
The number of youth in foster care
We have included the fiscal year 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 figures from the federal Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS).
Because AFCARS lags behind current-year information—fiscal 2017 is the most recent report—we also asked each state to provide the number of youth in foster care as of March 31, 2018, or the nearest date for which data was available.
The number of foster homes
We ask each state to identify the total number of licensed foster homes, regardless of non-relative or relative status, as of March 31, or the nearest date for which data was available.
We also ask each state to provide the number of non-relative foster homes.
Family separation
The organization Fostering Court Improvement created this measure, which reflects the average number of days a child spends without family (among all children in state). The data sources for this measure are AFCARS, the National Center for Health Statistics, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
The use of relatives to care for youth
We obtained AFCARS data from 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 to identify the number of foster youth living with relatives. We also ask each state to provide the number of relatives with an active, ongoing placement as of March 31 or the nearest date for which data was available.
Unpaid placements
We use AFCARS data from these years to isolate the number of children living with relatives, or non-relative foster parents, where no foster care payment from the child welfare agency has been recorded.
The use of congregate care
Congregate care is a term that refers to larger foster care placement settings such as group homes and institutions. We obtained AFCARS data from 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 to identify the number of foster youth living in these settings.
We also ask each state for the number of congregate care providers retained by the child welfare agency on March 31 or the nearest date for which data was available.
Demographics of foster care
We obtained AFCARS data from 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 for the following data related to demographics:
- Race of foster youths
- Race of foster parents
- Percentage of youth who are 13 or older
Limitations
Some states were unable to answer, or were unresponsive to, our questions. Further, while we made an identical request to each state and worked with several to ensure clarity on our questions, it is possible that states define certain data elements differently.
There are likely discrepancies between AFCARS point-in-time data and states’ point-in-time data due to the structure of AFCARS. For example, some states’ self-reported total number of youth in care for 2018 may include youth in extended foster care; AFCARS would not include this group in the total number of youth in care.
It is also important to note that our research questions for this project focuses entirely on issues of quantity. Of greater importance to the child welfare field are policies and practice that ensure the quality and preparedness of all caregivers, and that the removal of children from families is done only when it is absolutely necessary.
About The Imprint
Launched in 2013, The Imprint is an online news publication dedicated to coverage of child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health and educational issues faced by children, youth and families in the US. Learn more at imprintnews.org.
