Library: Foster Care

Number of Children in Foster Care

These numbers are point in time estimates. Because children leave care and others come into care, the number of children who experience foster care during a year is substantially greater than these estimates. For example, one estimate says that about 700,000 children had a spell in foster care during 1997.

This table shows the national estimates of the numbers of children in care since 1987 with, the source organization given at page bottom:

a Department of Health and Human Services. 1992. Analysis of State Child Welfare Data: VCIS Survey Data from 1986, 1987 and 1988. Washington D.C.: Caliber Associates and Maximus Inc.

b Department of Health and Human Services. 1993. Analysis of 1989 Child Welfare Data. Washington D.C.: Caliber Associates and Maximus Inc. c Department of Health and Human Services. 1998.

Analysis of State Child Welfare Data: VCIS Survey Data from 1990 Through 1994:. Washington D.C.: Caliber Associates.

d American Public Human Services Association (formerly the American Public Welfare Association). Preliminary estimate, as of February 1997, from the Voluntary Cooperative Information System.

e American Public Human Services Association (formerly the American Public Welfare Association). Preliminary estimate, as of September 1997, from the Voluntary Cooperative Information System.

f Department of Health and Human Services. Preliminary estimates, as of March 1999, from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System.