Resource Library: Foster Care

Child Welfare League Foster Care Survey

Preliminary Results

Defining the Problem

• In 1993, 449,000 children were in foster care. 75% or 337,000 were in family foster care placements.
• Children in care increased by 61% between 1984 and 1993.
• In 1985, there were 147,000 foster homes and 276,000 children in care. In 1994, there were 125,000 foster homes and an estimated 450,000 children in care.
• Foster Homes are licensed for fewer children today then they were prior to 1985. We need even more foster homes to maintain the same number of foster care slots or beds.

The Children in Foster Care

• The population of children needing foster care today is a factor in foster parent retention and recruitment.
• Alcohol and drug abuse are factors in the placement of more than 75% of the children.
• Between 1984 and 1990 there was a 12% increase in the number of children in foster care because of their own handicap or disability.
• 58% of young children in foster care have serious health problems.
• Estimates are that 30% of the children have severe emotional, behavioral, and developmental problems, including conduct disorders, depression, difficulty in school and impaired social relationships.
• Estimates are that between 85% and 97% of the children in foster care also have siblings in care, but estimates are that only 25% are placed together.
• Children of color comprise 61% of all children in care, but the majority of foster parents are white.
• Youth between 13 and 18 years of age are 1/3 of the population in foster care, but only comprise 12% of the U.S. population.
• 15% of foster homes licensed after 1985 are specialized foster homes.
• 51% of foster parents who left fostering stated a foster child related problem as the reason.