2008 Foster Care/Adoption Sources

Approximately half a million U.S. children live in state-supervised care at any given time, after being removed from their homes for neglect or abuse. That's down from 560,000 in 1998, a decline hastened by the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997. In an effort to speed up the timeframe for providing children with a permanent home, the legislation required a hearing within 12 months (instead of 18) of a child's entry into care. It also required that states seek termination of parental rights when a child has been in care for 15 of the most recent 22 months. The law also created a "fast track," permitting states to skip reunification efforts when a parent has committed a felony assault or some other reprehensible act involving a child.

Child welfare cases are handled in dependency or juvenile courts. A judge determines when to leave a child in his or her home, or when to remove the child to ensure safety and stability. If the child is removed, the dependency (or juvenile) court judge also determines whether and when to terminate parental rights.The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges has identified 31 model courts in which judges, attorneys, child welfare workers and others collaborate to handle each child’s case expeditiously and to ensure safety, permanency and well-being. (Read a backgrounder on court access here.)

Most are reunited with their birth families. Of the 513,000 kids in care in 2005, 262,706 had a case goal of returning to their parents or principal caretakers, the federal Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System shows. Most children are removed for charges of neglect.

Children spend more than two years in care. Despite the push for expedience, foster children in care as of Sept. 30, 2005, averaged almost 29 months in care. Children of color tend to remain longer than whites and make up a disproportionate share of foster care youths. In 2005, non-Hispanic black youths accounted for 32 percent of those in care (and 15 percent of the child population), Hispanics, 18 percent (19 percent) and whites, 41 percent (59 percent).

Adoptions have increased. In 2005, 51,278 children were adopted from the U.S. public child welfare system and another 22,710 from other countries, the Child Welfare League of America reported in November 2007. The CWLA brief notes no information is available on private adoptions, because there are no reporting requirements. ASFA's provisions include financial incentives for states to increase adoption rates among eligible children. (Analysis of the federal adoption tax credit shows high-income families benefit most.)

Who pays? Each state covers roughly half of its foster care costs, with the balance coming from the federal government. Congress approved roughly $7.7 billion for child welfare in 2007, of which $6.6 billion is targeted to foster care and special-needs adoption assistance. Most designated federal expenditures, which are administered through states, go toward administrative costs and maintenance payments to caregivers. But fewer than half of youngsters in foster care are eligible for federal support, notes John Sciamanna, CWLA's co-director of government affairs.

Federal foster-care dollars come from many funding streams under many jurisdictions. See our chart on who administers specific programs.