Foster Care
From generational poverty to mental health challenges, many families are facing immense obstacles but want to stay together-or get back together. However, they need additional support to make that possible.
In many situations where parents cannot provide safety and care for their children, extended family steps in. In the US, 3% of all children are being raised by relatives, a situation called “kinship care.”
In some of these cases, relatives step in to prevent children from entering formal foster care. In other cases, relatives open their homes as kinship families for children once they have entered the foster care system. In either case, there are many benefits of children living with kin whenever possible.
Foster Care Statistics & Outcomes
Foster Care Statistics
Who they are, why they are in foster care, for how long and their placements.
- There are over 400,000 youth in the American foster care system.
- Forty-four percent of foster children are White, 23% are African-American, and 21% are Hispanic.
- There are slightly more boys than girls in the foster care system.
- Abuse and neglect account for over 60% of children being removed from their homes.
- Parental alcohol or drug abuse causes about 40% of children to be removed from their homes.
- Physical abuse results in about 12% of children being removed from their homes.
