Foster Care Statistics
Child welfare is a fractured system of too many caseworkers, too many prescribed psychotropic medications, too many placements, and not enough family finding efforts and quality, trauma-informed, and evidence-based services for children and their parents/caregivers.
Important facts and statistics on the state of foster care:
Since 2013, the number of children in either foster homes or housed with relatives has risen by 40 percent, to more than 24,000.
Over the past five years, almost 20 percent of Florida children aged 13 and older had more than five placements.”
On any given day, there are nearly 443,000 children in foster care in the United States.
On average, children remain in state care for nearly two years and six percent of children in foster care have languished there for five or more years.
While most children in foster care live in family settings, a substantial minority — 11 percent — live in institutions or group homes.
Additional Resources
- Florida's Child Welfare Statistics At-a-Glance
- Children & Young Adults in Out-of-Home Care (Statewide)
- Hillsborough County Weekly Data Reports (Eckerd Connects)
- This is not okay – Visualizing foster care placement instability
- Who We're Fighting For
Sources
- O'Donnell, C. & Lash, N. (2018, December 27). Nowhere to call home: Thousands of foster children move so much they risk psychological harm. Retrieved from https://www.tampabay.com/hillsborough/nowhere-to-call-home-thousands-of-foster-children-move-so-much-they-risk-psychological-harm-20181227/.
- Children's Rights. (n.d.). Foster Care. Retrieved from https://www.childrensrights.org/newsroom/fact-sheets/foster-care/.
Apply for Services
If you live or have a case in Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Manatee, or Sarasota counties, we may be able to help.
Bay Area Legal Services
If you live or have a case in Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas, Manatee, or Sarasota counties, we may be able to help.
Statewide Legal Helplines
If you live or have a case in Florida, we may be able to help.