August 5, 2025
Rockville, MD
Spending by child welfare agencies increased slightly over the past decade to a total of $34.3 billion in state fiscal year (SFY) 2022, according to a new national survey conducted by Child Trends. The survey, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Casey Family Programs, found that expenditures increased by 3% from SFY 2012 to SFY 2022, despite a small decrease from SFY 2020 to SFY 2022 as foster care caseloads declined. Child welfare agencies across the country receive several million referrals for suspected abuse or neglect each year.
The latest funding survey found that 57% of child welfare agency dollars came from state and local sources in SFY 2022, although federal child welfare expenditures increased by 6% over the decade with the addition of COVID-19 pandemic relief dollars and the growth in federal programs to support prevention of maltreatment, adoption, and guardianship. Child welfare agencies continue to use funds primarily for out-of-home placements, but SFY 2022 data show that agencies spent less of their funding in this way than in prior years.
“As states and localities spend less on out-of-home placements for children, there’s a real opportunity to shift those funds toward evidence-based prevention services that keep families together,” said Kristina Rosinsky, lead researcher on the survey and senior research scientist at Child Trends. “Child welfare leaders frequently cite prevention as a priority, but this survey offers a clearer picture of whether states and localities are aligning their investments with that commitment.”
The largest sources of federal funding for child welfare in SFY 2022 included Title IV-E of the Social Security Act (which made up 21% of money spent by child welfare agencies), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF; 9%), Social Services Block Grant (SSBG; 4%), and Medicaid (3%). Title IV-E and Medicaid expenditures by child welfare agencies increased slightly over the past decade while both TANF and SSBG expenditures declined. The survey also found a 22% decrease from SFY 2020 to SFY 2022 in child welfare agencies’ use of child benefits, such as Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance, to offset foster care costs.
“National findings on child welfare expenditures can mask the extensive state variation across all aspects of child welfare financing—making the state-level data in our survey crucial for telling the whole story,” said Maggie Haas, a researcher on the study and senior research analyst at Child Trends.
In federal fiscal year 2022, child welfare agencies received an estimated 4.3 million referrals for suspected child abuse or neglect of approximately 7.5 million children. These agencies served approximately 570,000 individual children in foster care during that time, 369,000 of whom remained in care at the end of the fiscal year.
The Child Welfare Financing Survey SFY 2022: A Survey of Federal, State, and Local Expenditures is the 13th edition of Child Trends’ national survey. Child Trends requested financial data from all 50 states plus Washington, DC and Puerto Rico. In total, 46 states participated. The full report and package of related resources—including state factsheets, funding source factsheets, and a state-level data table—are available on Child Trends’ website.
About Child Trends
Child Trends is a nonprofit research organization dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth by providing accurate data, rigorous analysis, and evidence-based insights. With a focus on informing policies, programs, and practices, Child Trends works toward advancing the well-being of all children and ensuring they have the opportunity to reach their full potential. For more information, please visit www.childtrends.org.