A new Child Trends analysis of federal foster care data shows that reunification with family continues to be the most common outcome for children when they leave foster care. While adoption or legal guardianship also represent positive outcomes for children, safe reunification with family remains the priority whenever possible. Aside from preserving a parent’s fundamental right to raise their own children, reunification also preserves the child’s connections to their parents, siblings, culture, and community—factors that are central to a child’s sense of identity, belonging, and long-term well-being.
Roughly half of children exiting foster care in fiscal year (FY) 2014 and FY 2024 exited to reunification with their families
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Source: Child Trends’ analysis of data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS). The figure includes children from birth to age 20 who exited care in each federal fiscal year. Other exit reasons include emancipation, transfer to another agency, death of child, and runaway child.
Almost half (47%) of children who exited foster care in FY 2024 were reunited with their families. This figure is promising and reflects the child welfare field’s emphasis on supporting safe family reunification whenever possible. However, the proportion of children returning to their families after being in foster care has declined slightly—down from 51 percent—since FY 2014. This trend highlights the ongoing need for effective family support that improves children and families’ chances for reunification, along with maltreatment prevention services that address the conditions that contribute to child welfare involvement.
Child Trends experts have compiled these data and other child welfare indicators in the Child Welfare Data Interactive, a one-of-a-kind data tool that allows users to examine state and national child welfare data on entries into foster care, child maltreatment, kinship caregiving, permanency, and older youth in foster care. Data are updated annually upon release of the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS). Currently, FY 2024 is the most recent year of available AFCARS data.
Interested in working with Child Trends to examine key child welfare indicators? Contact Sarah Catherine Williams, MSW at swilliams@childtrends.org.