the Foster care system is overwhelmed

The foster care system is being overwhelmed and is unable to adequately care for displaced children (modern-day orphans) being brought into the system. And according to the NCFA, more than 50% of foster parents quit fostering within the first year. If Foster Family Connect and our partners reduce the number of foster parents leaving the system, together we will be able to place more children in homes in their local communities until they can be reunified with their biological parents or adopted. These children need us to work together.

Here are just a few statistics to show the severity of the problem:

• More than 4 million families referred to child protective services annually for child neglect or abuse

• Nearly 400,000 children in foster care across 3,100 counties

• Of the 400,000+ children in foster care, 50% live in 5% of the counties (160). See the 50 in 5 map.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services AFCARS report from June 2020:

• In 2019, neglect was a cause for the removal of 63% (over 158,000) of children who entered foster care. Over 86,000 children, or 34% of cases, were removed because of parental drug abuse, and this number is increasing because of the opioid crisis.

• The average age of children entering foster care in 2019 was seven years old, but over 47,000 (19%) were less than one year old.

• More than 51,000 youth in U.S. foster care live in institutions, group homes, and other environments instead of with a family.

• During 2019, over 672,000 children were served by the foster care system. On any given day, over 424,000 children are living in the U.S. foster care system. Over 122,000 of these children are eligible for adoption and have already been in the foster care system for an average of 32 months.

• In 2019, 53% of the children who left foster care were reunited with their families or living with a relative, 26% were adopted, and 11% had a guardianship transfer.

• In 2019, 20,445 (8%) of children in care aged out of the U.S. foster care system, and a majority left without the emotional and financial support necessary to succeed in life that other children can receive within a family.

The need in Wisconsin 

According to the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families 2019 Out of Home Care Report:

• Wisconsin has two of the 50 in 5 counties with the most concentrated need in the country:
  Dane County & Milwaukee County

• 13% of children living in poverty

• 4,177 victims of child abuse /neglect

• 7,105 children in foster care

• 1,412 children awaiting adoption

• 4,974 churches called to care

• Placements outside of Milwaukee have risen by 30% from 2012 to 2019

• Neglect, drug, alcohol and physical abuse are the cause of removal for 65.7% of all children placed in out-of-home care.

• Over 7,568 children were in out-of-home care as of December 31, 2019.

• The average stay of a child in foster care was 14 months

• 20.5% of children in care are placed with a relative.

• Over 22.9% of children in out-of-home care are under one year of age, and an additional 16.7% of children are between the age of 2-4 years, which means over 39.6% of children in care are under the age of 5 years.

• 14.4% of children in foster care live in institutions, group homes, and other environments, instead of with a family.

• In 2019, neglect was a cause of removal for 71.8% of children who entered foster care. In 19.5% of those cases, drug abuse was a factor, which is increasing because of the opioid crisis.