Foster Care
To address the foster care challenges in Cincinnati, a coalition of community leaders and churches have started the Coalition of Care. It is hoped that this model will be replicated in other communities within Ohio and the U.S. If you would like to learn more or to be involved with the Coalition of Care, click on the image below or let us know at Coalition@achildshopeintl.org
The following facts are according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Report, Administration for Children and Families, AFCARS report as of June 2006:
• On September 30, 2004, 518,000 children were in the U.S. foster care system. Most children are placed in foster care temporarily due to parental abuse or neglect.
• A record 304,000 children entered the system in 2004, according to one study. Much of the rise was due to methamphetamine use. Experts estimate that 80 to 90% of foster care placements can be traced to substance abuse.
• About 40,000 infants are placed in foster care every year.
• 126,000 children are currently available for adoption.
• On average, children stay in the system for almost three years (31 months) before either being reunited with their families or adopted. Almost 20% wait five years or more. Children have on average three different foster care placements. Frequent moves in and out of the homes of strangers can be profoundly unsettling for children, and it is not uncommon to hear of children who have been in 20 or 30 different homes. Many have been separated not only from their parents, but from their siblings.
• More than 20,000 children each year never leave the system -- they remain in foster care until they "age out." Most leave the system unprepared for the challenges of life.
• 48% were in foster family homes (non-relative), 24% were in relative foster homes, 18% were in group homes or institutions, 4% were in pre-adoptive homes, and 6% were in other placement types.
• The average age of a foster child is 10. Half are 10 or under.
• 40% of foster children are white; 34% are black; 18% are Hispanic.
• Case workers burn out and leave the profession in very high numbers. The annual turnover rate in the child welfare workforce is more than 20%.
• The recommended number of cases for a social worker is 17. In some states, the number is three or four times that number.
• 44% (or about 241,000 children) have reunification with their birth families as their case goal.
