Silhouettes of a family with two adults and one child.

Foster Care Statistics: The Real Life of a Foster Child

Adoption, Foster and Kinship Care, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Protection, Stunning Statistics

Half of foster youth have been sexually abused. A quarter attempt suicide. Sixty percent carry a chronic illness or developmental delay. These are not estimates from advocates, they are federal data and peer-reviewed research. Here is what the numbers say about life inside Child Protective Services, and what would change them.

Mother comforting her child outside a brick building.

What Life Is Actually Like for a Foster Child in America

Adoption, Foster and Kinship Care, All Posts from Kids at Risk Action, Child Protection, Reporting and News - US Based

Half of foster youth have been sexually abused. A quarter attempt suicide. In Kentucky, 304 children slept in state office buildings with no showers. But cash support cuts removals, kinship licensing is adding homes, and every extra year in care past 18 lowers homelessness and arrest. Here is the evidence on both sides, all of it sourced.