Children in Foster Homes: How Are They Faring?

Overview Every year, public agencies place a substantial number of children in foster care after child welfare officials have determined that the parents of these children are either unable or unwilling to care for them. Most of these children are placed in foster homes, either with relatives (“kinship” care) or under the care of unrelated adults in family foster homes. Many of these children stay in foster care for brief periods (perhaps just a few weeks) before they are reunified with their families. Others remain in foster care for months or even years.1 During 2001, the foster care system served 805,000 children across the nation.2 Apart from the possibility of trauma of separation from their parents and adjustment to new caregivers or to multiple placements, most foster children have had to cope with additional hardships before they entered foster care. Among these hardships are abuse or neglect, poverty, and the experience of being raised by parents with a history of mental health disorders, substance abuse, incarceration, and childhood experiences of abuse or neglect.3