More Children in Foster Care Raised by Relatives in 2011

In 2011, there were about 400,000 chil­dren in fos­ter care. Of these, 47% were placed in non­rel­a­tive fos­ter homes, 27% with state-super­vised kin and 14% in group homes or insti­tu­tions. Data show states are rely­ing on kin­ship care at a much high­er rate than in the past. In fact, over the last decade, the per­cent­age of chil­dren liv­ing with state-super­vised kin rose by 8%, while the use of group homes declined by 22%. Vir­ginia, Ken­tucky and South Car­oli­na had the low­est rates 7% of chil­dren in fos­ter care liv­ing with kin while Hawaii had the high­est 46%.

See the Out of Home Place­ment sec­tion of the KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter to access data for the nation, states and the Dis­trict of Columbia:

• Chil­dren in fos­ter care
• Chil­dren in fos­ter care by race or His­pan­ic origin
• Chil­dren in fos­ter care by place­ment type
• Chil­dren enter­ing fos­ter care
• Chil­dren enter­ing fos­ter care by race or His­pan­ic origin
• Chil­dren exit­ing fos­ter care
• Chil­dren exit­ing fos­ter care by exit reason