America Has Orphans, Too
If you hear the word "orphans," what's the first image that comes to mind? Homeless, sick, and hungry children somewhere in Africa, Haiti, or Latin America?
You wouldn't be alone. After all, that sort of thing couldn't really be that big a problem in a rich country like the United States, right?
It is, though. A very big problem.
How many orphans in the U.S.?
According to the latest available figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), there are about 123,000 orphans in America. These are typically kids who've entered the foster care system because they were abused, neglected, or abandoned and are available for adoption into new homes.
However, that doesn't mean there are only 123,000 children in foster care, not by a long shot. The foster care population is nearly four times larger — about 463,000, according to current data from the HHS's Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS).
The average age for foster children in the U.S. is 10, though half are younger. Forty percent are white, 34% are black, and 18% are Hispanic.
About half of foster children in America are reunited with their families, reports AFCARS, which keeps tabs on the foster care system by collecting data on all children under the care or supervision of State child welfare agencies. Whatever the outcome of foster care placements, foster kids can usually count on an excruciatingly long wait. They're in the system an average of 31 months before returning home or being adopted. Almost 20% wait five years or more.
Sadly, it's just as common for foster kids to "age out." Every year, around 20,000 do. It means they spend the remainder of their childhood in foster homes, then go out on their own when they turn 18 and are no longer eligible to be in the system.
Some foster children — 24% — are a bit luckier in that they get to stay with a relative. But most endure the upheaval of moving in and out of the homes of people they don't know, often after being separated from their siblings. The average foster child switches homes three times, and it's fairly common to hear of children who've been in 20 or 30 different foster homes.
Suggested Reading
1. Facts on Foster Care in America, ABC News, March 30, 2006.
2. Facts for Families: Foster Care, No. 64; May 2005, American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
3. Foster Care, Wikipedia, accessed March 31, 2011.
4. Orphans in America, #Numberof.net, accessed March 31, 2011.
5. Adoption and Foster Care Statistics, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children & Families, accessed March 31, 2011.
6. Foster Care Statistics, fostersurvivor.netfirms.com, accessed March 31, 2011
