Data and Statistics: AFCARS

The AFCARS Report is replaced with this dashboard. A printable PDF version of the dashboard is available on this site; however, it does not contain the full set of information that can be found in this interactive dashboard. 

In addition to the dynamic filtering and graphical displays, the dashboard also presents crosstabulations that were not included in The AFCARS Report. Furthermore, as a result of changes to AFCARS implemented in the AFCARS 2020 final rule, we now show counts for living arrangements and permanency plans (previously referred to as “case goal”) at entry, on September 30, and at exit.

However, some information that was included in The AFCARS Report is no longer included. We now present age based on categorical ranges instead of single years, we no longer show counts by sex, and we show counts for adoption permanency plan instead of counts of children “waiting for adoption.”

The AFCARS Report included counts of children “waiting to be adopted” which was defined as children who either had a case goal of adoption or were legally free, but it excluded children who were legally free and had a case goal of emancipation. “Waiting to be adopted” is not an official Children’s Bureau designation. We feel that it is better to characterize adoption-ready populations based solely on their permanency plan (i.e. children with a permanency plan for adoption) and that their parent’s rights have been terminated (referred to as “legally free”). It is still possible to approximate the counts for “waiting to be adopted” by selecting only legally free children in the in-care dashboard and then referencing the counts of all permanency plans except emancipation.

In some cases, which are clearly explained in the dashboard notes, we modified and simplified definitions for specific categories. In other instances, we would note that some states remain in a capacity-building phase as they endeavor to submit high-quality and structurally-compliant AFCARS data submissions. This is most impactful for data elements that are either new or have new components, particularly living arrangements, permanency plans, and termination of parental rights. The counts reported in these dashboards reflect the AFCARS data submissions as of May 1, 2025. However, some states are still refining their submissions so that they accurately and uniformly reflect a given state’s adoption and foster care population. 

The Children’s Bureau is releasing counts with known data limitations to recognize the effort states made to submit their highest quality data, and to be transparent about what data were submitted, regardless of whether we know some counts are likely inaccurate. That said, the overall counts of entries, children in foster care on the last day of the federal fiscal year (September 30), and exits are approximately as expected, as well as the demographic characteristics for each population.