Connie Reguli and Catherine Wang Anderson

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Child Welfare Statistics

Federal payments – our tax dollars – go to states to support the entire foster care and group home system. Payments begin the moment a child is taken with bonuses for “special needs” such as medication, then more bonuses to state agencies for termination of parental rights or adoption of children even if parents are still fighting for custody in Family Court. The most recent estimates are that foster care in America is a $1,000+ billion per year industry. See annual expenditures; https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/research-data-technology/statistics-research

As last reported in August 2019, 437,238 children nationally were removed from their families and placed in foster homes according to the federal government Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/afcarsreport26.pdf

This traumatization of US children has reached epidemic proportions. According to a 10-year study by the American Public Health Association, an alarming estimate that 37.4% of all children experience a child protective services investigation by age 18 years. That results in 27.7 million children investigated based upon the current U.S. population census of approximately 75 million children under age 18 https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303545 or 49 million parents being investigated according to the latest 2019 U.S. Census Bureau findings. https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2019/demo/families/cps-2019.html

What’s even more alarming is that a staggering 84% of all child removals are not related to any physical harm to the child whatsoever as reported to the US Congress in the AFCARS report above. Furthermore, 61% of the placements were considered neglect, which is based purely on social worker discretion, which basically translates to the freedom to do whatever the caseworker wants. What they see as “neglect” is often just what poverty looks like. Instead of getting help to parent, the parents get their children taken. Please see the annual U.S. Department of Health & Human Services report. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/cm2018.pdf

In June of 2018, the Children’s Defense League and 540 organizations from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico which have well-recognized expertise in the fields of child welfare, juvenile justice and child health, development and safety, reported that the separation of children from their parents will have significant and long-lasting consequences for the safety, health, development, and well-being of children. https://www.childrensdefense.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/child-welfare-juvenile.pdf

https://familypreservationfoundation.org/about/cps-statistics