Welcome To Our Site!

At the end of 2006, there were 510,000 children living in foster care.  Since 1999, the number of children in foster care waiting to be adopted has held steady at around 129,000, while the number of children entering the system has risen from approximately 290,000 to 310,000 annually.  Nearly all children in foster care entered the system as a result of substantiated instances of abuse and neglect. 

The need is great.  Of the over one half million children in foster care in 2006, over more than 86,000 were living in group homes and institutions.  Group homes and institutions provide only the basic necessities for those children for whom living with their biological families is not a safe option.  They cannot in any way provide the same safe, enriching environment that a loving family can. 

Equally upsetting is the fact that in 2006, a record 26,517 aged out of the foster care system, without the loving, permanent family that is every child’s birthright.  This number breaks the previous record, set one year earlier, of 24,407 youths who aged out of the system.  In 1998, the number who aged out was 17,310. 

But you can help!  Children in foster care may be of any age, from any racial, ethnic or cultural group, and may or may not be classified as having “special needs,” oftentimes meaning the child has a physical or mental handicap.  Despite this diversity, all children in foster care have one thing in common: they all need foster families, adoptive families, advocates and mentors.  Without such support, they are likely to slip through the cracks of society. Youths who aged out of the foster care system without a loving, permanent family exhibit higher rates of poverty, homelessness, criminal behavior, unemployment, teen pregnancy, and poor school performance. 

For more information on what you can do to make a difference in the life of a child in foster care, please see the “How Can I Help” section of this Web site.