Foster Kids

This week, The Imprint released a report on foster care capacity nationwide, which included a projection that the overall number of U.S. foster kids is continuing to go up. Based on foster care totals from the 30 states that provided information, we project that the total number of children in foster care in 2017 is roughly 443,000, 3 percent more than the 2015 federal count, the last year such data was made available.

By Kuaikuai Wei Research has shown that more than 60 percent of children who have been in foster care at least two years have moved two or more times in the system.

Amid the many youth aging out of foster care, there are individuals who struggle daily to overcome the challenges of aging out. In 2011, almost 900 youth were between the ages of 18 and 21 years old and had aged out of care in New York City.

By Lynsey Clark L.A.’s newly elected Mayor, Eric Garcetti, believes the California foster care system should be improved to tangibly impact foster children’s lives. “I still see the foster care system as incomplete, with too little coordination, not enough resources, and faced with policies and rules that often do not serve the foster youth’s best interests,” stated Garcetti, responding to a survey conducted by L.A.