Foster care population at end of year

The number of children currently in foster care is counted every year on September 30th, the end of the fiscal year. But children enter and exit the foster care system throughout the year. This means that the number of children who were in the foster care system at some point over the year is higher than this point-in-time measure.

In 2021, the total foster care population at the end of the year was 391,098, a decrease of 16,220 or 3.98% from 2020.