Foster care children awaiting adoption at end of year

This is the count of foster care children — of those in care on September 30th, the end of the fiscal year — whose aim is adoption. It includes both cases where the child's birth parents retain parental rights, meaning that family reunification could be possible, as well as situations where parental rights have been terminated. In those cases, adoption is the only way to exit the foster care system, unless the child is 16 and older and has chosen to seek legal emancipation.