States: M

How Letter M States Compare in the Foster Care System

The 8 states catalogued under the letter M together account for 48,946 children in care on September 30 of FY2022 (AFCARS point-in-time stock), an average of roughly 6,118 children per state in this group. This is a sizable alphabetical cluster within the AFCARS reporting set, and pages here share an unweighted reunification mean of 45.7% within this letter group. Missouri carries the largest share within this letter group, with 12,514 children in care, a volume that can reflect state population, child-welfare reporting rigor, or the concentration of high-need communities rather than any single policy outcome.

Foster-care metrics at a letter-group level are most useful as a navigation aid, not a ranking. Two states can report similar in-care populations but different discharge and placement figures, and the AFCARS tables do not establish why. When comparing across this cluster, pair the in-care count with multiple outcome measures rather than treating any single figure as an overall verdict. Click through to a state page for FY2022 counts, placement settings, ten-year AFCARS count trends, and source lineage.

Source: AFCARS (Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System) via U.S. Children's Bureau · Scope: States beginning with the letter M · Interpretation: blended averages only; see individual state pages for trend data and definitions.