Foster care guides
Plain-language readings of AFCARS exit shares, grading method, and published agency materials. These pages orient the numbers; they are not licensing, legal, or case advice.
- 45.2%
- National reunification
- 26.3%
- National adoption
- 9.2%
- National aging out
- 6
- Guides
FY2022 exit mix · 6 guides
According to the U.S. Children's Bureau AFCARS FY2022 tables, these guides teach the same exit mix the rankings use: reunification 45.2%, adoption 26.3%, aging out 9.2%, reunification rates across states span 26.7% to 67.0% (2.51×).
- 45.2%
- Reunification of exits
- 26.3%
- Adoption of exits
- 9.2%
- Aging out of exits
- 6
- Guides
Live AFCARS national summary, the same release the state and metric pages rebuild. Not a quality grade.
How 201,372 national FY2022 exits break down
Counts rounded from each published national exit-share × 201,372 exits. The residual covers other published discharge reasons; named routes alone do not sum to 100%.
Live exit-mix snapshot
Two views of the national exit shares the guides explain below. Competing shares of one exits denominator, not a scorecard.
National exit routes
Reunification share of exits
Same national reunification rate as the bar chart; tick marks the highest state reunification rate as context only.
Foster-Parent Licensing Requirements Published by State Agencies
What Child Welfare Information Gateway and state agencies publish about licensing steps, training, home studies, and timelines. Registry reference, not applicant advice.
Youth Aging Out of Foster Care, Statistics and Supports
AFCARS exit-to-emancipation patterns and published support programs for youth leaving care at majority.
Foster Care vs Adoption, Key Differences Explained
Legal status, permanency goals, and payment structures as agency and federal publications distinguish the two tracks.
How States Are Graded, PlainFoster Methodology
Explanation of how PlainFoster grades state foster care systems. Grading methodology, data sources, and what each metric measures.
How the Foster Care System Works, A Plain-Language Guide
Roles, entry pathways, and agency structure as described in federal child-welfare program materials.
Kinship Care in AFCARS and Agency Publications
Relative-placement shares, formal vs informal tracks, and research sources, framed as registry reading.
How to use these guides
Each guide cites AFCARS jurisdiction figures or named federal/agency publications. Use them to learn what a rate measures, how PlainFoster grades states, and where licensing or kinship materials are published.
PlainFoster does not provide licensing, legal, or case advice. When a figure is a study finding rather than an AFCARS share, the page says so. Read the methodology for denominators and withheld fields.
Open data extract: foster-care-statistics.csv (AFCARS jurisdiction extract · public domain).
Source: U.S. Children's Bureau (Administration for Children and Families) AFCARS workbooks and FY2022 jurisdiction reports · FY2022 Guides also cite named agency publications where AFCARS does not cover the topic.
According to the U.S. Children's Bureau (Administration for Children and Families), foster-care counts and discharge outcomes are published in AFCARS workbooks and jurisdiction reports. Every figure on PlainFoster is rebuilt from those federal tables; no number is typed in by an editor. Guide exit-mix figures are the same FY AFCARS national summary used on rankings and tools; licensing and kinship sections cite named agency publications. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-07-30. AFCARS figures are federal fiscal-year foster-care counts and discharge rates from jurisdiction reports - not child-welfare quality rankings, court-performance scores, case-level advice, or real-time caseload status.