Foster care rankings by state
Four single-measure boards rebuilt from AFCARS jurisdiction discharge tables. Each list answers one exit-path question; none is an overall child-welfare grade.
- 49
- Jurisdictions ranked
- 67.0%
- Washington reunification #1
- 41.8%
- Maine adoption #1
- 4
- Distinct #1 jurisdictions
National picture
According to the U.S. Children's Bureau AFCARS FY2022 jurisdiction tables, among 49 qualifying jurisdictions Washington leads reunification at 67.0% while Maine tops adoption at 41.8%. The four boards below each rank one AFCARS measure; they are not a composite quality score.
- 49
- jurisdictions ranked
- 67.0%
- top reunification
- 41.8%
- top adoption
- 45.2%
- national reunif. rate
Rate rankings include only jurisdictions with ≥500 FY2022 exits (2 omitted for small-N volatility). Grades on state pages combine four measures equally.
Who leads which measure
Four #1 slots from the same FY2022 exits tables. 4 different jurisdictions hold them, because reunification and adoption compete for the same discharge denominator and the two reverse-sort boards ask a different question.
AFCARS exit mix
Reunification and adoption share the same exits table
Each point is one qualifying jurisdiction. The crosshairs show the qualifying-cohort mean, not a target or quality grade. A higher share in one exit path can coincide with a lower share in the other, so use the four single-measure boards rather than treating this as an overall score.
Read the plotted values
- Alabama: 37.9% reunification, 23.3% adoption
- Alaska: 49.5% reunification, 22.8% adoption
- Arizona: 47.2% reunification, 31.8% adoption
- Arkansas: 43.9% reunification, 29.6% adoption
- California: 49.6% reunification, 26.0% adoption
- Colorado: 33.3% reunification, 19.3% adoption
- Connecticut: 30.9% reunification, 34.3% adoption
- Florida: 42.5% reunification, 33.2% adoption
- Georgia: 39.4% reunification, 24.2% adoption
- Hawaii: 53.0% reunification, 16.6% adoption
- Idaho: 57.2% reunification, 26.3% adoption
- Illinois: 51.2% reunification, 28.8% adoption
- Indiana: 54.2% reunification, 24.3% adoption
- Iowa: 45.9% reunification, 34.4% adoption
- Kansas: 51.6% reunification, 29.5% adoption
- Kentucky: 36.8% reunification, 25.2% adoption
- Louisiana: 38.0% reunification, 26.6% adoption
- Maine: 44.8% reunification, 41.8% adoption
- Maryland: 35.3% reunification, 14.0% adoption
- Massachusetts: 56.0% reunification, 19.6% adoption
- Michigan: 37.6% reunification, 39.3% adoption
- Minnesota: 51.0% reunification, 23.0% adoption
- Mississippi: 44.1% reunification, 29.5% adoption
- Missouri: 44.8% reunification, 22.3% adoption
- Montana: 52.0% reunification, 20.4% adoption
- Nebraska: 59.1% reunification, 21.9% adoption
- Nevada: 55.3% reunification, 26.9% adoption
- New Hampshire: 50.3% reunification, 35.6% adoption
- New Jersey: 40.5% reunification, 31.9% adoption
- New Mexico: 53.2% reunification, 24.0% adoption
- New York: 39.1% reunification, 19.3% adoption
- North Carolina: 40.3% reunification, 26.6% adoption
- North Dakota: 48.8% reunification, 25.8% adoption
- Ohio: 39.5% reunification, 16.0% adoption
- Oklahoma: 41.1% reunification, 39.0% adoption
- Oregon: 48.5% reunification, 22.0% adoption
- Pennsylvania: 42.0% reunification, 28.5% adoption
- Rhode Island: 43.2% reunification, 26.9% adoption
- South Carolina: 48.7% reunification, 17.3% adoption
- South Dakota: 48.1% reunification, 26.3% adoption
- Tennessee: 43.1% reunification, 21.5% adoption
- Texas: 40.4% reunification, 27.6% adoption
- Utah: 40.4% reunification, 35.1% adoption
- Vermont: 49.2% reunification, 29.5% adoption
- Virginia: 26.7% reunification, 34.6% adoption
- Washington: 67.0% reunification, 20.3% adoption
- West Virginia: 47.1% reunification, 39.2% adoption
- Wisconsin: 50.5% reunification, 18.2% adoption
- Wyoming: 64.8% reunification, 14.0% adoption
AFCARS placement mix
Relative foster-family placement share
Top jurisdictions by children placed with relatives (relative foster-family share of the in-care stock). This is a placement-setting read from the AFCARS jurisdiction row - not an exit-path rate and not a quality grade. Floor is 1,000 children in care so sparse systems do not own the board.
Highest relative-placement shares, FY2022
Reunification Rate
Share of exits returning children to families
Qualifying-cohort median 45.9% · #1 Washington at 67.0% · 49 jurisdictions · small exit counts move rates; floor is 500 exits.
Top 10 jurisdictions
| # | State | Reunification Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington Grade C | 67.0% |
| 2 | Wyoming Grade B | 64.8% |
| 3 | Nebraska Grade C | 59.1% |
| 4 | Idaho Grade A | 57.2% |
| 5 | Massachusetts Grade D | 56.0% |
| 6 | Nevada Grade B | 55.3% |
| 7 | Indiana Grade B | 54.2% |
| 8 | New Mexico Grade B | 53.2% |
| 9 | Hawaii Grade C | 53.0% |
| 10 | Montana Grade C | 52.0% |
Cohort distribution
Adoption Rate
Share of exits finalized as adoptions
Qualifying-cohort median 26.3% · #1 Maine at 41.8% · 49 jurisdictions · small exit counts move rates; floor is 500 exits.
Top 10 jurisdictions
| # | State | Adoption Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maine Grade B | 41.8% |
| 2 | Michigan Grade D | 39.3% |
| 3 | West Virginia Grade B | 39.2% |
| 4 | Oklahoma Grade C | 39.0% |
| 5 | New Hampshire Grade B | 35.6% |
| 6 | Utah Grade B | 35.1% |
| 7 | Virginia Grade D | 34.6% |
| 8 | Iowa Grade B | 34.4% |
| 9 | Connecticut Grade D | 34.3% |
| 10 | Florida Grade B | 33.2% |
Cohort distribution
Aging Out Rate
Share of youth exiting without permanency (lower is better)
Qualifying-cohort median 7.1% · #1 West Virginia at 1.5% · 49 jurisdictions · small exit counts move rates; floor is 500 exits.
Top 10 jurisdictions
| # | State | Aging Out Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Virginia Grade B | 1.5% |
| 2 | Maine Grade B | 1.6% |
| 3 | Wyoming Grade B | 1.6% |
| 4 | Indiana Grade B | 3.1% |
| 5 | Mississippi Grade B | 3.2% |
| 6 | Colorado Grade C | 3.7% |
| 7 | North Carolina Grade C | 4.0% |
| 8 | Idaho Grade A | 4.2% |
| 9 | Oklahoma Grade C | 4.3% |
| 10 | North Dakota Grade B | 4.5% |
Cohort distribution
Median Length of Stay
Months among children exiting foster care
Qualifying-cohort median 17.5 mo · #1 Wyoming at 8.4 mo · 49 jurisdictions · small exit counts move rates; floor is 500 exits.
Top 10 jurisdictions
| # | State | Median Length of Stay |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wyoming Grade B | 8.4 mo |
| 2 | South Carolina Grade C | 8.7 mo |
| 3 | Colorado Grade C | 10.8 mo |
| 4 | Idaho Grade A | 11.8 mo |
| 5 | North Dakota Grade B | 12.0 mo |
| 6 | Louisiana Grade B | 12.2 mo |
| 7 | Tennessee Grade C | 12.5 mo |
| 8 | Alabama Grade C | 12.9 mo |
| 9 | Ohio Grade D | 13.0 mo |
| 10 | Kentucky Grade C | 13.1 mo |
Cohort distribution
Frequently asked questions
What do PlainFoster rankings measure?
Each list ranks one FY2022 AFCARS outcome measure among jurisdictions with at least 500 exits. They describe discharge patterns, not overall child-welfare quality or child safety.
Why are some states omitted?
2 jurisdictions with fewer than 500 FY2022 exits are withheld because a handful of cases can swing a rate sharply (for example Delaware and D.C.).
How often is this data updated?
PlainFoster rebuilds rankings when a new AFCARS jurisdiction report is published. The current vintage is 2026-07-30. See the methodology page for the four-measure grade formula.
Can one state lead every board?
In the FY2022 qualifying cohort, 4 different jurisdictions hold the four single-measure #1 slots. Reunification and adoption compete for the same exits denominator, so a reunification leader is rarely also the adoption leader.
Source: AFCARS FY2022 jurisdiction reports (Administration for Children and Families). See how states are graded for the four-measure profile.
Open data for these boards: foster-care-statistics.csv (AFCARS jurisdiction extract · public domain).
Source: U.S. Children's Bureau (Administration for Children and Families) AFCARS FY2022 jurisdiction reports · FY2022 Single-measure boards include only jurisdictions with ≥500 exits.
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. These rankings are rebuilt from FY2022 AFCARS jurisdiction-report counts and reported median length of stay, limited to jurisdictions with at least 500 exits. 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.