Illinois Foster Care Data
Illinois ranks #12 of 51 jurisdictions for reunification: 51.2% of FY2022 exits returned to a parent or primary caregiver, 6.0 points above the national rate.
- C
- Four-measure profile grade
- 20,743
- #4 caseload nationally
- 51.2%
- Reunification (#12)
- 28.8%
- Adoption (#18)
The verdict
Signature read: median length of stay (29.7 mo) is Illinois's longest-relative AFCARS stamp in FY2022. Illinois held 20,743 children in foster care on September 30, FY2022 and sits in the top quarter nationally for reunification (#12 of 51) at 51.2%, with a C four-measure profile grade that is not an overall quality verdict.
- #12
- reunification rank of 51 jurisdictions
- 51.2%
- FY2022 reunification rate
- #18
- adoption rank nationally
- 29.7 mo
- median length of stay
Illinois sits in the upper third of the FY2022 AFCARS reunification distribution (51.2% of exits, #12 of 51). Caseload is large-system scale: 20,743 children in care on September 30 (#4 nationally). Profile grade C averages four within-release percentiles; it is not a federal quality verdict.
A within-release percentile composite of four AFCARS measures, not an overall quality verdict or a federal assessment. Reunification and adoption are each scored on their own percentile, never against each other.
Aging out of foster care vs. every US state
FY2022 AFCARS: youth who exit care at majority without a permanent family
10% 31st percentile lower than 31% of 51 US states
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source ACF/AFCARS state tables · FY2022
AFCARS jurisdiction row
State TAR extract IL · Illinois C · #12 reunif
20,743 in care · 5,915 exits · FY2022
- REUN 51.2%
- ADOPT 28.8%
- AGE 9.9%
- LOS 29.7 mo
- RANK #12/51
- GRADE C
- CARE 20,743
- EXITS 5,915
- PHOTO Texas
- BOOK FY2022 TAR
Nearest caseload peer: Texas (615 children vs Illinois)
The 10 coded stamps above and the extract ID beside them come from the same Children's Bureau AFCARS FY2022 Title-IV-E/B TAR submission, standardized so every jurisdiction's row uses identical measure definitions. Read with this state →
Reunification neighbourhood
AFCARS annual change
What changed from FY2021 to FY2022
The latest comparable state count pair from the U.S. Children's Bureau AFCARS trend series. These are reported changes, not a quality rating or an explanation of why a count moved.
-
Parental rights terminations
2,152 2,660
Rose by 508 (+23.6%) across the FY2021–FY2022 pair.
-
Children waiting for adoption
2,798 3,391
Rose by 593 (+21.2%) across the FY2021–FY2022 pair.
-
Children entering care
6,944 5,718
Fell by 1,226 (−17.7%) across the FY2021–FY2022 pair.
-
Children exiting care
6,193 5,915
Fell by 278 (−4.5%) across the FY2021–FY2022 pair.
How Illinois's 5,915 FY2022 exits break down
Counts rounded from each published exit-share × 5,915 exits. Named routes do not cover every AFCARS discharge reason; the residual is other published exit routes (guardianship, transfer, and similar), not missing rows.
Two views of Illinois's reunification-heavy FY2022 exit mix
Named exit shares for this jurisdiction beside reunification vs the national rate. Competing shares of one exits denominator, not a scorecard.
Illinois exit routes
Reunification vs national
Same reunification rate as the bar chart; tick marks the national AFCARS rate as context only.
Nationwide peers with similarly long stays or matching adoption share
Two AFCARS peer sets for Illinois, nearest by metric distance rather than reunification-rank standings.
Similar median length of stay
Nearest jurisdictions by median months in care (29.7 mo here).
Similar adoption share of exits
Jurisdictions with a comparable adoption exit share (28.8% here).
Scale composition for Illinois
Illinois held 20,743 children in foster care on September 30, 2022 (5.63% of the 368,530 children counted across all AFCARS jurisdictions in the national rollup) . Only 4 jurisdictions clear the 15,000-in-care threshold used here, sparse states under 1,000 cannot show a national-share read of this kind because their headcount is too small for the percentage to mean anything. Within that mega cohort, Illinois ranks #4 of 4 by in-care count (cohort median 22,493; 92% of the mega median).
FY2022 flow was 5,718 entries (3.06% of 186,602 national entries) and 5,915 exits (2.94% of 201,372 national exits) - a net decrease of 197 children over the fiscal year . At this caseload the entry/exit arithmetic is a system-throughput signal, not a single-county anecdote, comparing it to a sparse state whose entire census fits inside one metro district misreads both ends.
Placement mix is led by relative/kinship care at 43.0% , with foster family home next at 37.0% ; group/institutional settings account for 2.7% . Large systems carry multi-region provider networks and specialized congregate contracts that a sub-1,000-child jurisdiction rarely needs at the same scale, reading the percentage stack without that caseload note flattens an operational difference the raw rates alone do not show.
Kinship-led placement mix in Illinois
Caseload is large-system scale: 20,743 children in care on September 30 (#4 nationally). Lead setting: relative/kinship care at 43.0%.
Illinois children returned to a parent or primary caregiver
Children exiting foster care via adoption in Illinois
Youth exiting foster care at age 18+ without permanency
Illinois's decade caseload trail (large-system AFCARS counts)
Signature read: median length of stay (29.7 mo) is Illinois's longest-relative AFCARS stamp in FY2022. AFCARS count series from FY2013 to FY2022 for Illinois.
| Metric | FY2013 | FY2015 | FY2017 | FY2019 | FY2021 | FY2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Children Served | 20,684 | 20,903 | 19,722 | 23,032 | 27,277 | 26,658 |
| In Care (Sep 30) | 16,894 | 16,654 | 15,930 | 18,317 | 21,086 | 20,743 |
| Entered Care | 4,648 | 4,929 | 4,843 | 6,709 | 6,944 | 5,718 |
| Exited Care | 3,802 | 4,266 | 3,793 | 4,716 | 6,193 | 5,915 |
| Waiting Adoption | 2,988 | 2,806 | 2,848 | 2,767 | 2,798 | 3,391 |
| Adopted | 1,356 | 1,788 | 1,777 | 1,747 | 1,602 | 1,658 |
Illinois FAQ - reunification-heavy jurisdiction
Signature read: median length of stay (29.7 mo) is Illinois's longest-relative AFCARS stamp in FY2022. Median stay is long-tail at 29.7 months among exits.
How many children are in foster care in Illinois?
20,743 children were in foster care on September 30, 2022, in the FY2022 AFCARS state table.
What is Illinois's foster care grade?
C. PlainFoster averages four FY2022 measure percentiles and assigns the displayed band from that composite.
What is the adoption rate in Illinois?
#18 of 51 states, at 28.8%.
How does Illinois compare to other states on aging out?
9.9% of youth age out without permanency, 0.7 points above the national rate. That is a lower rate than 31% of the 51 reporting states in FY2022 AFCARS.
Read our methodology - how Illinois's FY2022 AFCARS row is sourced, computed, and verified.
U.S. Children's Bureau AFCARS FY2022 jurisdiction report for Illinois (IL). ACF Trends in Foster Care and Adoption workbooks FY2013-FY2022; median months in care stamp 29.7 mo.
Source: U.S. Children's Bureau (Administration for Children and Families) AFCARS workbooks and jurisdiction reports · FY2022 Illinois rates are exits shares from the jurisdiction report; in-care counts are the September 30 stock. Caseload is large-system scale: 20,743 children in care on September 30 (#4 nationally).