AFCARS

New data requirements on the LGBTQ status of foster youth, first announced by the Obama administration and then rejected by Trump, could resurface soon.

The number of youth in foster care dropped by 4.5% between September of 2019 and 2020, according to annual federal data, reaching the lowest total in the past eight years, while adoptions from foster care plummeted as the coronavirus pandemic spread in America.

The process for adding new elements to what’s known as the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, or AFCARS, is now in litigation that started under the Trump administration and continues under President Joe Biden.

Late Friday the Trump administration finalized a one-third reduction in the amount of data the government must collect about youth in foster care and their parents, sparking an outcry from advocates who charge that the changes are politically driven and will be bad for already-vulnerable kids.

As The Imprint reported last week, and projected last year in our “Who Cares” project, the number of youth in foster care declined slightly in 2018. And there was good news on both ends of the system as well: entries into foster care were down, and exits from foster care were up.

The number of youth in foster care declined for the first time since 2011, according to an annual report on youth in care released by the Department of Health and Human Services.

We owe teens and young adults in the child welfare system permanency and support so they are prepared for adulthood. The key way we plan with them for adulthood is by creating a transition plan.