Who Cares

A new data project focusing on foster care capacity has illustrated a growing reality across the nation’s child welfare system: relatives are increasingly stepping up to provide care for children removed from their parents.

As a new leader in the child welfare space, I thought it would be worth my while to do some listening before I made any big changes. So I went on a tour all over the state of Washington.

Newly released data compiled and analyzed by The Imprint suggests that the United States is on the downside of its most recent foster care surge. For most of the 2010s, federal data showed the number of children in foster care steadily increasing after a previous decade of decline.

We’re counting down 10 of the biggest stories The Imprint published in 2018. Each day, we’ll connect readers with a few links to our coverage on a big story from 2018.

For five consecutive years, from 2012 to 2016, federal reports have shown a steady increase in the number of youth living in foster care. Sources within the federal agency tracking this number say that these increases will continue in the soon-to-come 2017 count.