Montana Foster Care Statistics

Average Number of Children One Foster Family Can Help:

Research suggests that foster families often care for around one to three children at a time, and over their fostering career, many foster families care for multiple children, often ranging from five to 15 placements or more.

(Source: U.S. Dept. Of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau, Child Welfare Information Gateway, The Annie E. Casey Foundation and Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago)  

Number of Children in Foster Care (9/30) by Year:

2018: 4,019
2019: 3,745
2020: 3,470
2021: 3,186
2022: 2,672

Number of Children Adopted from Foster Care by Year:

2018: 396
2019: 482
2020: 432
2021: 313
2022: 282

Child Maltreatment Victims per Capita by Year

2018: 16.4 per 1,000
2019: 16.3 per 1,000
2020: 16.3 per 1,000
2021: 13.2 per 1,000
2022: 11.6 per 1,000

(Source: Children's Bureau: Child Welfare Outcomes Report)

Maltreatment Types of Child Victims  

Neglect is consistently and by far the most common type of child maltreatment and cause of removal. Neglect is the sole primary cause for a child’s entry into the child welfare system, but neglect also typically accompanies the various forms of abuse.  

In 2022, 100% of child maltreatment cases investigated involved child neglect. Approximately 6% of cases involved physical abuse and 4% involved sexual abuse. Other forms of maltreatment involved in less than 1% of cases included emotional abuse and medial neglect.  

(Source: Children's Bureau: Child Welfare Outcomes Report)

Case Plan Goals

74% of case plan goals are to reunite kids and their parents, and 18% of cases plan for adoption. (Source: fosteruskids.org)

Length of Stay

The median time a child spends in foster care is 15.8 months. 19% spend between 1-5 months in care, and 12% remain in foster care for 3-4 years. (Source: FosterUSKids)

In 2022, the median length of time a child spent in foster care was 16.7 months.

Comparatively, 2022 showed a five-year low in the number of children in foster care and a five-year high for the median length of time children spent in foster care. (Source: Children's Bureau: Child Welfare Outcomes Report)Children's Bureau: Child Welfare Outcomes Report)

In 2022, 1,398 children entered foster care in Montana, and 1,764 children exited foster care. (Source: Children's Bureau: Child Welfare Outcomes Report)

Age of Children in Foster Care (2022)

Under 1 Year: 6%
1-5 Years: 36%
6-10 Years: 27%
11-14 Years: 18%
15-17 Years: 12%

(Source: Children's Bureau: Child Welfare Outcomes Report)

Children Awaiting Adoption (2022)

Under 1 Year: 1%
1-5 Years: 32%
6-10 Years: 26%
11-14 Years: 23%
15-17 Years: 18%

(Source: Children's Bureau: Child Welfare Outcomes Report)

Total Number of Children Awaiting Adoption (2022)

Ages 0-17: 553

Total Number of Children Adopted (2022)

Ages 0-17: 282

Racial Demographics

Of the 2,714 children in foster care in 2022, 45% were white/Caucasian, 38% were Native American or Alaskan Native, 9% were two or more races, 6% were Hispanic and 1% were African American.

(Source: Children's Bureau: Child Welfare Outcomes Report)

Teens/Youth Emancipation (Aging Out)

In 2022, 95 youths in foster care aged out of the foster care system at the age of 18. Of these youths, 62% were 12 years old or older at the time they entered foster care. Only 38% of these youths were younger than 12 when they entered foster care.  

(Source: Children's Bureau: Child Welfare Outcomes Report)

Total Number of Licensed Foster Families in Montana by Year

• 2019: 1,422
• 2021: 1,674
• 2023: 1,200

(Source: The Imprint: Who Cares Report)

Miscellaneous Statistics (2021)

• In 2021, 465 children had their biological parental rights terminated.
• The median age of children in the system is six years old.
• 33% of foster youth live with a licensed foster family (non-relative).
• 6% live in a group home.
• 74% of case plan goals are to reunite kids and their parents.
• 18% of cases plan for adoption and a forever home (after parental rights are terminated).
• Foster children spend a median time of 15.8 months in care.
• 19% spend between 1-5 months in care.
• 12% remain in foster care for 3-4 years.

(Source: FosterUSKids)

Percentage of Youth in Foster Care Living with Relative (Kinship Placement) by Year

• 2019: 39%
• 2020: 45%

(Source: The Imprint: Who Cares Report)

Percentage of Youth in Foster Care Living in Group/Congregate Homes by Year

• 2019: 8%
• 2020: 10%

(Source: The Imprint: Who Cares Report)

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National Foster Care Statistics

(Source: The National Foster Youth Institute)

Placement/Response

• More than 250,000 children are placed into the foster care system in the United States every year.
• Despite the promises of the foster care system, as of 2012, more than 58,000 children in the U.S. foster care system were placed in institutions or group homes. ‍
• States spent a mere 1.2-1.3% of available federal funds on parent recruitment and training services even though 22% of children in foster care had adoption as their goal.
• More than 85% of children in foster care have had a minimum of two different placement settings within the first 12 months of being placed in the system.
• More than 20% of the children who are currently in foster care are aged 3 or younger. ‍
• 11% of children who are placed into a permanent setting outside of foster care will re-enter the system within 12 months.
• Less than 70% of the cases of founded child maltreatment had a response time that was less than 48 hours for an intervention.
• 30.4% of incidents were responded to by caseworkers in 24 hours or less. ‍
• In the U.S. 397,122 children are living without permanent families in the foster care system.

Aging Out

• More than 23,000 children will age out of the U.S. foster care system every year. ‍
• After reaching the age of 18, 20% of the children who were in foster care will become instantly homeless.
• In 2015, more than 20,000 young people aged out of foster care after states failed to reunite them with their families or place in permanent homes.
• Only half of all kids who age out of the foster care system will have some form of gainful employment by the age of 24. ‍
• Seven out of 10 girls who age out of the foster care system will become pregnant before the age of 21. ‍
• Nearly 60% of young men who age out of the foster care system and are legally emancipated have been convicted of a crime.
• 25% of children who age out of the foster care system still suffer from the direct effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
• 75% of women and 33% of men receive government benefits to meet basic needs after they age out of the system. ‍
• Half of all kids who age out of the system will develop a substance dependence.
• The annual rate of children who are discharged out of the foster system without a successful placement: 13%. ‍
• Children with a diagnosed disability of any kind, including a learning disability, are twice as likely to age out of the foster care system.
• Kids who enter the foster care system after the age of 12 have a 2/5 chance of being legally emancipated at the age of 18 from the system.
• 55% of these children who wind up being legally emancipated by the foster care system have had 3 or more placements over their childhood. ‍
• More than 40% of the children who reach the age of 18 while in foster care were in the system for more than 3 years.
• There is a direct correlation to the age of a child who enters foster care and their likelihood of being successfully discharged to a permanent home instead of being legally emancipated.

Education

• About 25% kids who age out of the system will not graduate from high school or be able to pass their GED.
• There is less than a 3% chance for children who have aged out of foster care to earn a college degree at any point in their life.
• Despite all of the challenges, 70% of kids in foster care regularly say that they would like to attend college one day.

Adoption

• Adopted children make up roughly 2% of the total child population under the age of 18.
• Children who are adopted make up over 10% of the total referrals for child therapy.
• 33% of children in foster care had changed elementary schools five or more times, causing them to fall behind academically and lose friends that they had made in the process.
• Only 32.6% of adoptions from foster care occur within the first 2 years of a child being placed into the system.
• In 2012, only 4.5% of children who were adopted out of foster care were placed in the system for fewer than 12 months.
• The percentage of children adopted in less than 12 months out of foster care in 2009: 3.6%. ‍
• The average number of children available for adoption each year through the foster care system: 101,666.
• 32% of the children who are eligible for adoption from foster care must wait at least three years before they will be adopted.
• There are 17,900,000 orphans who have lost both parents and are living in orphanages or on the streets around the world today. ‍
• U.S. families adopted more than 7,000 children in 2012, yet over 100k children await adoption from the American foster care system every year.

Victimization Rates

• In 2012, there were approximately 679,000 instances of confirmed child maltreatment from the over 3 million reports generated.
• The overall national child victim rate was 9.2 child victims per 1,000 children in the U.S. population. ‍
• 73% of the cases of child maltreatment are due to neglect. ‍
• Kids between the ages of 0-7 make up more than half of all child maltreatment reports that are generated in the United States every year.
• 48.9% of the reports are generated from families that are Caucasian.
• State child victim rates vary dramatically in the United States, ranging from 1.2 child victims per 1,000 children to 19.6 child victims per 1,000 children.
• Between 2002 and 2012, the number of children in care on the last day of the fiscal year decreased by 24.2%, or by over 130,000 children. ‍
• 8% of the total child population of the United States is represented by reports of abuse that are given to authorities in the United States annually.
• 5.1% of children who have been the victim of substantiated child abuse will become the victim of abuse again within six months.
• African American children had the highest rates of victimization at 14.2 victims per 1,000 children in that racial group’s overall child population.
• Asian children had the lowest rates, with 1.7 victims per 1,000.
• African American children make up 20% of the foster care population, which is about double the amount of maltreatment reports that are generated for their racial demographic annually. ‍
• More than 6% of children who are placed into foster care have been sexually abused by a parent or family member.