Community Assessment 2020-2025

Sacramento Employment and Training Agency 2020-2025
FOSTER CARE
The number of children in foster care has remained relatively flat over the past five years. In 2018,
there were 2,392 children in foster care in Sacramento County, which is 2.9% less than in
2013. The largest percentage of children who enter the foster care system are age five or less, with
infants consistently having higher rates of first entry into care than older children.
Statewide, the median length of stay for children entering foster care in 2017 was 17.4
months. After declining from 17.2 in 2001 to a low of 13.2 in 2009, the median number of months
in foster care increased in seven of the eight years that followed. For children entering care for the
first time in 2017, 34% were reunified with their families and 64% were still in foster care one
year after entry.
The following chart shows the exit outcomes for Foster Care youth upon exiting.
150%
2017 Foster Youth Exit Outcomes Comparison
100%
50%
Sacrament
o County
California
0%
H.S. Diploma/ Equivalent Employed Housing Permanency Connection
Source: California Child Welfare Indicators Project, U.C. Berkeley
Children in foster care are at increased risk for a variety of emotional, physical, behavioral, and
academic problems, with outcomes generally worse for children in group homes (Children Need
Amazing Parents/CHAMPS 2019). Recognizing this, advocates and policymakers have made
efforts to prevent children from entering the system and to safely reduce the number of children
living in foster care, particularly in group homes (National Conference of State Legislatures 2019).
While the number of children in foster care nationally has decreased since the 2000s, it has risen
in recent years, and California continues to have the largest number of children entering the
system each year (US Department of Health and Human Services). Further, children of color
continue to be over-represented in the foster care system; in California, for example, African
American/Black children make up 23% of foster children but only 6% of the general child
population.
COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT 2020-2025 24