• Most children entering foster care (72%) were removed from their homes for neglect-related reasons. Family stressors such as alcohol and drug use and domestic violence are often factors, as are economic stressors such as unemployment and child care.
• Of the nearly 63,000 children in child welfare supervised foster care, roughly 22,000 will reunify with their parents and nearly 8,000 will be adopted over the course of a year.
• Of children who enter foster care for the first time, roughly 55% are age 5 or younger.
• Many children cycle through the foster care system more than once and experience multiple placements.
• Nearly 17% of children who have been in care for less than one year have already experienced three or more placements. Of those children who have been in care for two years or more, over 66% are in at least their third placement.
• Approximately 45% of children in California’s foster care system have been in care for more than two years. The longer these children remain in care, the lower their likelihood of reunification with their families. For these children, other forms of permanency such as adoption and legal guardianship are often required.

California has helped to pioneer a number of critical reforms in child welfare over the past 10 years, including the creation of a statewide outcomes and accountability system that measures state and counties’ performance in improving outcomes for the children and families served.

Beginning in 2004, quarterly data is now provided to counties and is available on a public Web site documenting the job that is being done to improve a set of eight overall outcomes for children and families.

In addition, a state Child Welfare Council now exists to better coordinate services among the myriad of state agencies that serve children and families, and a Blue Ribbon Commission on Children in Foster Care recently released sweeping recommendations calling for “juvenile dependency courts to change the way courts do business” and better work with their child welfare partners in serving children and families.

State legislative leadership has helped to focus new energies on the needs of foster children through the creation of the Select Committee on Children in Foster Care, and leaders in the Assembly and Senate are long-time champions of children in foster care.

Counties are shifting practices where possible to emphasize more prevention services for families before crises erupt, and community partners are supporting county efforts to target needed services.

However, despite reform efforts and recent statewide progress in improving outcomes for children, challenges remain. For example, the state's current budget situation threatens progress that has been made by potentially impacting resources that are available to support children and families. Also impacting this is an economic downturn which compounds the ability of communities, counties and the state to respond to the increased needs of families and continue to improve child welfare outcomes.