The foster care system is designed to help children for whom home is not a good place, due to issues like neglect or abuse.

Kids who are removed from the custody of their parents are among the most at-risk individuals in our society. Many end up in trouble or homeless. California's education funding system specifies foster youth as a high needs group in order to encourage schools to invest increased attention to them.

Less than one percent of the state's children are foster youth, and the rate varies by race and ethnicity. There are over 59,000 foster youth in California. This is significantly fewer than in 1998, when there were over 100,000 foster youth in the state according to a report from the California Child Welfare Indicators Project.

Number of California children in foster care each year on July 1, by subgroup. Source: kidsdata.org using data from "Kids Count" analysis, July 2018.

African American/Black and American Indian/Alaska Native children consistently have the highest rates of entry into foster care, exceeding one in every 150 children.

According to research supported by the Stuart Foundation, most kids placed in foster care in California remain in care for one or two years. About a third remain in foster care for three or more years. Kidsdata.org indicates that in California in 2017, the average length of time for foster children in care was 17.4 months.

Wiegmann, W., Putnam-Hornstein, E., Barrat, V. X., Magruder, J. & Needell, B. (2014) The Invisible Achievement Gap Part 2: How the Foster Care Experiences of California Public School Students Are Associated with Their Education Outcomes. Page 6

Students in foster care face major obstacles. According to The Invisible Achievement Gap [PDF], an extensive study of foster care in California, compared to other subgroups of students foster youth were:

• Classified with a disability at twice the rate of comparison groups.
• More likely than other students to change schools during the school year.
• More likely than the general population of students to be enrolled in the lowest-performing schools.
• Most likely to drop out and least likely to graduate.

The state provides foster youth services and supports through county child welfare agencies and school districts. According to Wiegmann et. al., "Most students were in foster care because of neglect (78 percent). Others were in care due to physical abuse (11 percent), sexual abuse (4 percent), or for other reasons (7 percent)." (Note: California's CALPADS data system identifies fewer students in foster care than the KidsCount system. This may reflect differences in data definition and collection practices.)

There are over 59,000 foster youth in California, significantly fewer than in 1998.

Some organizations and funders have stepped up to try to make the future better for foster kids. These organizations can reasonably claim some successes. For example, First Place For Youth has made significant progress in addressing the problems of homelessness for children who "age out" of the foster care system. Imagine being an 18 year old from a troubled family, suddenly kicked out to find your own way in the world! In California, AB 12, which was passed in 2010, extended some foster care supports to youth through age 21. An organization sponsored by the John Burton Foundation, California Fostering Connections, provides extensive information about these changes and how they affect foster youth.

School districts generally assign students to schools using their address of residence; this can produce quite a bit of disruption for foster youth when they are moved from one home to another. The Every Student Succeeds Act includes some "educational stability" measures to make it easier for foster youth to remain in schools when reassigned.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation, which has consistently invested in issues of child welfare, offers deep resources to learn more about programs designed to help vulnerable children. In California, the Stuart Foundation has also made foster youth a special focus for support and research. For data about foster youth, including statistics about the number of foster kids in your own county, check kidsdata.org. There are also resources for de-mystifying the system, for Resource Families, and Resource Parents.

The Covid-19 pandemic presented particular challenges for foster youth, exacerbating problems already inherent within the system. "Aging out" of foster care became scarier than ever in a time of extreme uncertainty, and the transition to virtual schooling was tough for foster kids forced to change homes because of the pandemic conditions. Fortunately, there are ways to support foster children. Check this list of 30 ways to help.

Updated May 2017, July 2021