Open Arms Campaign is a Seattle area non-profit volunteer organization dedicated to the recruitment of foster and adoptive homes.

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Statistics taken from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS).

Estimates as of June 2001 for the U.S.:

How many children were in foster care on September 30, 1999?
581,000

What were the ages of children in foster care?

Mean years	9.9
Median years	10.1
Under 1 year	4%	23,396
1 thru 5	25%	143,268
6 thru 10	26%	150,574
11 thru 15	28%	164,134
16 thru 18	16%	90,293
19+	2%	9335

 

What were the placement settings of children in foster care?

Pre-adoptive 4% 22,484
Foster family home(relative) 26% 151,864
Foster family home(non-relative) 47% 274,100
Group home 8% 46,279
Institution 10% 57,590
Supervised independent living 1% 4979
Runaway 1% 7886
Trial home visit 3% 15,818

What were the lengths of stay for the children in foster care?
Mean months 32
Median months 20

What were the case goals of the children in foster care?
Reunify with parent/s or principal caretaker/s 42% 242,571
Live with other relative 5% 26,368
A doption 19% 107,581
Long term foster care 8% 48,828
Emancipation 6% 32,960
Guardianship 3% 17,608
Case plan goal not yet established 18% 105,084

What was the race/ethnicity of the children in foster care?
White non-Hispanic 34% 199,735
Black non-Hispanic 39% 223,751
Hispanic 17% 98,396
AI/AN non-Hispanic 2% 9475
Asian/PI non-Hispanic 1% 6109
Unknown/unable to determine 7% 43,533

What was the gender of the children in foster care?
Male 52% 303,157
Female 48% 277,843

How many children were waiting to be adopted on September 30, 1999?
127,000

What is the gender distribution of the waiting children?
Male 52% 66,388
Female 48% 60,612

What is the racial/ethnic distribution of the waiting children?
White non-Hispanic 32% 40,799
Black non-Hispanic 42% 53,791
Hispanic 15% 19,108
AI/AN non-Hispanic 1% 1031
Asian/PI non-Hispanic 1% 1792
Unknown/unable to determine 8% 9716

How many children were adopted from the public foster care system in 1999?
46,000

What proportion of the children adopted are receiving an adoption subsidy?
88%, 40,423

What was the relationship of the adoptive parents to the child prior to adoption?
Non-relative 20% 9164
Foster parent 64% 29,387
Step-parent 0% 96
Other relative 16% 7353

Adoptive Family Structure
Married couple 66% 30,233
Unmarried couple 1% 403
Single female 31% 14,392
Single male 2% 972

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Open Arms Campaign is a project of
Gay Community Social Services,
a 501(c)(3) non profit organization

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