Stats on Orphans from Dave Gibbons Message Yesterday

(http://cssr.berkeley.edu/ucb_childwelfare/default.aspx)

• In a point in time study (July 2009) there were 2,633 kids in the care of the county of orange social service agency

From Childrens Law Center LA (http://www.clcla.org/facts_overview.htm). If you go to this page you can see where they pulled the data from. Good sources.

1. On any given day, half a million abused and neglected children and youth are in foster care in our nation.

2. More than half of foster children spend at least two years in the foster care system, and nearly 20 percent wait five or more years for a safe, permanent family.

3. On average, children in foster care move through three different foster care placements, frequently with little or no warning.

4. 118,000 of the children currently in foster care are waiting to be adopted.

5. About 19,000 older youth “age out” of foster care each year without a permanent family to support them.

As a result, the future – for many of these youth – is anything but bright. According to research studies:

6. Over a third of foster youth earn neither a high school diploma nor a GED.

7. Fewer than half of young adults were employed 12 to 18 months after aging out of the foster care system.

8. One third of youth who age out of the foster care system evidence mental health problems, the most prevalent diagnoses being Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, alcohol or substance abuse, and major depression.

9. Approximately one third of foster children will receive some form of public assistance shortly after aging out of the system.

10. About one fourth of foster youth will be incarcerated within the first two years after they leave the system.

11. Over one fifth of foster children will become homeless at some time after age 18.

(HT:  Dave Gibbons)