Who are the children in foster care?
Many children are placed in foster care because they were abused, neglected, or abandoned by their families. Some children wait alone in foster care, while others wait with siblings. The average age of a child in foster care is 9, but children range from infants to teenagers. Virtually every race, ethnic group, and socioeconomic category is represented.
While in foster care, these children may live temporarily with extended family members, with a foster family, or in a group home. Meanwhile, social workers help their birth families. If a family’s problems can’t be resolved, the agency with custody of the child goes to court and legally terminates parental rights. From that point on, social workers try to find a safe and loving adoptive family for the child.