Adoption & Foster Care

This is a shorter, summary version of ASPE’s full analytical report with a similar title, examining the characteristics and care trajectories of children in Illinois, New York, and Tennessee who receive Treatment Foster Care services compared with those receiving congregate care, traditional, non-kinship foster care, and kinship foster care.

Treatment foster care (TFC; sometimes known as therapeutic foster care) is a family-based placement option for children with serious emotional, behavioral, or medical needs who can be served in the community with intensive support. This report describes how TFC is implemented and supported by states.

The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 provided states with the option to operate guardianship assistance programs (GAP) as part of their child welfare permanency continuum under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act.  The first of these programs began operating in 2010, though some states had operated guardianship programs under title IV-E demonstration

This ASPE Research Brief describes the number and characteristics of children who in 2011 or 2012 lived with someone other than their parents and who had experienced the incarceration of a parent or guardian.

This short research summary highlights findings to date from an ASPE study seeking to understand how states currently use treatment foster care to serve youth with serious emotional and behavioral disorders in the least restrictive possible setting.

This paper highlights the characteristics and experiences of the approximately 2.3 million U.S. children who live with neither biological nor adoptive parents, but instead live with relatives or non-relatives in foster care or less formal arrangements outside the foster care system.

This research brief highlights the gains the foster care system has made in safely discharging youth from foster care in a timely manner, particularly those entering foster care for the first time. For nearly two decades federal policies have emphasized the importance of reducing the lengths of stay in

This ASPE Research Brief presents analyses of the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children's Health describing the characteristics, health and well-being of children who live with neither of their biological parents. The analysis compares children living with neither of their biological parents to children living with one or two biological parents.

As the number of immigrant children and children of immigrants in the U.S. has grown, child welfare agencies are serving an increasingly diverse spectrum of families, including many with at least one parent or some children who were born outside the U.S.

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