About The Report

Report Availability

The Child Welfare Outcomes data featured on this site are the most current publicly available data, from 2017 to 2021. The site allows you to view the most recent data before the full Report is published. The most recently published full Report is Child Welfare Outcomes 2020: Report to Congress. For more information on forthcoming full reports and updates to this data site, please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions page.

Description of the Report

Child Welfare Outcomes is a Report that is published annually by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (the Department) to meet requirements of section 203(a) of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA). ASFA amended section 479A of the Social Security Act to require an annual Report on state performance.

Child Welfare Outcomes Reports provide information on the performance of states in seven outcome categories. The Department identified these outcomes prior to the first Child Welfare Outcomes Report in close consultation with state and local child welfare agency administrators, child advocacy organizations, child welfare researchers, state legislators, and other child welfare experts. The outcomes used in the Reports reflect widely accepted performance objectives for child welfare practice.

In addition to reporting on state performance in these outcome categories, the Child Welfare Outcomes Reports also include data on contextual factors and findings of analyses conducted across states. Data for most of the measures in these Reports come from the Department's two national child welfare-related data systems: the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) and the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS).