Child Trends’ updated comprehensive resource of state-level data for understanding child welfare provides state and national data on child maltreatment, foster care, kinship caregiving, and adoption. This resource compiles critical data from a variety of sources on children, youth, and families who came in contact with the child welfare system. This Companion Guide for Child Welfare Data provides information on (1) how the state profiles can be used, (2) descriptions of each data source, (3) an overview of the current state of child welfare in the United States, and (4) contextual information necessary to interpret the data. As stakeholders use these data in their decision making, they should consider the long history of the child welfare field and the nuances of child welfare data, as well as how the intersection of the two impact the data’s meaning.
View the brief here.