On any given day, there are more than 424,000 youth in the American foster care system across 50 states and 16 territories.

Of the over 400,000 children in the American foster care system in 2023, more than 117,000, whose mothers' and fathers' rights have been terminated, were waiting to be adopted.

In 2022, 18,548 children aged out of the American foster care system. Each year this number reminds us of the failures of our child welfare system to help achieve permanency for our youth. The impacts of aging out of foster care are worse than all other exit types, resulting in being at higher risk of homelessness, unemployement, and incarceration.