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CBS News ColoradoCO Data about Foster Care and Adoption: 2025
• There are 4,351 Colorado youth currently living in foster care.
o Of those, 342 are available for adoption. (Adoption becomes an option when
reunification with biological family is not possible, and parental rights have been
legally terminated.)
• In Colorado, 213 youth aged out of foster care last year.
o Economic Impact of Aging Out: A November 2023 study highlighted the financial
implications of youth aging out of foster care. Each cohort of approximately 213
individuals who age out annually incurs lifetime costs between $66 million and
$73 million, averaging up to $343,453 per person. These costs stem from higher
rates of homelessness, incarceration, and lower educational attainment among
this population.
• Colorado has approximately 2,078 licensed foster homes, a slight increase from previous
years, but not enough to accommodate the need. [Link]
• CO faces particular challenges in meeting the demand for foster placements for children
with specialized needs:
o In May 2024, Colorado had 56 therapeutic foster care homes and 6 treatment
foster care homes, highlighting the need for more specialized foster care
providers. [Link]
• More than 1/3 of foster youth who emancipate from the foster care system in
Colorado are homeless by age 21.
• National data shows that 43% of women and 74% of men who emancipated from foster
care will have been incarcerated at least once over the course of their lives, and
Colorado state officials say the primary solution to addressing this problem is to place
foster kids into permanent homes, either through adoption or being reunited with their
birth families.
• Nearly 13% of adoptions of foster children in CO in the past decade have failed,
compared to under 10% nationally, and those youth are returned to the foster care
system. Adoptive parents cite behavioral challenges and lack of free and effective
support services as contributing factors.
National Data 2025
• Most recent data show approximately 369,000 children in the U.S. foster care system.
This number has been on a decline from a peak of 437,000 in 2017 and 2018.
• Annually, the U.S. foster care system serves over 600,000 children. [Link]. This
figure includes both children entering and exiting the system within a given year.
• Over one-third of children in foster care experience three or more placements annually.
• Approximately 20,000 youth age out (or “emancipate”) from foster care each year –
that’s 55 per day.
• Because of the complex traumas faced by children and youth in foster care, foster care
alumni experience posttraumatic stress disorder at a rate nearly five times higher than
the general adult population.
• A 2018 Children’s Bureau report to Congress showed that 60% of domestic child
trafficking victims and 70% of youth in detention centers have spent time in foster care.
• Of youth who emancipate, 20% will be homeless, half will be unemployed, and 71% of
young women will become pregnant within the first two years of emancipation
(Fryar, Jordan, DeVooght, 2017).
• Forming secure attachments to safe, caring adults is the single most important
protective factor against negative long-term health and wellbeing outcomes for youth
(Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2020)
Raise the Future Data
• A 2018 report from the Colorado Department of Human Services showed that 70% of
youth in foster care that received Raise the Future’s Youth Advocate services were
adopted, compared to 44% of youth receiving only traditional services.
• Raise the Future has placed over 11,000 youth with loving families since their founding
in 1983.
• With support from Raise the Future, last year 313 youth exited foster care into the
home of a loving and stable adult.
• Raise the Future provided trauma-informed training to almost 4,000 families and
professionals last year, equipping them with the skills and tools necessary to help youth
and families heal, connect, and thrive.
• 95% of respondents that engaged with Raise the Future’s trauma-healing family support
program reported positive changes in areas like youth and family wellbeing and youth
mental/behavioral health.
• 100% of adoptive families served by Raise the Future’s trauma-healing family services in
the past year maintained permanency in their homes.
