Limitations of AFCARS

The Automated Foster Care and Adoption Reporting System (AFCARS) is currently the only source of data available in every state to measure the experience of children in foster care.  Problems exist with the data in spite of considerable recent improvements. These problems include:   

·          Different county and state definitions and policies that limit the ability to make state to state comparisons.

·          Limited ability to track the flow of children into and out of care (called longitudinal data) as compared to other data systems that are only available in a limited number of states.   

For more information on other data systems, that are currently available in only a limited number of states, see information on alternative child welfare data sources. 

AFCARS is used by the federal government to produce a report with state by state and national data on a number of key child welfare outcomes.  States can use it as a starting point for understanding the experience of children in foster care.   

The limitations and problems with AFCARS are well known, and there are pending changes in AFCARS outlined in the federal Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, including the addition of longitudinal data.