Explained: What AFCARS Is, and Why Its Numbers Differ From State Reports

AFCARS, the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, is the federal government's foster care dataset. Every state agency sends case-level records to the Children's Bureau, which publishes national and state totals.

Why the numbers don't match

Take Texas. DFPS counted 16,866 children in substitute care on August 31, 2025, the last day of the Texas fiscal year. AFCARS counted 17,520 Texas children in foster care on September 30, 2025, the last day of the federal fiscal year. The differences come from three things:

• Different days. A month apart, children enter and leave.
• Different definitions. AFCARS foster care can include children placed at home under agency supervision; DFPS's substitute-care count excludes them.
• Different vintages. AFCARS figures are revised as states resubmit. The FY 2024 national count was first published as 328,947 and later revised to 327,364.

The 2023 break

In FY 2023, a new federal rule (AFCARS 2020) changed what states report. The Children's Bureau says FY 2023 and later are not comparable with earlier years, and it stopped publishing some measures, like "waiting for adoption." We mark that break on every national chart.

How FosterData handles it

• We use state agency data for state and local stories, because it's more current and more local.
• We use AFCARS for national context and cross-state comparisons.
• Every number carries its source, coverage and as-of date. If we chart it, you can cite it.