African American children are disproportionately more likely than other children to be reported, investigated, substantiated, and placed in foster care. They are more likely to have longer placements in out-of-home care, are less likely to receive comprehensive services, and are less likely to reunify with their families than caucasian children. On any given day, there are approximately 1000 children between the ages of newborn and three years old in foster care in San Diego county. Of those, 29% are under the age of 5. In traditional foster care a baby will typically live in three different homes before his first birthday. Twenty-seven percent of the children in foster care are African American, double the percent of African American children in the population in America. There are at least 81,000 children in foster care in California.
Children of color, especially African American children, and often American Indian children, face significant disparity within the child welfare system. There are so many displaced and neglected children who need fostering in San Diego, and so few families to provide shelter and love.
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