Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS)

AFCARS was created, in part, due to concerns raised about the lack of national information available on children in foster care, their families, foster care settings and adopted children. In 1986, Congress amended title IV-E of the Social Security Act (the Act) by adding section 479, which requires the Federal government to institute a foster care and adoption data collection system. In response to the law, requirements for States to report adoption and foster care data to a Federal system (known as AFCARS) were implemented under Federal regulations at 45 CFR 1355.40. The AFCARS collects case level information on all children in foster care for whom the State child welfare agency has responsibility for placement, care or supervision and on children who are adopted under the auspices of the State's public child welfare agency. The data required by AFCARS is information that would normally be collected during the course of a social worker's assessment, planning, and service provision, so that additional information does not need to be collected solely for the purpose of meeting AFCARS requirements.