CDSS Programs Child Welfare - Early Childhood Data

Data

Young children, especially infants under one year old, enter foster care at disproportionately higher rates than any other age group. Additionally, they tend to have longer stays in foster care, however, will eventually achieve permanency through reunification, adoption, or guardianship, at higher rates than their older counterparts. Examining data, both quantitative and qualitative, is extremely important and helps to inform policy changes that can maximize supports to best serve young children involved with child welfare services.

The California Child Welfare Indicator’s Project

The CDSS partners with the California Child Welfare Indicator’s Project (CCWIP) to provide a comprehensive source of child welfare administrative data. CCWIP receives extracts from the statewide child welfare case management system and disseminates aggregate reports that are made publicly available. Data can be filtered through a variety of methods and subcategories to customize reports based on topics of interest.

California Child Welfare Indicators Project (CCWIP)
University of California at Berkeley
California Department of Social Services, Research and Data Insights Branch
Entries to Foster Care
Agency Type: Child Welfare
Jan 1, 2023 to Dec 31, 2023
Selected Subset: Episode Count: First Entries, Other Entries
Selected Subset: Number of Days in Care: 8 days or more
Selected Subset: Age: <1 mo, 1-11 mo, 1 yr, 2 yr, 3 yr, 4 yr, 5 yr
California

Ethnic Group Removal Reason Total
Neglect Physical Sexual Voluntary Reentry Other Missing
Black 1,431 92 5 0 44 0 1,572
White 1,951 82 5 0 55 0 2,093
Latino 4,167 262 36 0 123 0 4,588
Asian/P.I. 151 9 2 0 6 0 168
Nat Amer 114 4 0 0 0 0 118
Missing 189 8 3 0 5 0 205
Total 8,003 457 51 0 233 0 8,744

Data Source: CWS/CMS 2023 Quarter 4 Extract.
Program version: 2013.12.09 Database version: 789375E0

Bar chart titled Children with Entries to Foster Care, Child Population (0-17), and Incidence Rates. The data covers January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2023, for California. The chart shows incidence per 1,000 children across different age groups. Age groups and their respective incidence rates per 1,000 children are as follows: - Under 1: 9.4 - 1-2: 2.6 - 3-5: 2.2 - 6-10: 1.6 - 11-15: 1.6 - 16-17: 1.4 The chart notes that the data is based on unduplicated counts of children at state and county levels. The data source is CWS/CMS 2023 Quarter 4 Extract, with population data from the 2023 CA Dept. of Finance. Program version: 2.00 Database version: 7899EDF5. The chart is provided by the California Child Welfare Indicators Project (CCWIP), University of California at Berkeley.