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Demographics: Count of children aged <19 years in previous 5 years

North Carolina
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Number of children 4332 4426 4359 4489 3902
Adoptive home 0.2% 0.1% 0.4% 0.2% 0.0%
Emergency Shelter/Temporary Placement 0.3% 0.5% 2.8% 4.9% 7.0%
Foster home 37.7% 37.8% 34.1% 32.0% 32.6%
Therapeutic Home 0.9% 0.7% 0.6% 1.0% 1.1%
Group Home, Residential 4.5% 3.4% 3.6% 3.6% 3.5%
Group Home, Treatment 0.6% 0.3% 0.6% 0.5% 0.6%
Hospital 6.8% 7.7% 8.2% 8.2% 8.4%
Jail/Detention Facility 0.8% 0.6% 0.9% 0.8% 0.4%
Missing Data 0.4% 0.5% 0.4% 0.9% 0.3%
Non-relative/Court Approved 10.9% 11.9% 12.7% 13.2% 10.8%
Other 1.0% 1.0% 1.5% 2.3% 2.1%
Parent/Guardian 2.4% 2.1% 2.3% 2.0% 2.5%
Relative 32.9% 32.9% 31.5% 29.9% 30.4%
Runaway 0.6% 0.5% 0.4% 0.3% 0.4%

North Carolina
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Number of children 4332 4426 4359 4489 3902
Median number of days 540.0 543.0 544.0 435.0 N/A
% remaining after 90 days 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
% remaining after 180 days 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
% remaining after 360 days 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
% remaining after 450 days 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% N/A
% remaining after 540 days 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% N/A
% remaining after 720 days 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% N/A
% remaining after 1080 days 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% N/A N/A

North Carolina
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Number of children 4332 4426 4359 4489 3902
Number of children in non-family settings 1664 1780 1906 1939 1518
Number of children in non-family settings 38.4% 40.2% 43.7% 43.2% 38.9%
Median # of days in non-family settings 142.0 124.0 101.0 91.0 N/A
Median # of days in custody/pa 672.5 702.5 681.0 447.0 N/A

North Carolina
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
1 placement 30.1% 25.6% 21.3% 26.2% 40.2%
2 placements 20.1% 19.8% 24.4% 25.3% 26.9%
3 placements 12.5% 15.4% 16.1% 16.2% 13.8%
4 or more placements 35.5% 37.3% 35.9% 30.4% 15.6%
No countable placements 1.8% 2.0% 2.3% 1.9% 3.5%

North Carolina
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
1 placement 39.2% 32.9% 25.9% 28.6% 40.2%
2 placements 23.2% 24.4% 27.2% 26.7% 26.9%
3 placements 12.9% 16.2% 16.8% 16.1% 13.8%
4 or more placements 22.6% 24.4% 27.7% 26.7% 15.6%
No countable placements 2.1% 2.1% 2.4% 1.9% 3.5%

North Carolina
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Number of children 4332 4426 4359 4489 3902
# of children who left custody/pa 3976 3718 2992 1928 556
# of children who left custody/pa before 18 3890 3672 2965 1918 553
# of children who reentered custody/pa 295 270 189 96 32
# of children who reentered custody/pa 7.6% 7.4% 6.4% 5.0% 5.8%

Citations- The suggested way to cite this website is as follows: Duncan, D. F., Stewart, C. J., Seminara, G., Malley, K. M. D., Reives, W., Francis, A., & Guest, S. (2026). Creating Indicators for Child Welfare. Retrieved [month day, year], from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Social Work. https://cip.ssw.unc.edu/ or https://creatingindicators.ssw.unc.edu