Most children leaving care are not thriving
At least 2.7 million children are growing up in residential care worldwide, and most never grow into self-sufficient adults. This figure is widely acknowledged to be a significant undercount. The cost of that gap is measurable.
of youth aging out of care in the US become homeless.
NIHof trafficking and exploitation victims spent time in out-of-family care.
National Center for Missing & Exploited Childrenof young men who aged out were convicted of a crime by age 24.
Chapin Hallmore likely their own children end up in foster care or group homes.
NIHThese outcomes are not inevitable. The landmark Positive Outcomes for Orphans study found that when children in residential care experience high-quality, intentional care, they achieve outcomes comparable to family-raised peers.
In Central America, these risks deepen. Youth leaving care face heightened exposure to gang recruitment, and protection systems often lack the infrastructure to support their transition.
Foster care and adoption cannot scale to meet the global need.
Residential care will continue, and most programs lack the training and systems to consistently prepare children for life after care.
- 2.7 million children in residential care worldwide. Based on official records from 140 countries. Independent researchers note significant underreporting in low- and middle-income countries (Petrowski et al., 2017; van IJzendoorn et al., 2020).
- Roughly $8.1 billion estimated annual global spending on residential care. A conservative estimate of about $3,000 per child per year across 2.7 million children in care.
- Nearly half of young people aging out become homeless within the first year, and their own children are nine times more likely to end up in care. National Institutes of Health.
- More than 60% of trafficking and exploitation victims spent time in out-of-family care. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
- 60% of young men who aged out of residential settings were convicted of a crime by age 24. Chapin Hall.
- Central America compounding risks. Perrigo et al., Child Abuse & Neglect, vol. 147, January 2024. UNHCR and UNICEF, December 2020.
- High-quality, intentional care yields outcomes comparable to family-raised peers. Whetten, K. et al., Positive Outcomes for Orphans (POFO), PLOS ONE, vol. 4, no. 12, December 18, 2009.
When children in residential care experience high-quality, intentional care, they achieve outcomes comparable to family-raised peers.
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Founded in 2016 on more than 25 years of on-the-ground experience through Hope Unlimited for Children in Brazil.
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