10/30/2020

Just over 400,000 American children live in foster care, and some 55,000 reside in group homes, residential treatment facilities, psychiatric institutions and emergency shelters. This type of placement—called “congregate care”—may be beneficial for children who require short-term supervision and structure because their behavior may be dangerous.

However, many officials believe that children who don’t need that type of intense supervision are still in these group placements—depending on the state, between 5% and 32%—making it harder to find them permanent homes and costing state governments three to five times more than family foster care.

Read on for a fascinating insight from the National Conference of States Legislatures about residential child care policy and law across the USA.

Source: https://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/congregate-care-and-group-home-state-legislative-enactments.aspx