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Arkansas

What Arkansas reported to the federal government about the children in its custody and the children it investigated. Where a year says not reported, that is the record.

The funnel, FFY 2024

Arkansas vs. national

What happened to reports of child maltreatment in Arkansas in federal fiscal year 2024, at each decision point. Rates are what make states comparable; raw counts mostly measure population.

StageArkansasRateNational
Referrals to CPSCounts: referrals57,37181.7per 1,000 children59.3
Screened in (became reports)Counts: referrals29,68151.7% of referrals—47.1%
Screened outCounts: referrals27,69048.3% of referrals—52.9%
Children investigated or given an alternative responseCounts: children51,44773.3per 1,000 children40.6
Child victims (substantiated or indicated)Counts: children6,6579.5per 1,000 children7.2
Child fatalitiesCounts: children273.85per 100,000 children2.41

Referrals, reports, children, and victims are four different denominators and are not interchangeable. A referral may concern more than one child; a child may appear in more than one referral; a victim is a child with a substantiated or indicated disposition. National figures are the Children's Bureau's own estimates, not sums of the state rows.

Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS), Tables 2-3, 3-1, 3-3, 4-1

What Arkansas does not report

For the measures on this page, Arkansas reported a figure in every year covered. That is not the same as the figures being complete or comparable — see the methodology for what the federal record does not measure at all.

ReportedEvery FFY on file

Maltreatment and fatalities over time (NCANDS)

Child fatalities reported to NCANDS, Arkansas, FFY2020 to FFY2024

102030402020: 302021: 362022: 392023: 332024: 2720202021202220232024

Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)

KARA VerifiedChild Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)FFY 2024Counts: child fatalities

Child maltreatment victims, Arkansas, FFY2020 to FFY2024

2,0004,0006,0008,00010,0002020: 9,2412021: 9,6162022: 8,9272023: 7,8422024: 6,65720202021202220232024

Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)

KARA VerifiedChild Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)FFY 2024Counts: child victims (substantiated or indicated)

Foster care (AFCARS)

Measure2013201420152016201720182019202020212022
Adopted with public agency involvement6917437407589711,001984777768848
Entered foster care3,7983,5424,0654,1033,7783,1233,0713,1062,9642,336
Exited foster care3,6143,4053,2133,4053,7703,5783,1072,8822,6552,836
In foster care on September 303,7973,8064,5484,8804,7764,2344,1274,2804,5153,952
Children served in foster care7,4117,2117,7598,2858,5457,8117,2307,1597,1666,788
Termination of parental rights642757757795795809787656674605
Waiting for adoption9941,0341,1221,1981,3301,3511,1821,1421,2321,213

Source: AFCARS state tables, FY2013 to FY2022

AFCARS 2020 rule, FFY2023 to FFY2025 (preliminary)

Collected under the AFCARS 2020 final rule, first effective FFY 2023. Counts include ages 0 to 23. Figures are preliminary estimates from submissions received by February 27, 2026, and states may still revise them. This series is not comparable with the FY 2013 to FY 2022 series, which was collected under the 1993 rule and counted a narrower population; this site does not join the two. Wyoming first submitted under the new rule for FFY 2024 and Washington for FFY 2025; earlier years for those states are shown as not reported.

Measure202320242025
Entered foster care2,1281,9361,983
In foster care on September 303,7973,4483,264
Exited foster care2,5512,2452,126

Counts: children (ages 0 to 23)

Source: AFCARS Dashboard, preliminary FFY2025 estimates (No. 33)

Arkansas in the archive

What the numbers above cost, in KARA's own reporting.

All 52 Arkansas articles →

Data vintage

Federal data on this page: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS), Table 3-3 (Child Victims) and Table 4-1 (Total Fatalities), U.S. HHS/ACF Children's Bureau, published January 2025, loaded 2026-07-24. AFCARS foster care runs as two series that are not comparable across the rule change: state tables FY 2013 to FY 2022 under the 1993 rule, and AFCARS Dashboard preliminary estimates FFY 2023 to FFY 2025 under the 2020 rule (release No. 33, as of February 27, 2026), loaded 2026-07-25.

Unreported-maltreatment estimates: NIS-4 (National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect), data collected 2005–2006, report issued January 2010 — the last time the United States measured maltreatment that never reaches CPS. No NIS-5 has been funded.