California
What California 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
California vs. national
What happened to reports of child maltreatment in California in federal fiscal year 2024, at each decision point. Rates are what make states comparable; raw counts mostly measure population.
| Stage | California | Rate | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referrals to CPSCounts: referrals | 394,159 | 46.8per 1,000 children | 59.3 |
| Screened in (became reports)Counts: referrals | 179,10145.4% of referrals | — | 47.1% |
| Screened outCounts: referrals | 215,05854.6% of referrals | — | 52.9% |
| Children investigated or given an alternative responseCounts: children | 268,439 | 31.9per 1,000 children | 40.6 |
| Child victims (substantiated or indicated)Counts: children | 44,943 | 5.3per 1,000 children | 7.2 |
| Child fatalitiesCounts: children | 144 | 1.71per 100,000 children | 2.41 |
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 California does not report
For the measures on this page, California 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.
Maltreatment and fatalities over time (NCANDS)
Child fatalities reported to NCANDS, California, FFY2020 to FFY2024
Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)
KARA VerifiedChild Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)FFY 2024Counts: child fatalities
Child maltreatment victims, California, FFY2020 to FFY2024
Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)
KARA VerifiedChild Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)FFY 2024Counts: child victims (substantiated or indicated)
Foster care (AFCARS)
| Measure | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adopted with public agency involvement | 5,541 | 5,471 | 6,079 | 6,542 | 6,524 | 6,966 | 6,981 | 5,562 | 6,242 | 5,864 |
| Entered foster care | 33,757 | 33,696 | 32,205 | 31,254 | 28,016 | 27,178 | 28,138 | 24,748 | 22,892 | 20,609 |
| Exited foster care | 30,872 | 30,317 | 31,501 | 31,211 | 28,539 | 25,879 | 26,622 | 23,704 | 24,199 | 21,775 |
| In foster care on September 30 | 55,383 | 56,771 | 55,983 | 54,685 | 51,869 | 52,337 | 51,268 | 50,737 | 47,871 | 45,924 |
| Children served in foster care | 86,255 | 87,087 | 87,484 | 85,896 | 80,408 | 78,215 | 77,889 | 74,441 | 72,070 | 67,699 |
| Termination of parental rights | 6,562 | 6,379 | 6,617 | 6,712 | 7,107 | 7,098 | 7,262 | 6,518 | 6,945 | 8,180 |
| Waiting for adoption | 15,667 | 14,096 | 14,180 | 14,689 | 15,097 | 14,866 | 14,436 | 15,019 | 15,386 | 15,349 |
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.
| Measure | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entered foster care | 18,557 | 17,396 | 17,388 |
| In foster care on September 30 | 42,556 | 38,157 | 36,212 |
| Exited foster care | 22,074 | 21,285 | 18,798 |
Counts: children (ages 0 to 23)
Source: AFCARS Dashboard, preliminary FFY2025 estimates (No. 33)
California in the archive
What the numbers above cost, in KARA's own reporting.
- Kudos to Wisconsin for Tracking Child Death and Egregious Harm
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJune 28, 2026
Wisconsin’s public website for child death and egregious CPS incidents shows what honest tracking can look like. Minnesota’s Safe Passage child fatality report revealed children murdered by caregivers while known to CPS, but near deaths and...
- Childhood Trauma and Lifelong ACES Impact
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJune 24, 2026
Children’s mental health crisis post COVID is no longer invisible. California’s Surgeon General Nadine Burke Harris has declared adverse childhood experiences a public health threat, while foster children across the nation are being overpre...
- Mandated Reporting and Why We Don't
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJune 23, 2026
Mandated Reporters genuinely fear for their safety and reputation and regularly fail to report (or, "see") horrific child abuse to avoid potential damage to themselves.
- Adoption & Foster Care In America – (their stories, your state)
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJune 19, 2026
Foster Care; Every state is struggling to make life safe for traumatized state ward children. Here are their stories from October & November 2017; KS: Nowhere Else to Go: Why Kids Are Sleeping in Child Welfare Offices (Commentary) Governing...
- Best & Worst States For America's Children
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJune 19, 2026
Where does your state rank in protecting children & what can you do to make improvements. These statistics tell the stories of our best and worst states around the nation
- The Real Cost of Child Maltreatment, CPS, and Recidivism
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJune 12, 2026
Child maltreatment does not end when a CPS case is closed. The same children who enter child protection often show up later in juvenile justice and adult prison, driving recidivism rates of 70–80% and an estimated cost of more than $1.3 mil...
- Why America’s Child Protection System Is Failing—and How to Fix It
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJune 8, 2026
America’s Child Protection System is producing the very harms it was meant to prevent: overflowing prisons, broken families, unsafe classrooms, and communities overwhelmed by untreated trauma. This post explains how secrecy, extreme caseloa...
- State of Foster Care In America
KARA reportingMike TikkanenMay 16, 2026
American Fosters are struggling. These reports from around the nation indicate a great need for more help for at risk families and safe homes for children unlucky enough to be born into toxic homes.