A Kids at Risk Action project

KARA SIGNAL

The systems are measured. The children are seen.

Idaho

What Idaho 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

Idaho vs. national

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

StageIdahoRateNational
Referrals to CPSCounts: referrals22,62048.3per 1,000 children59.3
Screened in (became reports)Counts: referrals7,99135.3% of referrals47.1%
Screened outCounts: referrals14,62964.7% of referrals52.9%
Children investigated or given an alternative responseCounts: children11,33724.2per 1,000 children40.6
Child victims (substantiated or indicated)Counts: children1,7753.8per 1,000 children7.2
Child fatalitiesCounts: children81.71per 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 Idaho does not report

For the measures on this page, Idaho 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, Idaho, FFY2020 to FFY2024

2468102020: 102021: 32022: 82023: 82024: 820202021202220232024

Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)

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

Child maltreatment victims, Idaho, FFY2020 to FFY2024

5001,0001,5002,0002,5002020: 1,9582021: 2,2682022: 2,0052023: 2,0172024: 1,77520202021202220232024

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 involvement206218223185258245328353346286
Entered foster care1,2261,1381,2011,3141,2491,4191,3221,0811,3461,101
Exited foster care1,0961,2279751,0761,0951,1431,2891,1131,0971,049
In foster care on September 301,3421,2081,3511,5181,5931,8141,7521,5341,6011,548
Children served in foster care2,4372,4352,3232,5942,6872,9563,0412,6472,6932,597
Termination of parental rights215212216273269345338210160170
Waiting for adoption328322318390287532557461320308

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 care1,135939922
In foster care on September 301,5301,3031,258
Exited foster care1,1081,144924

Counts: children (ages 0 to 23)

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

Idaho in the archive

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

  • Best and Worst States for Very Young Children in CPS: New Data on Risk, Failures, and Hope

    KARA reportingMike TikkanenJune 25, 2026

    This article uses NCANDS data to identify the best and worst states for very young children in CPS, highlighting where infants and toddlers face the greatest risk of severe harm or death and how troubled, overwhelmed child protection system...

  • 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

  • Foster Child Self-Harm & Suicide June 2025

    KARA reportingMike TikkanenMay 27, 2026

    Childhood trauma, suicide and self-harm among American youth are at historic highs, with alarming increases among fosters, preteens, girls, LGBTQ+ youth, and children of color. Suicide is now the second leading cause of death for ages 10–24...

  • Every State Has Child Death by Abuse/Neglect, Only a Few Make the News

    KARA reportingMike TikkanenJanuary 4, 2026

    This from Idaho today. The tip the iceberg reported on by Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota recently. Add to this the Federal Government's "Bonfire of Deregulation" millions of abused and neglected children will be underserved and many...

  • The Assault on Child Protection - Part 2

    KARA reportingMike TikkanenJuly 14, 2025

    The combined cuts to child friendly programs will impact some states more than other. This article presents a snapshot of what different states will be experiencing. Send KARA information concerning what's happening in your state (send to i...

  • What Teachers Are Facing Today and Tomorrow

    KARA reportingMike TikkanenAugust 11, 2024

    Teachers feel undervalued and overwhelmed. Turnover his high and a number of states are using unqualified people to fill positions.

  • October Is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

    KARA reportingMike TikkanenOctober 4, 2021

    Watching your mother being beat up or raped is the same trauma as being beaten or raped to a five or nine year old. Untreated trauma lasts forever and it changes a person forever. The United Nation's-Secretary General Antonio Guterres has w...

  • For New Mexico's At Risk Children - Life is Very Hard (find your state here)

    KARA reportingMike TikkanenJuly 18, 2020

    Across the board, America's Southern States seem to maintain an anti tax mantra that devalues the well-being of other people's children. This clear from the KIDS COUNT statistics over the years. This is their most recent data for 2020

All 31 Idaho 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.