Minnesota
Minnesota screens in only about 31 percent of maltreatment reports it receives, one of the lowest screen-in rates in the country against a national rate just over 50 percent. Of accepted reports, roughly two thirds are routed to Family Assessment (the state's alternative-response track) and one third to Family Investigation. Structural note: the child protection function moved from the Department of Human Services to the new Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) in 2024; older DHS URLs redirect.
The funnel, FFY 2024
Minnesota vs. national
What happened to reports of child maltreatment in Minnesota in federal fiscal year 2024, at each decision point. Rates are what make states comparable; raw counts mostly measure population.
| Stage | Minnesota | Rate | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referrals to CPSCounts: referrals | 81,085 | 62.4per 1,000 children | 59.3 |
| Screened in (became reports)Counts: referrals | 23,53329.0% of referrals | — | 47.1% |
| Screened outCounts: referrals | 57,55271.0% of referrals | — | 52.9% |
| Children investigated or given an alternative responseCounts: children | 29,881 | 23per 1,000 children | 40.6 |
| Child victims (substantiated or indicated)Counts: children | 4,645 | 3.6per 1,000 children | 7.2 |
| Child fatalitiesCounts: children | 30 | 2.31per 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 Minnesota does not report
For the measures on this page, Minnesota 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, Minnesota, FFY2020 to FFY2024
Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)
KARA VerifiedChild Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)FFY 2024Counts: child fatalities
Child maltreatment victims, Minnesota, 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 | 583 | 642 | 735 | 899 | 946 | 1,284 | 1,347 | 1,043 | 1,001 | 1,103 |
| Entered foster care | 6,059 | 6,212 | 6,911 | 7,277 | 7,408 | 6,743 | 6,045 | 5,007 | 4,552 | 4,213 |
| Exited foster care | 5,473 | 5,240 | 5,351 | 5,788 | 6,225 | 6,771 | 6,614 | 5,429 | 5,214 | 4,790 |
| In foster care on September 30 | 5,641 | 6,324 | 7,610 | 8,793 | 9,651 | 9,271 | 8,400 | 7,763 | 6,870 | 6,133 |
| Children served in foster care | 11,114 | 11,564 | 12,961 | 14,581 | 15,876 | 16,042 | 15,014 | 13,192 | 12,084 | 10,923 |
| Termination of parental rights | 1,110 | 1,126 | 1,225 | 1,457 | 1,848 | 1,852 | 1,812 | 1,694 | 1,661 | 1,423 |
| Waiting for adoption | 1,219 | 1,188 | 1,285 | 1,541 | 1,990 | 2,026 | 1,951 | 1,869 | 1,818 | 1,633 |
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 | 4,126 | 4,173 | 3,529 |
| In foster care on September 30 | 5,948 | 5,846 | 5,434 |
| Exited foster care | 4,577 | 4,149 | 3,806 |
Counts: children (ages 0 to 23)
Source: AFCARS Dashboard, preliminary FFY2025 estimates (No. 33)
Minnesota in the archive
What the numbers above cost, in KARA's own reporting.
- Foster Care Realities, Problems, and Solutions
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJuly 5, 2026
Foster care is meant to protect children whose lives are in danger, but for many youth, it leads to a painful transition into adulthood with little support and almost no transparency. Most critical data in Child Protective Services (CPS) is...
- KARA's Invisible Children Traveling Community Conversations
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJuly 3, 2026
Life would be better for abused and neglected children if more people truly understood what they face—and what we can do to help. This coming fall and winter, KARA is inviting universities, community centers, and businesses to engage our IN...
- Join KARA's Children’s Crusade: Making Life, Liberty, and Happiness Real for Abused and Neglected Children
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJuly 2, 2026
KARA’s Children’s Freedom Crusade uses a Fourth of July freedom theme to demand real life, liberty, and happiness for abused and neglected children—and to build a national, child first movement that puts their safety and healing first.
- What Happens When Foster Teens Get Punished Instead of Treated? A CASA’s View From the Front Line
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJuly 2, 2026
A CASA guardian ad litem shares what it is like to advocate for a deeply traumatized 14 year old foster boy when there is no safe housing or mental health care available. The system that removed him for his safety is now steering him toward...
- Minnesota Children Killed By Caregivers While Known to CPS (& how to stop it)
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJune 30, 2026
2023 Investigative Report on MN Children Killed by Caregivers While in Child Protective Services
- Overwhelmed Institutions & Public Policy
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJune 29, 2026
To be fair, what does an overwhelmed institution do when caseloads double and budgets are cut in half? Rural counties will always be underfunded, understaffed and unable to provide the level of service larger urban areas can with their larg...
- Leadership and Child Protection
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJune 28, 2026
Child Protective Services exists to protect children, yet recent investigations show children being tortured, brutalized, and even murdered while known to CPS. Leadership that values efficiency over child safety is failing its mission. CASA...
- 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...