Oklahoma
What Oklahoma 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
Oklahoma vs. national
What happened to reports of child maltreatment in Oklahoma in federal fiscal year 2024, at each decision point. Rates are what make states comparable; raw counts mostly measure population.
| Stage | Oklahoma | Rate | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referrals to CPSCounts: referrals | 83,556 | 86.5per 1,000 children | 59.3 |
| Screened in (became reports)Counts: referrals | 32,67439.1% of referrals | — | 47.1% |
| Screened outCounts: referrals | 50,88260.9% of referrals | — | 52.9% |
| Children investigated or given an alternative responseCounts: children | 51,511 | 53.3per 1,000 children | 40.6 |
| Child victims (substantiated or indicated)Counts: children | 13,192 | 13.7per 1,000 children | 7.2 |
| Child fatalitiesCounts: children | 26 | 2.69per 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 Oklahoma does not report
For the measures on this page, Oklahoma 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, Oklahoma, FFY2020 to FFY2024
Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)
KARA VerifiedChild Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)FFY 2024Counts: child fatalities
Child maltreatment victims, Oklahoma, 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 | 1,286 | 1,382 | 2,159 | 2,487 | 2,593 | 2,238 | 2,086 | 1,820 | 1,494 | 1,629 |
| Entered foster care | 6,033 | 5,860 | 5,458 | 5,218 | 5,128 | 4,705 | 4,529 | 4,051 | 3,472 | 3,509 |
| Exited foster care | 4,542 | 4,888 | 5,678 | 6,211 | 5,824 | 5,320 | 4,802 | 4,273 | 4,028 | 3,970 |
| In foster care on September 30 | 10,535 | 11,457 | 11,163 | 10,090 | 9,315 | 8,642 | 8,311 | 8,058 | 7,479 | 7,013 |
| Children served in foster care | 15,077 | 16,345 | 16,841 | 16,301 | 15,139 | 13,962 | 13,113 | 12,331 | 11,507 | 10,983 |
| Termination of parental rights | 1,754 | 2,260 | 2,255 | 2,400 | 2,091 | 1,937 | 1,830 | 1,454 | 1,581 | 1,650 |
| Waiting for adoption | 3,238 | 3,973 | 4,288 | 4,372 | 4,075 | 4,018 | 3,787 | 3,617 | 3,712 | 3,393 |
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 | 3,430 | 3,481 | 3,568 |
| In foster care on September 30 | 6,519 | 6,079 | 6,171 |
| Exited foster care | 3,913 | 3,868 | 3,422 |
Counts: children (ages 0 to 23)
Source: AFCARS Dashboard, preliminary FFY2025 estimates (No. 33)
Oklahoma in the archive
What the numbers above cost, in KARA's own reporting.
- Child Abuse Prevention In America (videos & articles)
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJune 26, 2026
KARA reports on the issues of at risk children by curating a wide lens on child abuse and child protection. This post pulls together recent coverage from newspapers, universities, public health departments, UNICEF, the White House, and fron...
- 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
- 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.
- Best and Worst Hospitals For U.S. Children (Beckers Hospital Review)
KARA reportingMike TikkanenApril 8, 2026
Which states give kids the best chance at a healthy life? This review ranks all 50 states and D.C. on children’s healthcare, nutrition, and oral health—and the gaps are stark.
- COVID + ICE RAIDS Impacting America's Schools
KARA reportingMike TikkanenFebruary 26, 2026
COVID school closures and ICE raids have combined to drive U.S. reading, math, history, and civics scores to historic lows. This post outlines national NAEP data, the states with the deepest learning loss, and what these trends mean for chi...
- Egregious Child Death in America Today
KARA reportingMike TikkanenOctober 19, 2025
There are few states that report out egregious harm or death of children at the hands of their parents. Minnesota Nonprofit Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota has recently compiled this report on 88 of the 200 children dying at the hand...
- Politics, Religion, and At-Risk Children
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJune 6, 2025
This is a dangerous time to be an abused child in America. Slash and burn politics and religious organizations are dismantling a large percentage of government and non governmental agencies keeping children safe. The COVID lockdown kept def...