Mental Health in Foster Care

Mental health is the most unmet health need for children and teens in foster care. Mental health requires the presence of a stable caregiver in the child's life. 47.9% of youth in foster care are determined to have clinically significant emotional or behavioral problems. There is also a high rate of psychiatric disability in youth who have aged out of the system. Of the children in foster care for at least a year, only 23% of them received any mental health services. These mental health issues can be caused by past stressors in the child’s life, including repeated abuse, prolonged neglect, or lack of a stable environment during early years of life. One reason there is such a high number of children with mental health issues who are not being treated is the cost to taxpayers. Placement in therapeutic foster care can cost $30,000 or more annually and placement in residential psychiatric care is even higher in cost. Fostering a child can have a significant influence on mental health problems. If the child is raised in a stable home for an extended period of time, severe problems are less likely to occur. Children respond best to being raised in routine environments. There are many charts and statistics on this topic. Many comparisons are made between the treatment of foster care youth versus the non-foster care youth. There is a difference in treatment, foster youth suffer more from mental health problems and are prescribed more medication.

This chart shows the comparison of how mental health issues are covered among kids who are not in foster care in relation to those who are.

These next two charts show the difference in treatment between foster care youth and the non-foster care youth, focusing on the prescription of antipsychotics and psychotropic prescriptions. The number of foster youth prescribed these medications is much higher than that of the rest of children.

This chart compares the number of disabilities and mental health in foster care (blue) against the general population (red).

This next chart is just the general statistics about mental health in foster care and how they suffer from PTSD. 50% of youth in foster care have chronic medical problems. 40-60% have at least one mental health disorder. They suffer PTSD at 2x the rate of returning war vets.

This final chart shows how foster care alumni are more likely to suffer from mental health disorders than the general population.