Research & Data

Children in Foster Care Face Higher Abuse Risks — What the Data Actually Shows

The system designed to protect children may be exposing them to greater danger. Federal data and peer-reviewed research reveal a troubling pattern.

FAN Research DeskUpdated October 20266 min read

**“SAFE”?**Kids removed ‘for their safety’ face higher abuse risk in care

Key facts

28x more likely to be abused in group foster care (Johns Hopkins)12–15 families per caseworker is the recommended load30–40+ cases many caseworkers actually carry6 North Carolina county agencies taken over by the state75% of removals start as “neglect,” not abuse

The short version

Kids Taken ‘For Their Safety’ Face Higher Abuse Risk in Foster Care

What the data actually shows about abuse inside the system.

Inside this report7 chapters · 6 min read

01The Key Finding→02Types of Abuse in Foster Care→03Why Does This Happen?→04Taken to Be "Protected" — Then Tortured, Hidden, or Killed→05What Research Says About Prevention→06The Poverty Connection→07What Families Can Do→

The foster care system exists to protect children from harm. But a growing body of research reveals a troubling paradox: children placed in foster care may face higher rates of abuse and neglect than those who remain with their families — even families flagged by Child Protective Services.

The Key Finding

A landmark Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health study found that children in group foster care homes were more than 28 times more likely to be abused than children in the general population. Even in traditional foster homes, the rates were significantly elevated.

02Documented Patterns

Types of Abuse in Foster Care

Physical Abuse

Excessive discipline, physical punishment, and assault by foster parents or other children in the home

Sexual Abuse

Elevated risk particularly in group home settings and overcrowded placements

Emotional Abuse

Isolation, verbal degradation, and failure to provide basic emotional support

Institutional Neglect

Overburdened caseworkers missing signs of abuse or ignoring children’s reports

03Root Causes

Why Does This Happen?

03Root Causes

Why Does This Happen?

01
Insufficient Screening & Oversight
The screening process for foster parents varies dramatically by state. Many states lack the resources for thorough home studies, and follow-up visits after placement are often infrequent or entirely missed. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has repeatedly flagged these gaps.
02
Overburdened Caseworkers
The Child Welfare League recommends 12–15 families per worker. In reality, many carry 30 to 40+ cases simultaneously — making meaningful oversight nearly impossible. Warning signs go undetected.
03
Placement Instability
Children who experience multiple placements are at significantly higher risk. Each move disrupts protective relationships and increases vulnerability. Approximately one-third of foster children experience three or more placements.
04
Financial Incentive Misalignment
Foster care reimbursement rates in many states fall below the actual cost of raising a child. This can attract individuals motivated by the stipend while driving away well-resourced families.

04North Carolina Case Studies

Taken to Be “Protected” — Then Tortured, Hidden, or Killed

North Carolina’s child-welfare system has come under intense scrutiny after a series of cases revealed children who passed through the foster-care and adoption pipeline — and ended up dead under circumstances suggesting prolonged abuse that the system failed to detect.

Rowan County

Erica Parsons — 13 years old

Erica was an adopted girl whose disappearance was not reported until July 2013 — even though authorities later determined she had last been seen in November 2011. Her adoptive parents gave conflicting accounts, including a false claim she had gone to live with a grandmother in Asheville.
Her remains were not found until 2016 in Chesterfield County, South Carolina. The North Carolina medical examiner concluded Erica died from ‘homicidal violence of undetermined means.’
Her remains showed multiple blunt-force injuries, fractures in various stages of healing, low bone density, and a growth deficit consistent with long-term maltreatment and malnourishment. This was not a sudden mystery death — her body told a story of ongoing violence no one stopped.

System Failure: An adopted child disappeared for nearly two years before anyone in the system noticed. According to reporting, no post-adoption follow-up or tracking mechanism detected that a child placed through the state’s own pipeline was missing — or dead.

Cumberland County (Fayetteville)

Blake & London Deven — Adopted siblings

Authorities only discovered what happened after a 911 call related to a mental-health crisis in November 2023 led police to examine the family more closely. That investigation revealed something almost unthinkable: two adopted children had been missing for years.
These were not children completely outside the system. Reporting tied them directly to North Carolina’s foster-care and adoption pipeline, noting the children were adopted after moving through county child-welfare services.
In March 2026, a grand jury indicted the adoptive mother on charges including two counts of murder, two counts of concealing a death, kidnapping, and child abuse. According to the indictment, Blake was allegedly intentionally deprived of food and suffered serious bodily injury.
According to reporting, a surviving adopted daughter told investigators she was forced to help dismember Blake’s body and that Blake was severely malnourished when he died. Remains of both children were reportedly recovered from a barrel.

System Failure: Two adopted children were effectively gone for years before the truth surfaced. The child-welfare pipeline that should have had records, follow-up mechanisms, and some way of detecting that children adopted through public systems were no longer safe did not stop the disaster before it became a homicide case.

Surry County (Mount Airy)

Skyler Wilson — 4 years old

In January 2023, Skyler was taken to Brenner Children’s Hospital after a medical emergency. Within days, the situation became a homicide investigation. Child Protective Services contacted the Surry County Sheriff’s Office on January 6, 2023, and Skyler died on January 9 from a hypoxic/anoxic brain injury.
His adoptive parents were charged with first-degree murder and felony child abuse.
According to search-warrant reporting, there were allegations that Skyler had been restrained, isolated, and subjected to abuse framed by the adults as an ‘exorcism.’
His death sparked public calls for reform and accountability, with people in Mount Airy openly connecting his death not just to one household, but to the state’s broader failure to protect vulnerable children in adoptive placements.

System Failure: A 4-year-old adopted child allegedly died from abuse in the home of the people the system approved to be his parents. His adoptive parents were charged with first-degree murder and felony child abuse. The placement was supposed to represent permanence and stability.

The Pattern North Carolina Reveals

Different years. Different homes. Different counties. But the same core failure: children who had already passed through systems of state review, placement, or approval still ended up dead under circumstances suggesting prolonged abuse that was never caught.

North Carolina’s own actions confirm the structure has been failing. In 2025, the state advanced the Fostering Care in NC Act. NCDHHS launched PATH NC, a statewide child-welfare information system intended to bring all 100 county departments of social services into one data system.

The state has also taken over county child-welfare operations it deemed too unsafe — including Vance County (May 2025) and Davidson County (January 2026), the sixth such takeover. That is not evidence of a few isolated mistakes. It is evidence of recurring structural dysfunction serious enough to justify the state stripping counties of their own child-welfare authority.

Sources: WRAL Investigative Reporting; North Carolina Medical Examiner findings; WXII 12 search warrant reporting; Cumberland County Superior Court grand jury indictment (March 2026); NCDHHS PATH NC and county takeover announcements (2025–2026)

05The Better Path

What Research Says About Prevention

Family Preservation Works

Children who remain with families receiving in-home support show better outcomes than those placed in foster care for similar allegations.

Kinship Care Is Safer

Placement with relatives consistently produces better safety outcomes than non-relative foster placements.

Community Prevention

Community-based programs reduce both maltreatment rates and unnecessary removals — addressing root causes rather than symptoms.

06Next

The Poverty Connection

It’s impossible to discuss foster care abuse risks without acknowledging the role of poverty. As federal data shows, 75% of foster care removals start as “neglect” — not abuse — and poverty is overwhelmingly the driving factor.

Children are being removed from loving homes because parents can’t afford adequate housing, childcare, or food — and then placed into a system where they face demonstrably higher risks.

What Families Can Do

Document Everything

Every interaction with caseworkers, every court date, every service completed

Know Your Rights

Right to an attorney, right to see evidence, right to a fair hearing

Understand the System

Learn how CPS investigations work in your state and what standards apply

Build Your Network

Connect with advocacy organizations and parent support groups

Sources & Research

National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), U.S. HHS
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health — Foster Care Maltreatment Study
Government Accountability Office (GAO) — Foster Care Oversight Reports
Casey Family Programs — Family Preservation Research
Chapin Hall Center for Children, University of Chicago
WRAL Investigative — North Carolina foster care system failures (2023–2026)
NCDHHS — PATH NC; Vance County and Davidson County DSS takeover announcements (2025–2026)
NC Medical Examiner — Erica Parsons autopsy; Cumberland County Superior Court indictment (March 2026)
WXII 12 — Skyler Wilson search warrant reporting (2023)

This report draws on the public reporting, court records and government data named above. Spot an error? Tell our corrections desk. Father’s Advocacy Network is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.

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