Foster parents don’t quit because they stop caring about kids. So why is foster family turnover so high? The answer often comes down to systemic gaps in communication and support. When this happens, children in foster care are the ones who pay the price. The good news is that we can all help close these gaps. In this article, we speak with Cheri, a former foster parent, to learn why foster parents quit and how we can help them.
The Foster Care Shortage is a Retention Problem, Not Just a Recruitment Problem
It’s no secret that there’s a foster home shortage in the United States. To solve it, we first need to understand the cause. The numbers reveal a gap in child welfare that no one is talking about:
- In 2024, there were about 150,000* fewer foster homes than children in care.
- Up to 50% of foster families quit after their first year.
- Foster family recruitment can’t keep up with high turnover.
- Caseworker turnover, ranging from 23-60% annually depending on the state, leads to burnout and gaps in support.
In other words, the shortage of foster homes isn’t just about recruitment. It’s driven by high foster family turnover caused by systemic breakdowns in support.
Cheri experienced these gaps firsthand. She first learned about foster care at a concert with our founder, Chris Tomlin. The hardship of older teens in foster care particularly moved her, and she felt called to help. She and her husband made big sacrifices to foster, selling their home in a 55+ community to buy in a different area. They started the journey with excitement and determination.
Yet, problems arose even before their first placement. Inconsistent communication began during the licensing process, when the agency failed to appear for a scheduled home study. She and her husband had also been told they could specialize in caring for older teens. With Cheri working a 60-hour week and helping care for two grandchildren, they knew taking in young children wasn’t something they could do in that season of life.
On the first day of fostering, however, they received a call asking them to take in a toddler. Cheri remembers the weight of saying no.
“You feel like you should be saying yes,” she says. “I wish I could say yes to every single one of them. But I’m older. I’m slower. I’m not as capable as I used to be.”
Living in a rural area, the kids Cheri and her husband could take were far from everything familiar. She often drove hours between home, work, school, and court. Some children even arrived with undisclosed medical needs that Cheri was unprepared to address.
During one week-long respite placement for two young siblings, Cheri wasn’t informed about the three-year-old’s medical needs before their arrival. When she scrambled to reach their foster family or caseworker for guidance, she received devastating news: the foster family never planned to take the children back.
Cheri and her husband faced an impossible decision. The children needed a home, but caring for young children with medical conditions long-term wasn’t something they could do.
With heavy hearts, they returned the children to the agency, hoping they would find a family better equipped to care for them. As the siblings prepared to leave, the oldest begged to stay, offering to do chores in exchange. It was devastating to hear, but Cheri knew she couldn’t give them the childhood they deserved.
“We are older, and you’ve spent your life having to provide so much care for your sibling, who has a lot of needs,” she remembers telling the 9-year-old. “You need to be with a younger family that has kids so you can just be a kid.”
This event confirmed Cheri and her husband’s decision to close their home. They hadn’t stopped caring, but they could no longer shoulder the grief, instability, and lack of support alone.
Why Foster Parents Quit: The Most Common Reasons
What causes deeply committed foster parents like Cheri to quit? Most often, it’s one or more of the following factors:
- Lack of Consistent Support: Limited access to respite care, childcare, and practical help can leave foster parents feeling isolated during crises.
- Emotional Burnout and Grief: Repeated transitions, loss, and secondary trauma often go unaddressed.
- Financial and Logistical Strain: Foster parents frequently cover out-of-pocket costs and juggle appointments and court appearances, sometimes hours away.
- System Complexity and Instability: Caseworker turnover and communication breakdowns leave foster families to navigate challenges alone.
How Foster Parent Turnover Affects Children in Foster Care
Foster family turnover hurts the kids as much as the parents. Nearly 40% of children in foster care experience three or more placements in a single year. Each move disrupts relationships, schooling, and a child’s sense of safety and belonging.
When placement options are limited, social workers may feel pressure to place children quickly, even when a match isn’t ideal. While sometimes unavoidable, this can create instability for both children and families.
Why Foster Parent Recruitment Alone Won’t Fix the Shortage
Since 2019, the number of foster homes in the United States has steadily declined. While states increase recruitment efforts, Cheri’s experience highlights a critical truth: recruitment without retention will not solve the foster care shortage.
Supporting foster families so they can stay is essential. That’s why retaining ideal family placements is a core part of our strategy to end the child welfare crisis in America. Alongside partners like The Contingent, we use data not only to identify potential foster families but to walk with them through the entire licensing and foster care journey. This human-first, relational approach improves communication, reduces gaps in support, and helps foster parents stay engaged.
But lasting change requires more than systems and strategy. It requires people willing to show up.
How You Can Help Foster Families Stay
Not everyone is called to foster, but everyone can do something to support foster families. Cheri’s story and the data behind it show how essential community support is to foster parent retention. As we address the root of why foster parents quit, we maintain enough stable homes so that children experience fewer moves, stronger relationships, and greater stability.
You can make a difference in your own community in meaningful ways, like:
- Meeting urgent needs from local foster families
- Volunteering with a foster nonprofit or wraparound care team
- Learning how to foster or adopt
- Donating to For Others or local programs that support foster families
We’re all called to care, and you can start right here, right now. Find opportunities to help children and families in crisis in your state at the button below.
*Texas excluded due to a lack of 2024 data.
