Last year, children who were returned home had spent, on average, 22.8 months in the foster care system, the study found.

But the children do not leave society's problems behind when they enter the foster care system.

Less than two years later his father, a security guard with three other children, gave him up to the foster care system.

Changes in the city's foster care system have been expected for several weeks.

They were in and out of the foster care system.

There are currently more than 17,000 children in the city's foster care system.

Even after children leave the foster care system, they stay in touch.

The work made them take a hard look at the foster care system.

More than 85 percent of the children in the foster care system are black or Hispanic.

At age 16, she knows the foster care system too well.