AFCARS is a system where case level information from every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico is gathered on all children in foster care (must be in care 24 hours or longer) for whom public child welfare agencies have the responsibility of placement, care or supervision. In addition, the AFCARS system houses information on children who are adopted under the auspices of public child welfare agencies along with basic information on their foster and adoptive parents. All identifiers in these data are encrypted so that individual child cases cannot be discerned by any person or agency within the federal government. Child welfare agencies are required to submit data to the federal government every six months.

For additional details on the Administration for Children and Families' AFCARS system visit: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/systems/afcars/about.htm