Child Maltreatment, Parental Child Abduction, Foster Care, Child Marriage

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Child Maltreatment

• victims of maltreatment: 558,899 children (2022: lowest number in the last 5 years); 3.1 million children were the subject of a child protective services response; Source: Administration for Children & Families

Parental Child Abduction

• 15 countries have demonstrated noncompliance on International Child Abduction (2025): Argentina, The Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Ecuador, Egypt, Honduras, India, Jordan, Peru, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Romania, and the United Arab Emirates; Source: State Department

Foster Care

• trends in foster care in America (2021): 391,000 in foster care; Source: Administration for Children and Families 

• foster care child demographics: Source: National Adoption Association 

  • average age is 8 years old

  • slightly more boys than girls

  • majority are white (42%), followed by Black/African American (24%); Hispanic of any race (22%) and Native American (2%)

• each year, more than 20,000 children age out of the foster care system; Source: National Adoption Association 

Child Marriage

• over 650 million women and 150 million men alive today were married as children; Source: Girls Not Brides and Girls Not Brides and UN and World Economic Forum and ICRW and UNFPA 

• most common in West and Central Africa; 12 million girls married in childhood per year; Source: UNICEF 

• 15 million boys and men were married before age 18; Source: UNICEF 

• child marriage remains legal in 44 states and is happening in America at an alarming rate: 300,000 children were married in America (2000 - 2018): mostly girls wed to adult men 4 years older than them; almost all were Age 16 or 17 (but some were as young as Age 10); Source: Unchained at Last and Unchained at Last 

• though most states have a minimum marrying age of 18 but most also have exceptions (parental consent or judge approval); 14 states (plus Washington, DC) give county clerks power to issue marriage licenses for minors; 9 states have no lower age limit; Source: Economist 

• child marriage often results in early pregnancy and social isolation, interrupts schooling, and increases a girl’s risk of experiencing domestic violence; Source: UN 

• 10 key facts on child brides: globally, an estimated 650 million girls and women alive today were married before their 18th birthday; globally, the total number of girls married in childhood is estimated at 12 million per year; South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are home to the largest number of child brides; Source: UNICEF 

• countries with the highest number of child marriages are: India, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Brazil, Ethiopia, and Pakistan; Source: World Economic Forum 

• Sub-Saharan Africa (at 34%) and South Asia (at 29%) have the highest rates; Source: UNAIDS 

• 1 in every 5 girls globally is married off before age 18; every day, tens of thousands of girls become child brides; Source: UNFPA  

• only 6 countries do not specify a minimum age for marriage: Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Yemen; Source: Pew Research Center