This indicator represents the number of child clients in care in Utah by year.

DCFS strives to serve children and families in their homes whenever safely possible. When this is not possible, children and youth may enter into foster care. Every child deserves safety, stability, and permanency. DCFS strives to reunify children with their famililes as quickly as possible or find alternate options for permanency like adoption or custody and guardianship when children cannot safely return home.

DCFS has seen a steady decline on this indicator for the last several years. Some factors that impact this indicator include reducing entry into foster care through providing services in-home, initiating evidence-based interventions for families as quickly as possible, and utilizing specialized recruiters to provide intensive child-specific recruitment for children at higher risk of exiting foster care without a family.