Latest UC Data – FY2020

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Administration for Children and Families, an operational division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) manages the Unaccompanied Children (UC) Program.

UC are defined as a child who has no lawful immigration status in the United States; has not attained 18 years of age; and, with respect to whom, there is no parent or legal guardian in the United States, or no parent or legal guardian in the United States available to provide care and physical custody.

Other federal agencies, usually the Department of Homeland Security, refer UC to ORR. Most children placed into ORR care was because immigration authorities apprehended them while trying to cross the border; others referrals were after coming to the attention of immigration authorities at some point after crossing the border. HHS plays no role in the apprehension or initial detention of UC prior to their referral to HHS custody and HHS is not a party to the child's immigration proceedings.

Since 2003, ORR has provided care for and found suitable sponsors for over 340,000 UC. For its first nine years at ORR, serving fewer than 8000 children annually in this program. Since Fiscal Year 2012 (October 1, 2011 – September 30, 2012), this number has jumped dramatically, with 13,625 children referred to ORR by the end of FY 2012. The program received 24,668 UC referrals from DHS in FY 2013, 57,496 referrals in FY 2014, 33,726 referrals in FY 2015, 59,170 in FY 2016, 40,810 in FY 2017, 49,100 in FY 2018, and 69,550 in FY 2019.

The latest data available on UC demographics and program operations for fiscal year 2020 is on this page.

Overall Data | Gender | Age | Tender Age (0-12) UC By Shelter Type | Total Monthly Discharges to Individual Sponsors Only (By Category)

Overall Data

In Care Statistics Calculated on the Last Day of the Month 10/31/2019 11/30/2019 12/31/2019 01/31/2020 02/29/2020 03/31/2020 04/30/2020 05/31/2020 06/30/2020 07/31/2020 08/31/2020 09/30/2020
Average Number of Children in Care: 4,501 4,054 4,236 3,621 3,617 3,541 2,331 1,396 997 834 849 1,330
Maximum Number of Operations Beds*: 13,616 12,496 13,059 13,173 13,243 13,218 13,316 13,352 13,649 13,649 13,649 13,763
Average Occupancy Rate: 34% 33% 33% 28% 28% 27% 18% 10% 7% 6% 6% 10%
Average Length of Care (for those discharged)**: 69 64 55 56 55 51 74 123 194 239 152 97
Average Length of Care (for those in care)***: 123 114 113 122 117 132 215 294 348 342 269 149
30-Day Average Number of UC Referrals: 72 85 84 61 78 60 2 1 2 5 14 41
30-Day Average UC Discharge Rate: 2.2 2.1 2.1 2.1 2.2 2.1 2.1 1.4 1.1 1 0.9 1.3

*includes Influx shelters
**includes all discharge types & all program types
***Length of Care calculated as of the last day of the corresponding month showing above

Gender

In Care Statistics Calculated on the Last Day of the Month 10/31/2019 11/30/2019 12/31/2019 01/31/2020 02/29/2020 03/31/2020 04/30/2020 05/31/2020 06/30/2020 07/31/2020 08/31/2020 09/30/2020
Male 2,859 2,830 2,730 2,461 2,474 2,180 1,221 829 643 568 666 1,158
Female 1,334 1,348 1,308 1,155 1,100 926 521 341 246 234 306 531

Age

In Care Statistics Calculated on the Last Day of the Month 10/31/2019 11/30/2019 12/31/2019 01/31/2020 02/29/2020 03/31/2020 04/30/2020 05/31/2020 06/30/2020 07/31/2020 08/31/2020 09/30/2020
0-5 215 216 191 164 166 116 86 67 47 49 70 83
6-12 515 513 439 368 360 319 165 106 72 86 126 220
13-14 443 467 418 347 359 285 143 87 71 76 94 189
15-16 1,461 1,428 1,462 1,316 1,312 1,162 640 413 312 262 305 571
17+ 1,559 1,554 1,528 1,421 1,377 1,224 708 497 387 329 377 626

Tender Age (0-12) UC By Shelter Type

In Care Statistics Calculated on the Last Day of the Month 10/31/2019 11/30/2019 12/31/2019 01/31/2020 02/29/2020 03/31/2020 04/30/2020 05/31/2020 06/30/2020 07/31/2020 08/31/2020 09/30/2020
Standard Shelter 257 243 205 156 132 122 73 46 31 27 53 159
Transitional Foster Care 434 446 387 337 355 277 145 94 45 65 102 102
Residential Treatment 3 3 2 2 3 1 1 0 1 1 1 1
Staff Secure 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Secure 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Therapeutic 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0
Long Term Foster Care 35 36 34 36 35 34 31 32 41 41 39 41

Total Monthly Discharges to Individual Sponsors Only (By Category)

In Care Statistics Calculated on the Last Day of the Month 10/31/2019 11/30/2019 12/31/2019 01/31/2020 02/29/2020 03/31/2020 04/30/2020 05/31/2020 06/30/2020 07/31/2020 08/31/2020 09/30/2020
Category 1 1,067 912 1,101 783 783 814 455 114 50 60 93 248
Category 2 1,207 1,046 1,076 1,024 1,056 1,064 657 237 98 59 65 143
Category 3 520 381 303 305 290 269 191 170 93 53 27 25
Total 2,794 2,337 2,480 2,111 2,129 2,146 1,303 521 241 170 185 416

*** PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL FY20 UC DATA REPRESENTED HERE IS UNRECONCILED AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE***

 

Content created by Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
Content last reviewed