Every year, between 2,000 and 2,500 claims of abuse of children in foster care are made, with almost a quarter of them being proven. However, more than half of all unfounded instances go unresolved because they cannot be proven in any direction. Four out of ten are found to be untrue. About 1 in 100 cases leads to a finding of child abuse or neglect by a social worker. The rate of false allegations against foster parents is estimated to be around 1-in-10,000, which means that there is a one in three chance that you will be wrongly accused of harming a foster child. The likelihood increases if you are black or white, male or female, younger or older--the list goes on. There have been several high-profile cases in which foster parents have been falsely accused of abuse or neglect; some have even been killed while their licenses were suspended. In addition to being socially damaging, an accusation of child abuse or neglect can have serious legal consequences for you and your family. If there is evidence that supports the allegation, you could be removed from your job, denied further access to your children, and required to participate in mandatory counseling programs. Even if the case is found to be unfounded, you may still need to report regular contact with your former foster child as "emotional support" or "indirect contact."