A huge milestone for the city as the foster care population drops to a historic low.

Lehra Brooks lives in the Bronx and has been a foster parent for the last 12 years. Her goal is to love and reunite families.

"Just to help them always do things together so that the bio parents always feel that they are contributing, that they have not lost their child, that you are just that person standing in the gap to help them reunite with their child," says Brooks.

The Administration for Children's Services shares that goal.

"A decade ago, there were 17,000 children in foster care, and we have cut that in half," says ACS Deputy Commissioner Julie Farber.

A new report shows that a lot was done to get the number down.

"Today there are under 8,000 children in foster care as a result of investments that we made in prevention services that keep children safe and supported at home with their families and as a result of important work that we have done to reduce length of care in foster care," says Farber.

ACS officials say they are not done with their work.

"So, our goal moving forward is to continue and accelerate this critical work to reduce the numbers of children in foster care, increase prevention and primary prevention services and for children who are in foster care to provide the services and support that they and their families need so they can safely return home," says Farber.