Washington ? Not a single state has passed a rigorous test of its ability to protect children from child abuse and to find permanent homes for youths who often languish in foster care.

The 32 states evaluated so far could lose millions of dollars from the federal government if they fail to fix problems within a few years.

The problems of child welfare get periodic attention, usually following the tragic death of a child. The Child and Family Service Reviews are the first time federal officials have tried to measure how well children are faring across state systems created to protect them — but that often fall short.

The reviews ask whether children are bouncing from one foster home to the next, never able to put down roots; whether siblings taken from their parents are kept together or pulled apart; whether it takes a state too long to finalize adoptions or to send children back to their biological parents.

Affected are nearly 550,000 children in foster care and an estimated half-million others living at home but under state supervision.

“There is a lot of work to be done,” said Joan Ohl, commissioner of the Administration for Children, Youth and Families. “It’s a daunting task.”

In the past, states were evaluated on bureaucratic benchmarks. Now, the questions are how many children are abused again after entering the system and whether parents are getting promised help.

The reviews merge dozens of questions into seven “outcomes” measurements. Fourteen states failed all seven. An additional 14, plus the District of Columbia, failed six of the seven, and four states, including Kansas, failed five. No state has passed more than two.

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“We set a very high bar, and we don’t apologize for that bar,” Ohl said in an interview.