Saskatchewan

For more information, please visit the information sheet on Saskatchewan's child welfare services.

Overview

In Saskatchewan, the Ministry of Social Services is responsible for providing protection services for children under the age of 16 (and in exceptional cases to youth under 18 years of age) under the mandate of the Child and Family Services Act (1989-90). There are 19 Child Protection offices across the province, within three service areas. Alleged maltreatment is reported directly to the child welfare offices in each of the three service areas that serve children off-reserve. The Adoption Act (1998) and The Emergency Protection for Victims of Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Act (2002) are other pieces of legislation related to the well-being and protection of children in Saskatchewan (MacLaurin et al., 2011). 

Statistics

Saskatchewan: Children and youth in out-of-home care in 2022*

Children in careChild (0-15) populationRate per 1000
5,719331,21317.27

*Pollock, N., Ouédraogo, A., Trocmé, N., Hovdestad, W., Miskie, A., Crompton, L., Campeau, A., Tanaka, M., Zhang, C., Laprise, C., Tonmyr, L. (2024) Rates of out-of-home care among children in Canada: an analysis of national administrative child welfare data. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada (44)4. https://doi.org/10.24095/hpcdp.44.4.02

**The rate per 1000 is calculated using the population of children covered under the age of protection in Saskatchewan (under 16 years old).

§ Child welfare services fall under the jurisdiction of provincial and territorial authorities, making it difficult to compile statistics at the national level. The most notable variations between provinces include mandate variation by jurisdiction with respect to the age to which children are eligible for services, differences in the length of time a child can receive out-of-home care and the definition of out-of-home care.

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