Ontario

For more information, visit the information sheet on Ontario's child welfare system.

Overview

Children’s Aid Societies in Ontario have the exclusive mandate under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act (CYFSA) to protect children who have been or are at risk of being abused and/or neglected by their caregivers, to provide for their care and supervision where necessary and to place children for adoption (CFYSA, 2017). A total of 38 Children’s Aid Societies and 13 Indigenous Child and Family Wellbeing Agencies (ICFWBA) are specifically designated by the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services to investigate child abuse and neglect and take the necessary steps to care for children and youth in need of protection. Three Children’s Aid Societies specifically serve religious communities. Children’s Aid Societies are independent legal entities (corporations run by Boards of Directors) or Indian Bands (that operate under the Indian Act) and are accountable to the communities they serve. In addition to the CYFSA, the Ontario Child Welfare Eligibility Spectrum and Child Protection Standards guide child protection workers at each phase of service delivery.

Statistics

Child Maltreatment Investigations in Ontario, 2008¹, 2013² and 2018³
	2008	2013	2018
Child population (0-15)	2,382,035	2,349,600	2,361,870
Number of child maltreatment investigations	128,748	125,281	148,536
Incidence of child maltreatment investigations per 1,000 children	54.05	53.32	62.89

Type of Child Maltreatment Investigation in Ontario, 2018³
	Number	Rate per 1,000 children
Maltreatment Investigation	94,476	40.00
Risk Investigation	54,060	22.89

Categories of Substantiated Child Maltreatment Investigations in Ontario, 2018³
Category of Maltreatment	Number	Rate per 1,000 children
Physical Abuse	7,081	3.00
Sexual Abuse	1,019	0.43
Neglect	8,082	3.42
Emotional Maltreatment	4,689	1.99
Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence	17,051	7.22

Placement in Child Maltreatment Investigations in Ontario, 2008¹, 2013² and 2018³
	2008 #	2008 Rate	2013 #	2013 Rate	2018 #	2018 Rate
No Placement	121,436	50.98	121,020	51.51	144,351	61.12
Informal Kinship Care	3,616	1.52	1,874	0.80	2,488	1.05
Formal Placement	3,696	1.55	2,387	1.02	1,697	0.71

Children and youth in out-of-home care in 2022⁴
Children in out-of-home care		Child (0-17) population	Rate per 1000
7, 489		2, 750, 014	2.72

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 service, differences in the length of time a child can receive out-of-home care and the definition of out-of-home care.

References

¹Fallon, B., Trocmé, N., MacLaurin, B., Sinha, V., Black, T., Felstiner, Schumaker, K., Van Wert, M., Herbert, A., Petrowski, N., Daciuk, J., Lee, B., DuRoss, C., & Johnston, A. (2010). Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect-2008 (OIS‑2008). Toronto, ON: Child Welfare Research Portal. https://cwrp.ca/publications/ontario-incidence-study-reported-child-abuse-and-neglect-2008-ois-2008

² Fallon, B., Van Wert, M., Trocmé, N., MacLaurin, B., Sinha, V., Lefebvre, R., Allan, K., Black, T., Lee, B., Rha, W., Smith, C., & Goel, S. (2015). Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect-2013 (OIS‑2013) Toronto, ON: Child Welfare Research Portal. https://cwrp.ca/publications/ontario-incidence-study-reported-child-abuse-and-neglect-2013-ois-2013.

³Fallon, B., Filippelli, J. Lefebvre, R., Joh-Carnella, N., Trocmé, N., Black, T., .... Stoddart, J.(2020). Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect-2018 (OIS‑2018). Toronto, ON: Child Welfare Research Portal. https://cwrp.ca/publications/ontario-incidence-study-reported-child-abuse-and-neglect-2018-ois-2018.

⁴ 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

Publications

Title	Authors	Year
The relationship between caseworker assessments of clients’ social networks and child welfare placement outcomes	Brisebois, Kimberly Trzcinski, Eileen Marsack, Christina	2015
A randomized trial of wraparound facilitation versus usual child protection services	Browne, Dillon T. Puente-Duran, Sofia Shlonsky, Aron Thabane, Lehana Verticchio, Dominic	2014
A survey of adolescents' perceptions of their relationships with nonparental caregivers in group home settings: An attachment perspective	Rabley, Sarah Preyde, Michèle Gharabaghi, Kiaras	2014
Child custody / access disputes in child maltreatment-related investigations in Ontario in 2008	Theoduloz, Ricardo Lefebvre, Rachael Saini, Michael Trocmé, Nico	2014
Dating violence among child welfare involved youth: Results from the Maltreatment and Adolescent Pathway (MAP) longitudinal study	Tanaka, Masako Wekerle, Christine	2014
Feathers of Hope: A First Nations Youth Action Plan	Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth	2014
Maltreatment-related Investigations Involving Primary Caregivers with a History of Being in Foster Care and/or Group Home Care in Ontario in 2008	Brady, Eavan Lefebvre, Rachael Van Wert, Melissa Fallon, Barbara	2014
Maltreatment-related Investigations with a Grandparent as a Primary Caregiver in Ontario in 2008	Hollingshead, Matthew Lefebvre, Rachael Van Wert, Melissa Fallon, Barbara	2014
Maternal foster families provide more stable placements than paternal families	Perry, Gretchen Daly, Martin Macfarlan, Shane	2014
The Other Side of the Door: A Practice Guide for Child Welfare Professionals working with First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples	Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies (OACAS)	2014

Legislation

Links