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
Teachers’ Responses to Child Maltreatment	Glouchkow, A., Weegar, K., & Romano, E.	2022
The Child Welfare Toolkit. Openess in Adoption. Brief #1		2022
The overrepresentation of First Nations children in the Ontario child welfare system: A call for systemic change	Quinn, A. Fallon, B. Joh-Carnella, N. Saint-Girons, M.	2022
The protective role of internal/external factors on Covid-19 related stressors among resource parents	Zak, S. Gallitto, E. Romano, E.	2022
Young mothers’ use of and experiences with mental health care services in Ontario, Canada: a qualitative descriptive study	Jack, S. M. Duku, E. Whitty, H. Van Lieshout, R. J. Niccols, A. Georgiades, K. Lipman, E. L.	2022
Activation de la résilience chez des enfants placés, du point de vue des professionnels des services de protection de l’enfance de l’Ontario, Canada	Lewis, Robert	2021
Characteristics of Maltreatment-Related Investigations Involving Older Adolescents Aged 16 to 17 in Ontario in 2018	Alman, Isayah Lyons, Olive & King, Bryn	2021
Examining decision-making tools and child welfare involvement among Black families in Ontario, Canada	Antwi-Boasiako, K., Fallon, B., Trocmé, N., & Fluke, J.	2021
Mashkiwenmi-daa Noojimowin: Let’s have strong minds for the healing: First Nations Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect-2018	Crowe, Amber Schiffer, Jeffrey Fallon, Barbara Houston, Emmaline Black, Tara Lefebvre, Rachael Filippelli, Joanne Joh-Carnella, Nicolette Trocmé, Nico	2021
Medical Neglect in Child Maltreatment-Related Investigations in Ontario in 2018	Giokas, Danielle Lefebvre, Rachael Joh-Carnella, Nicolette Fallon, Barbara	2021

Legislation

Links