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 2022¹
Children in care	Child (0-15) population	Rate per 1000
5,719	331,213	17.27

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.

Reference List

¹ Pollock, N., Ouédraogo, A., Trocmé, N., Hovdestad, W., Miskie, A., Crompton, L., Campeau, A., Tanaka, M., Zhang, C., Laprise, C., Tonmyr, L. (2024). Original quantitative research – 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.

Reports

Title	Year
Saskatchewan Child Welfare Review Panel Report: For The Good of Our Children and Youth	2010
Summary Review of Aboriginal Over-representation in the Child Welfare System	2010
A Breach of Trust: An Investigation Into Foster Home Overcrowding in the Saskatoon Service Centre	2009
Child and Family Services Statistics December 2009	2009
Child and Family Services Statistics June 2009	2009
Progress Report on Foster Home Overcrowding in Saskatchewan	2009
Child and Family Services Statistics December 2008	2008
Identity, Community and Resilience: The Transmission of Values Project	2007
The Baby Andy Report: Examination of services provided to Baby Andy and his family	2003

Legislation

Links