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 out-of-home 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.

References

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.

Publications

Title	Authors	Year
2016 Annual Report - Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth	Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth	2017
The Structured Decision Making® System for Child Protective Services: Policy and Procedures Manual for Saskatchewan (2017)	NCDD Children's Research Centre	2017
Voices for Reform: Options for Change to Saskatchewan First Nations Child Welfare	Voices for Reform: Options for Change to Saskatchewan First Nations Child Welfare	2017
2015 Annual Report - Saskatchewan Children's Advocate Office	Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth	2016
Annual Report for 2015-16	Saskatchewan Ministry of Social Services	2016
Duty to Protect: Special Investigation Report	Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth	2016
Provincial/Territorial Protocol On Children, Youth and Families Moving Between Provinces and Territories	Government of British Columbia Government of Alberta Government of Manitoba Government of Saskatchewan Government of New Brunswick Government of Newfoundland and Labrador Government of Nova Scotia Government of Prince Edward Island Government of Northwest Territories Government of Nunavut Government of Yukon Government of Ontario	2016
Shhh…LISTEN!! We Have Something To Say! Youth Voices From The North	Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth	2016
The Silent World of Jordan: Special Investigation Report	Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth	2016
2014 Annual Report - Saskatchewan Children's Advocate Office	Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth	2015

Legislation

Links