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Vision

Our vision is to build a province where all children, youth and families, including those receiving child welfare services, have the supports they need to be safe, succeed and thrive in their communities.

We are improving the child welfare system to focus on providing high-quality services that prioritize safety and protection and are responsive to the cultural and social needs of all children, youth and families.

Priorities

Our work to improve the child welfare system has three priorities:

1. provide enhanced early intervention supports that help strengthen families and communities
2. improve the service experience for people who need protection services from societies and out-of-home care providers
3. address over-representation of certain populations in the child welfare system and the inequities they face

Areas of focus

Our work to improve the child welfare system has 6 areas of focus:

1. Child and family well-being

Enhancing early intervention approaches to:

• improve the assessment of child protection concerns
• ensure families receive effective, timely and responsive services

2. Quality of care

Ensuring quality and oversight by improving the quality of licensed out-of-home care provided to children and youth.

Enhancing the skills of staff and caregivers by improving training and qualification requirements for staff and caregivers to provide high-quality services to children, youth and families in out-of-home care.

Prioritizing family-based care by focusing on family-based placements, such as customary, kinship and foster care, so that children and youth are provided high-quality care in family-based settings.

3. Youth supports

Amplifying youth voices by ensuring children, youth and families have a strong voice in decisions about their care, and when transitioning from care.

Enhancing youth supports by:

• improving and expanding supports to meet the distinct needs of children and youth
• helping youth transition successfully to adulthood

4. Stability and permanency

Strengthening family-based supports by:

• keeping children and youth with family or with family-based supports
• improving access to resources for all types of family-based caregivers, including kinship, customary and adoptive

Making adoption services more consistent, easier and faster for children, youth and parents who want to adopt by improving:

• adoption service delivery standards
• adoption matching, where appropriate and when in the best interests of children and youth

5. Accountability and sustainability

Improving children’s aid societies’ accountability to the ministry and the communities they serve.

Strengthening the financial sustainability of the child welfare system.

Enhancing the quality of child welfare data and access to analytics to better understand the child welfare system and the experiences of children and youth in care.

6. Supporting First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and communities

Guided by the framework of the °ÄÃÅÓÀÀû Indigenous Children and Youth Strategy.

Enabling enhanced access to community-based prevention and early intervention supports, including prevention-focused customary care, that is culturally responsive and reflects the customs, heritage and traditions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

Supporting Indigenous-led child welfare models, including those governed under Indigenous laws that have authority under the federal government’s .

Engagement

We continue to engage with a wide variety of stakeholders and partners, including:

• child welfare leaders
• out-of-home care service providers
• adoption stakeholders
• frontline workers
• youth with lived experience
• parents
• caregivers
• lawyers
• representatives of First Nations, Inuit, Métis and urban Indigenous peoples and communities
• Black, racialized, 2SLGBTQIA+ and Francophone community organizations and stakeholders
• community-based services sectors and partners

Ongoing engagement supports our progress and ensures that policies and initiatives are responsive to the diverse needs of children, youth and families.

Progress