The long-term child protection service trajectories of First Nations children in Quebec

Objectives: This presentation documents the long-term child protection service trajectories of on and off-reserve First Nations children living in Quebec, by reporting rates of children who experienced key investigation and... [ view full abstract ]

Objectives:
This presentation documents the long-term child protection service trajectories of on and off-reserve First Nations children living in Quebec, by reporting rates of children who experienced key investigation and post-investigation interventions within the last decade. The interventions documented include: substantiation, ongoing services, court-ordered measures, youth criminal justice involvement, out-of-home care, entrustments, placement change, family reunification, time in care and recurrence of maltreatment.
Method:
Secondary clinical-administrative child protection data drawn from the “Gestion fondée sur les indicateurs de suivi clinique” project dataset, consisting of data from 16 mandated mainstream and 16 delegated First Nations agencies, served to document the service trajectories of children investigated by child protection. Children (n= 151,034) were tracked for 3 years following investigation and placement, and for 1 year following case closure. A collaborative committee composed of representatives from the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission, the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services, the mandated mainstream agencies, the Institut national d’excellence en santé et en services sociaux, and university researchers were responsible for the realization of this project.
Results:
The longitudinal follow-up suggests that both on and off-reserve First Nations children were overrepresented in a sustained fashion, with growing disparity for entrustments and recurrence over time. While First Nations children population rate for out-of-home care was 7.4 times greater than for non-Aboriginal children, a higher proportion of First Nations children less than 14 years were reunified with their families within the 3-year tracking period. In addition the average cumulative time in care before reunification was shorter for First Nations children across age groups.
Conclusions:
The longitudinal follow-up component of this analysis confirms that the overrepresentation of First Nations children is consistent over time and throughout the child protection service continuum.