Attachment 1

Child Welfare Caseload Background and Analysis.

Child Welfare Caseload Background and Analysis[1]

Trend

Ma’Mowe Child and Family Services Authority states that the average monthly child welfare caseload for 2001/02 was 4,297 cases per month.

Alberta Children’s Services information indicates that for the month of March 2002, 4,192 child welfare cases were being addressed by the Ma’Mowe Capital Region Child and Family Services Authority (Ma’Mowe). Of these, approximately 3,700 (about 88%) were located in the City of Edmonton. This is in contrast to Edmonton having about 66% of the children (age 0-14) in the region[2].

From June 2001, when the monthly number of child welfare cases reached a three-year high, to March 2002 the number of child welfare cases decreased from 4,520 to 4,185, a decrease of 7.4%.[3]

The following table indicates the placement type for the cases at each of three-month intervals in 2001 and for the first point in 2002. The table also indicates the percent change from March 2001 to March 2002.

MAMOWE CAPITAL REGION - CASES
Placement Type
/ Mar. 2001 / Jun. 2001 / Sep. 2001 / Dec. 2001 / Mar. 2002 / % Change
Mar. to Mar.
Family Care / 2019 / 2087 / 1958 / 1849 / 1819 / -9.9%
Adoption Not Finalized / 32 / 26 / 27 / 40 / 42 / 31.3%
Foster Care / 1531 / 1498 / 1443 / 1413 / 1501 / -2.0%
Independent Living / 295 / 297 / 291 / 257 / 250 / -15.3%
Other / 575 / 612 / 577 / 571 / 580 / 0.9%
Total
/ 4452 / 4520 / 4296 / 4130 / 4192 / -5.8%

Based upon the information provided by Alberta Children’s Services and by Ma’Mowe, the number (annual average) of monthly of child welfare cases in the region has continued to increase over the period 1999 to 2002.[4] On a month-to-month basis, caseload reports beginning in June 2001, show a decline for the remaining months of the year. It is premature to state whether or not the noted decline in cases forms the beginning of a new downward trend, or whether it is a temporary variation.



Legal (Child Welfare) Status of the Children

In March 2002, 2,466 children or 58.9% of the 4,185 child welfare cases were in the care of the Province of Alberta (termed in the care of a Director of Child Welfare), referred to as “in-care”, while 1,719 (41.1%) were not in-care. The following table indicates the status of these children for the five quarters, March 2001 – March 2002. Note that the percent of children in-care has increased while conversely, the percent of children not in-care has declined. The number of in-care cases has been relatively constant over the past year, while the number of not in-care cases has declined.

STATUS OF CHILDREN – MA’MOWE REGION 10
Mar 2001 / Jun 2001 / Sep 2001 / Dec 2001 / Mar 2002 / % Change
Mar - Mar
In-Care
Emergency Apprehension / 15 / 19 / 17 / 19 / 19 / 26.7%
Apprehension Order / 20 / 9 / 7 / 7 / 16 / -20.0%
Order to Extend Custody/TGO / 23 / 24 / 19 / 16 / 18 / -21.7%
Custody Agreement w/Guardian / 295 / 298 / 295 / 281 / 297 / 0.7%
Custody Agreement w/Child / 68 / 73 / 61 / 66 / 53 / -22.1%
Temporary Guardianship Order / 565 / 587 / 537 / 500 / 525 / -7.1%
Interim Custody Order / 272 / 227 / 195 / 164 / 181 / -33.5%
Permanent Guardianship
Agreement / 11 / 11 / 13 / 13 / 10 / -9.1%
Permanent Guardianship Order / 1199 / 1211 / 1255 / 1303 / 1347 / 12.3%
Total In-Care / 2468 / 2459 / 2399 / 2369 / 2466 / -0.1%
Percent In-Care / 55.4% / 54.4% / 55.8% / 57.4% / 58.9% / 6.3%
Not In-Care
Open Under Assessment / 237 / 248 / 187 / 219 / 235 / -0.8%
Support Agreement w/Guardian / 1267 / 1347 / 1258 / 1151 / 1103 / -12.9%
Support Agreement w/Child / 109 / 105 / 97 / 65 / 72 / -33.9%
Supervision/Interim Access
Order / 225 / 197 / 198 / 170 / 162 / -28.0%
Extended Care & Maintenance / 146 / 164 / 157 / 156 / 147 / 0.7%
Total Not In-Care / 1984 / 2061 / 1897 / 1761 / 1719 / -13.4%
Percent Not In-Care / 44.6% / 45.6% / 44.2% / 42.6% / 41.1% / -7.8%
Total Cases / 4452 / 4520 / 4296 / 4130 / 4185 / -6.0%


Of note, those designated as having a “Permanent Guardianship Order”, the largest category of the “In-Care” group, increased by 12.3% between March 2001 and March 2002. In situations where a permanent guardianship order is sought, it is likely that the child will remain in the custody of a Director of Child Welfare and unlikely that the children will be able to return to their family.

Ages of Children

In March 2002, children in the 0-6 and 7-12 year age groups were almost equal as percents of the total child welfare caseload (31.8% and 31.5%, respectively). Children age 13+ years formed a slightly larger percent of the caseload, 36.7%. The changes in number and percent increase or decrease in age groups over the nine-month period, September 2001 – March 2002, may reflect seasonal changes.

Age Groups of Children – MA’MOWE CAPITAL REGION 10
Age Group / Sep.2001 / Dec.2001 / Mar.2002 / Sep – Mar
% Change
0-6 / 1320 / 1288 / 1334 / 1.1%
7-12 / 1369 / 1298 / 1321 / -3.5%
13+ / 1607 / 1544 / 1537 / -4.4%
Total / 4296 / 4130 / 4192 / -2.4%


The following graph shows that for age groups 7-12 and for 13+ there was a decline in number of children. For the 0-6 year age group, the number of children increased slightly.


Aboriginal Children

Aboriginal children comprise more than a third of child welfare cases in the Ma’Mowe Capital Region. In March 2002, 36.4% (1,525) of children on the caseload were Aboriginal. In Edmonton, Aboriginal children age 0-14 years of age comprised 6.9% of children of this age group in 1996[5], the last year for which there is detailed information.

ABORIGINAL CHILDREN – MA’MOWE CAPITAL REGION 10
Aboriginal Type
/ Jun.2001 / Sep.2001 / Dec.2001 / Mar.2002 / % Change Jun.-Mar.
Unknown / 61 / 43 / 23 / 35 / -42.6%
Status Indian / 907 / 887 / 839 / 891 / -1.8%
Potential to be Registered / 41 / 32 / 30 / 36 / -12.2%
Non Status Indian / 273 / 293 / 284 / 284 / 4.0%
Inuit / 7 / 5 / 7 / 13 / 85.7%
Metis / 261 / 256 / 246 / 266 / 1.9%
Aboriginal / 1550 / 1516 / 1429 / 1525 / -1.6%
Non-Aboriginal / 2970 / 2780 / 2701 / 2667 / -10.2%
Total Caseload / 4520 / 4296 / 4130 / 4192
% Aboriginal / 34.3% / 35.3% / 34.6% / 36.4%

It is noted that children who are Status Indians, comprise more than half (58.4%) of Aboriginal child welfare cases during 2001/002. In the population, those who self-identify as Indian (Status Indian, Non-status Indian), formed approximately 44%[6] of the Aboriginal population in Edmonton. This indicates that while Aboriginal children are well over-represented in the child welfare caseload, Status Indians are over-represented in the Aboriginal child welfare caseload.

Child Welfare Investigations

For the nine month period, April 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001, Ma’Mowe Capital Region Child and Family Services Authority conducted 8,050 investigations relating to child welfare issues[7]. On an annualized basis there would be approximately 1,075 investigations conducted.

The most frequent outcomes of an investigation were: “No Need for Protection Services” (38.6% of outcomes) and “Protection needs indicated - not substantiated” (22.2%). In 60% of investigations (4,894 investigations) child welfare involvement was indicated as not required.

The most frequent outcome of an investigation where child welfare intervention was required, was “guardian unwilling unable to provide necessities of life (16.5%). The second highest, at 7.6% was “Condition of child prevents adequate care by guardian.”

INVESTIGATIONS COMPLETED IN MAMOWE CAPITAL REGION FROM APRIL 1 2001 TO DECEMBER 31, 2001*
Investigation Outcomes / number / percent
Abandonment / 169 / 2.1%
Guardian Deceased / 14 / 0.2%
Guardian unable/unwilling to provide necessities of life / 1327 / 16.5%
Guardian unable/unwilling to provide medical treatment / 6 / 0.1%
Sexual abuse by guardian / 15 / 0.2%
Risk of sexual abuse by guardian / 42 / 0.5%
Guardian unable/unwilling to protect from sexual abuse / 115 / 1.4%
Physical injury by guardian / 138 / 1.7%
Risk of physical injury by guardian / 278 / 3.4%
Guardian unable/unwilling to protect from physical injury / 84 / 1.0%
Emotional injury by guardian / 137 / 1.7%
Guardian unable/unwilling to protect from emotional injury / 104 / 1.3%
Guardian subjects child to cruel/unusual punishment / 6 / 0.1%
Guardian unable/unwilling to protect from cruel/unusual punishment / 10 / 0.1%
Condition of child prevents adequate care by guardian / 616 / 7.6%
Conveyance/Repatriation / 29 / 0.3%
No Need for Protection Services / 3110 / 38.6%
Other Jurisdiction Request - Home Report / 64 / 0.8%
Protection needs indicated - not substantiated / 1786 / 22.2%
Total / 8050 / 100%

Reasons for Referral

The five most common reasons for referral of a child to child welfare authorities were: condition of child, physical abuse, emotional, basic housing and lack of supervision. The table indicates the percent of referrals by primary circumstance for the region and for their eight districts in the City of Edmonton for the period September 2001-November 2001. The number of referrals, in addition to the percent, represented in the table is not available.

Primary Circumstance of Referral – ma’mowe capital region
Ma'mowe Total / Central / East / North Central / North East / North West / South East / South West / West Central
Condition of child / 28% / 20% / 26% / 28% / 30% / 42% / 24% / 29% / 27%
Physical Abuse / 27% / 25% / 25% / 37% / 26% / 17% / 20% / 32% / 29%
Emotional / 25% / 26% / 28% / 23% / 30% / 23% / 19% / 27% / 26%
Basic Housing / 23% / 35% / 38% / 21% / 21% / 18% / 15% / 25% / 33%
Lack of Supervision / 20% / 23% / 21% / 23% / 18% / 14% / 27% / 17% / 20%
Physical Risk / 18% / 13% / 15% / 19% / 20% / 16% / 13% / 27% / 25%
Emotional Risk / 14% / 19% / 15% / 17% / 26% / 17% / 16% / 26% / 22%
Basic Food / 9% / 16% / 6% / 9% / 11% / 4% / 5% / 10% / 10%
Sexual Abuse / 7% / 2% / 4% / 12% / 5% / 6% / 5% / 9% / 4%
Abandoned / 7% / 10% / 10% / 8% / 4% / 9% / 8% / 4% / 8%
Hygiene/Poor Environment / 5% / 9% / 6% / 5% / 1% / 3% / 12% / 2% / 6%
Basic Medical (including Dental) / 4% / 5% / 1% / 7% / 6% / 1% / 3% / 3% / 4%

Location of Children and Families

Children requiring child welfare intervention live in most parts of the city. The two maps that follow show the concentrations of cases.

“Child Welfare Cases, Children Not In-Care” shows the concentrations of cases where children are primarily living with their families. There were approximately 1200 cases in this category in March, 2002. The darkest shaded neighbourhoods had between 8 and 73 cases.

The map “Child Welfare Cases, Children In-Care” shows the concentrations of cases where children are in the care of a Director of Child Welfare. There were approximately 1500 cases in this category in March 2002. The darkest shaded neighbourhoods had between 10 and 45 cases.

The third map shows the concentrations of social, economic and demographic indicators. Indicators which are scored in this map include:

  • number of people widowed,
  • number divorced,
  • people whose mother tongue is neither English nor French,
  • single parent families,
  • seniors living alone,
  • Aboriginal people,
  • recent immigrants,
  • people who have moved in the past year,
  • visible minorities,
  • dwellings needing major repairs,
  • people with less than grad 9 education,
  • unemployed,
  • women in labour force with children under age 6,
  • households paying 30% or more of income for shelter,
  • low income families, family disputes, and
  • crimes against property.

It is interesting to note that many of the neighbourhoods with high numbers of child welfare cases also score high in this selected index of social, economic and demographic indicators.

Attachment 1 - Page 1 of 14

[1] The information for this analysis was provided by Alberta Children’s Services.

[2] These population estimates for 2002 are for the Census Metropolitan Area which is larger than the Ma’Mowe Capital Region. Edmonton Social Economic Outlook. 2002-2007. Planning and Development Department.

[3] Note that the figure for March 2002 in the table is from Alberta Children’s Services and in the text is from Ma’Mowe Child and Family Services Authority..

[4] Ending March 31 of the year indicated

[5] Edmonton Social Plan – Release 3. 2000. City of Edmonton Community Services

[6] The 1996 Census of Canada includes as “Indian” those who self-identify as Indian and consists of Status Indians as well as non-status Indians.

[7] These are separate investigations but not necessarily different children. Situations involving a child may have been investigated more than once.