Andrew Russell - Yesterday
Last summer, Global News and APTN journalists started looking into Ontario’s child welfare system with a basic mission: uncover what life is like for the roughly 12,000 kids in its care.
© (Global News)Jessica Fowler speaks with Global News and APTN about her time in Ontario's child welfare system.
This provincial system is one part of what’s been called Canada’s “modern-day residential school system.”
Census data shows Indigenous kids make up only 7.7 per cent of the country’s child population, but they account for more than one out of two children in foster care under the age of 14.
It shouldn’t have been such a challenge to investigate. Government inspection reports for daycare centres and long-term care homes can be viewed online, which helps families determine what kinds of conditions their loved ones would encounter in these regulated spaces.
Why wouldn’t the same go for child welfare?
We knew the system lacked transparency from interviews with child welfare experts and a government-funded review of the system done in 2016 that called on the provincial government to publicly disclose more data on quality of care and how kids in the system are faring.
But it quickly became apparent that Ontario keeps even the most basic information under wraps. When we started our investigation in June 2021, it didn’t even post a list of licensed group homes and foster care agencies online.
We had to ask for a list from the communications team at the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services. As a backup, we also filed a freedom of information request.
The government has since created an online search tool that allows anyone to find the names and licensing conditions of the for-profit companies and not-for-profits delivering care to the province’s most vulnerable youth, but other vital information isn’t disclosed.
Video: Kids ‘may not be safe’ in Ontario’s child welfare system
Encountering a system shrouded in secrecy and full of obstacles almost every step of the way, Global News and APTN had to file over 30 freedom of information requests with the ministry about everything from inspection reports to budget data showing how the $1.8 billion provided to the child welfare system is spent.
We had to pay roughly $1,500 in processing fees for those requests and waited months for responses.
Through one request, we obtained data from over 10,000 serious occurrence reports, or SORs. Homes are legally obliged to send these reports to the ministry when a child in care dies, is seriously injured or ill, goes missing or is physically restrained by staff — among other incidents.
READ MORE: NDP, Green Party call for end to for-profit care in Ontario child-welfare system
Even this information was released with reluctance. The ministry wouldn’t disclose entire SORs. Instead, they disclosed most of the fields that the reports contain – from an incident’s category and subcategory, to the location and date it occurred, to whether or not emergency services were called.
But they wouldn’t give us the detailed descriptions of each incident. Disclosing those would be a possible breach of children’s privacy, the government argued. Even if their names were redacted, the information contained in those textboxes could be used to re-identify specific youth, we were told.
Separately, we eventually obtained the list of licensed service providers through another freedom of information request. The list showed which group homes and foster care agencies are run by for-profit companies.
By merging that dataset with the SOR data, we found that private for-profit service providers account for 55 per cent of all SORs in group and foster homes, despite having only a quarter of the child welfare system’s beds.
With service providers receiving a per-diem for each child in their care, child welfare experts told us some for-profit companies view kids as “commodities.”
Global News and APTN tried to get the daily rate each residence receives, but the ministry withheld that data under a section of Ontario’s freedom of information law that exempts them from having to disclose the government’s or other organizations’ “trade secrets.”
READ MORE: Inside Ontario’s ‘scary’ child-welfare system where kids are ‘commodities’
Ultimately, though, the government records can only offer so much. Instead, it was personal accounts from young adults of their time in care that were the most insightful and poignant — and harrowing.
Finding those young adults wasn’t an easy task.
Our partner at APTN, Kenneth Jackson, already had an extensive list of contacts from the years he’s spent investigating the child welfare system. We scoured social media for weeks, looking for any posts by youth who had aged out of the system about their experiences within it. Whenever we spoke to one youth, we’d ask if they could connect us with others they’d met while in care.
One Indigenous youth explained to us how a group home’s windows were nailed shut and teens’ shoes and jackets were locked up so they couldn’t run away. She recalled being physically restrained by two staff members for reading a book after being told to turn off her light and go to sleep.
Another youth told us she was pulled down a flight of stairs and physically restrained for trying to make some toast after being told to return to her room. She also talked about the “helpless feeling” she felt as she was moved around the system 15 times.
“There’s nothing I could do about my situation,” she said. “It’s really scary when you're in it because you don't know where you’re going.”
Inspection reports reveal disturbing conditions inside Ontario group homes
Andrew Russell - Yesterday 4:00 a.m.
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A child sleeping on a soiled mattress, lack of access to basic dental care, and kids without proper clothes were among the major violations cited by ministry inspectors who visited Ontario children’s residences.
© (Global News)A Global News and APTN investigation obtained 35 reports conducted at Ontario group homes/foster homes by provincial inspectors between 2016-2021.
A Global News and APTN investigation obtained 35 reports conducted at Ontario group homes/foster homes by provincial inspectors between 2016 and 2021.
The inspections, carried out by the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, offer a snapshot of systemic problems facing homes for Ontario’s most vulnerable youth.
Other alarming instances include homes in states of disrepair, children lacking access to good nutrition, and children pleading for more outings.
Video: Kids ‘may not be safe’ in Ontario’s child welfare system
Inspection reports and other reviews for daycares or long-term care homes are posted publicly, but there is little transparency when it comes to Ontario’s child-welfare system.
Using freedom of information requests, the Global/APTN team sought to peel back the layer of secrecy. Part of the investigation was informed by an analysis of more than 10,000 serious occurrence reports, or SORs – filed to the province when a child dies, is injured, goes missing or is physically restrained, among other reasons.
The other key element was inspection reports, which highlight what inspectors are seeing when speaking to youth and staff in these group homes across the province.
Read more:
Inside Ontario’s ‘scary’ child-welfare system where kids are ‘commodities’
These reports also document several instances of youth missing medical appointments or not receiving proper medication.
“(Redacted) case file indicated a need for orthodontic care due to an impacted tooth, however there was no follow up noted in the file,” said a March 2020 inspection report for a Mary Homes residence.
“Staff advised … that the social worker asked to wait six months to address this because of (a) lack of insurance,” said the report, which noted a dental appointment was eventually made following the inspection and staff received training.
Mary Homes declined repeated requests to comment on the results of the inspection reports.
Kiaras Gharabaghi, dean of Toronto Metropolitan University’s faculty of community services, said group homes are “seen as the placement of last resort” with little concern for “quality of care.”
“Once you've run out of all other options, you've tried everything else repeatedly, then you get placed in a group home,” he said. “Young people know what that means. That means, ‘We don't know what to do with you. We can't really help you.’
“Let's hope nothing terrible happens.”
The process for inspections involves ministry staff visiting the home, interviewing staff and youth, and examining the home to see if it’s fulfilling its licensing requirements. The service provider of the home will then have the opportunity to respond to the findings.
Unlike inspections for long-term care homes, which are posted publicly, these files for group homes are not widely available.
Read more:
NDP, Green Party call for end to for-profit care in Ontario child-welfare system
At a children’s group home operated by Hatts Off Inc., just outside Hamilton, an inspection report from March 2020 found that ”menus were not found to be well balanced or nutritionally adequate.”
“My breakfast today was fruit loops, lunch was Mr. Noodles, staff do not make lunch, sometimes make dinner depending on food donation,” a youth said during an interview with an inspector.
One staff member told the same inspector the home often relies on the “church” to bring food, which is “inconsistent,” the report said.
Hatts Off also declined repeated requests to comment on the inspection reports.
The reports indicated that during a followup inspection by the province on July 10, 2020, staff who were interviewed confirmed they had participated in meetings to review balanced meal planning but “indicated concerns with the quality of food prepared.”
Hatts Off responded to the province the next month, saying it had provided confirmation it had met meal planning requirements.
The troubling reports are part of an ongoing investigation by Global News and APTN that found disturbing conditions inside Ontario’s group homes.
The investigation’s revelations were drawn from interviews with dozens of group home workers, youth and child-welfare experts.
The analysis of the SORs revealed an alarming number of injuries, physical restraints, and missing kids among private service providers, which both the NDP and Green Party have promised to abolish.
‘No amount of money will ever be the right amount’: Ottawa unveils $40B Indigenous child welfare settlement
While private operators make up only 25 per cent of beds across the province, they filed 55 per cent of all serious occurrence reports in residential settings, including 83 per cent of all physical restraints, 66 per cent of reports of missing youth, 62 per cent of medication errors and 31 per cent of serious injuries.
Merrilee Fullerton, minister of children, community and social services, declined a request to be interviewed for this series about the state of the child-welfare system.
In a statement, her office said the province has added 20 new positions “to support the inspection and oversight of children’s licensed residential care settings.”
“Currently a total of 43 ministry staff are conducting licensing inspections,” a spokesperson said in an email. “We are also reviewing the processes for inspections of licensed residential settings so that we can strengthen them where necessary and appropriate.”
Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford called the investigation’s findings “very disturbing” and said the province was going to step up inspections.
“I’m going to make sure we’re on this. I’m going to make sure we have more inspections going on – because as far as I’m concerned, it’s unacceptable,” Ford said.
In the worst circumstance where a home is repeatedly found to have broken its licensing requirements, the province can revoke a service provider’s licence or prevent the company from renewing its licence.
But an analysis by Global News and APTN found the province has only revoked or refused a licence eight times in the past decade.
“The province is actually very hands-off on what care looks like, how it unfolds, who provides care,” said Gharabaghi. “There is a licensing process of foster homes and care homes and group homes. But those are checklist kind of processes. Do you have a fire extinguisher?
“They have virtually nothing to do with the quality of life experienced by young people in care.”
In its strategy to modernize the child-welfare system, the Ontario government has promised to enhance licensing enforcement through forthcoming regulatory changes that will be rolled out over the next three to five years.
The province also quietly released a new website in April that allows the public to search for any licensing conditions placed on a home.
Andrew Russell - Yesterday 4:00 a.m.
\
A child sleeping on a soiled mattress, lack of access to basic dental care, and kids without proper clothes were among the major violations cited by ministry inspectors who visited Ontario children’s residences.
© (Global News)A Global News and APTN investigation obtained 35 reports conducted at Ontario group homes/foster homes by provincial inspectors between 2016-2021.
A Global News and APTN investigation obtained 35 reports conducted at Ontario group homes/foster homes by provincial inspectors between 2016 and 2021.
The inspections, carried out by the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, offer a snapshot of systemic problems facing homes for Ontario’s most vulnerable youth.
Other alarming instances include homes in states of disrepair, children lacking access to good nutrition, and children pleading for more outings.
Video: Kids ‘may not be safe’ in Ontario’s child welfare system
Inspection reports and other reviews for daycares or long-term care homes are posted publicly, but there is little transparency when it comes to Ontario’s child-welfare system.
Using freedom of information requests, the Global/APTN team sought to peel back the layer of secrecy. Part of the investigation was informed by an analysis of more than 10,000 serious occurrence reports, or SORs – filed to the province when a child dies, is injured, goes missing or is physically restrained, among other reasons.
The other key element was inspection reports, which highlight what inspectors are seeing when speaking to youth and staff in these group homes across the province.
Read more:
Inside Ontario’s ‘scary’ child-welfare system where kids are ‘commodities’
These reports also document several instances of youth missing medical appointments or not receiving proper medication.
“(Redacted) case file indicated a need for orthodontic care due to an impacted tooth, however there was no follow up noted in the file,” said a March 2020 inspection report for a Mary Homes residence.
“Staff advised … that the social worker asked to wait six months to address this because of (a) lack of insurance,” said the report, which noted a dental appointment was eventually made following the inspection and staff received training.
Mary Homes declined repeated requests to comment on the results of the inspection reports.
Kiaras Gharabaghi, dean of Toronto Metropolitan University’s faculty of community services, said group homes are “seen as the placement of last resort” with little concern for “quality of care.”
“Once you've run out of all other options, you've tried everything else repeatedly, then you get placed in a group home,” he said. “Young people know what that means. That means, ‘We don't know what to do with you. We can't really help you.’
“Let's hope nothing terrible happens.”
The process for inspections involves ministry staff visiting the home, interviewing staff and youth, and examining the home to see if it’s fulfilling its licensing requirements. The service provider of the home will then have the opportunity to respond to the findings.
Unlike inspections for long-term care homes, which are posted publicly, these files for group homes are not widely available.
Read more:
NDP, Green Party call for end to for-profit care in Ontario child-welfare system
At a children’s group home operated by Hatts Off Inc., just outside Hamilton, an inspection report from March 2020 found that ”menus were not found to be well balanced or nutritionally adequate.”
“My breakfast today was fruit loops, lunch was Mr. Noodles, staff do not make lunch, sometimes make dinner depending on food donation,” a youth said during an interview with an inspector.
One staff member told the same inspector the home often relies on the “church” to bring food, which is “inconsistent,” the report said.
Hatts Off also declined repeated requests to comment on the inspection reports.
The reports indicated that during a followup inspection by the province on July 10, 2020, staff who were interviewed confirmed they had participated in meetings to review balanced meal planning but “indicated concerns with the quality of food prepared.”
Hatts Off responded to the province the next month, saying it had provided confirmation it had met meal planning requirements.
The troubling reports are part of an ongoing investigation by Global News and APTN that found disturbing conditions inside Ontario’s group homes.
The investigation’s revelations were drawn from interviews with dozens of group home workers, youth and child-welfare experts.
The analysis of the SORs revealed an alarming number of injuries, physical restraints, and missing kids among private service providers, which both the NDP and Green Party have promised to abolish.
‘No amount of money will ever be the right amount’: Ottawa unveils $40B Indigenous child welfare settlement
While private operators make up only 25 per cent of beds across the province, they filed 55 per cent of all serious occurrence reports in residential settings, including 83 per cent of all physical restraints, 66 per cent of reports of missing youth, 62 per cent of medication errors and 31 per cent of serious injuries.
Merrilee Fullerton, minister of children, community and social services, declined a request to be interviewed for this series about the state of the child-welfare system.
In a statement, her office said the province has added 20 new positions “to support the inspection and oversight of children’s licensed residential care settings.”
“Currently a total of 43 ministry staff are conducting licensing inspections,” a spokesperson said in an email. “We are also reviewing the processes for inspections of licensed residential settings so that we can strengthen them where necessary and appropriate.”
Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford called the investigation’s findings “very disturbing” and said the province was going to step up inspections.
“I’m going to make sure we’re on this. I’m going to make sure we have more inspections going on – because as far as I’m concerned, it’s unacceptable,” Ford said.
In the worst circumstance where a home is repeatedly found to have broken its licensing requirements, the province can revoke a service provider’s licence or prevent the company from renewing its licence.
But an analysis by Global News and APTN found the province has only revoked or refused a licence eight times in the past decade.
“The province is actually very hands-off on what care looks like, how it unfolds, who provides care,” said Gharabaghi. “There is a licensing process of foster homes and care homes and group homes. But those are checklist kind of processes. Do you have a fire extinguisher?
“They have virtually nothing to do with the quality of life experienced by young people in care.”
In its strategy to modernize the child-welfare system, the Ontario government has promised to enhance licensing enforcement through forthcoming regulatory changes that will be rolled out over the next three to five years.
The province also quietly released a new website in April that allows the public to search for any licensing conditions placed on a home.
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