Prevalence of Out-Of-Home Care Among School-Aged Children in Canada, 2002-2018:
An Analysis of Nationally-Representative Student Survey Data
#MMPMID41340964
Sharma P
; Pollock NJ
; Hovdestad W
; Williams G
; Tonmyr L
Int J Public Health
2025[]; 70
(?): 1608481
PMID41340964
show ga
OBJECTIVES: The objectives were to estimate the prevalence of out-of-home care
among school-aged children in Canada by year, gender, age group, and placement
type and assess time trends. METHODS: We analyzed data from five cycles of the
Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey. Respondents were students in
grades six through ten attending public schools in Canada. Based on a question
about the family structure, we derived three types of living arrangements - (1)
foster/children's home, (2) kinship home, or (3) living with a parent(s) - and
estimated the prevalence of each type. RESULTS: The pooled sample included 93,720
students; 1.1% reported living in a foster/children's home and 2.1% in a kinship
home and in 2018. At the p = 0.05 level (chi-square), there were no observed
differences in prevalence by gender or age group. Over time, the prevalence of
living in a kinship home increased more than foster/children's home (average
percent change per cycle of 18.5% versus 5.0%), to 2.9% and 1.1%, respectively,
in 2018. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of out-of-home care in Canada was higher
that previous estimates based on census and administrative data.
|*Foster Home Care/statistics & numerical data
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