Published plans and annual reports 2017-2018: Ministry of Children and Youth

Part I: 2017-18 Published plan

Mandate

The Ministry of Children and Youth Services (MCYS) envisions an Ontario where all children and youth have the best opportunity to succeed and reach their full potential.

MCYS works with a broad spectrum of partners so that every child and young person in Ontario has access to the right supports and opportunities needed to make positive choices, achieve their potential and seamlessly transition to adulthood.

Ministry contribution to priorities and results

Ontario is home to almost three million children and youth aged 0 to 18 years, with over 140,000 born in the province each year. Created just over a decade ago, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services works to improve the lives and futures of our most vulnerable children and youth.

Since the ministry’s inception, the youth crime rate has decreased, fewer children are coming into child protection services and more children are finding safe, loving and permanent homes. The ministry is also redesigning services and systems to increase accessibility for families.

In March 2014, the ministry released its renewed strategic plan, Growing Together (2013-18). This vision focuses on the priorities that matter most for Ontario’s young people and their families through four renewed goals:

• children and youth are resilient
• children and youth have the skills and opportunities needed to shape their own future
• children and youth have a voice
• children and youth experience high-quality, responsive services

To implement its strategic plan, the ministry is undertaking a number of large-scale transformations to modernize service delivery in child welfare, special needs services, child and youth mental health, and child and youth residential services. This work complements the successful transformation of youth justice services.

This will make the system more nimble, more streamlined and more accessible to the changing needs of children and youth. It will help families to get the appropriate help they need, when they need it, for their loved ones. The vision is that parents and children should only need to tell their story once.

Highlights of 2016-17 achievements

• In December 2016, the government introduced Bill 89, the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 (CYFSA). If passed, the CYFSA would repeal and replace the Child and Family Services Act (CFSA). The CYFSA is a modern, child and youth-centred legislative framework that would strengthen services and oversight, and better protect some of Ontario’s most vulnerable young people. The proposed legislation would also increase the age of protection to include all 16- and 17-year-olds in need of protection
• The ministry continued to implement the Child Protection Information Network (CPIN) which to date, has consolidated 45 million records from 17 children’s aid societies across Ontario. CPIN is enhancing child safety through the ability to consistently track children and their outcomes, quickly transfer critical case histories across societies, and get timely access to crucial information
• The ministry is supporting greater use of culturally appropriate placement options for Indigenous children and youth in need of protection by providing one-time funding of up to $5,000 to help customary caregivers accommodate First Nation children in their homes. The one-time financial assistance may be provided to customary caregivers in addition to the ongoing subsidy that is equivalent to the foster care rate. In 2016-17, over 1,400 First Nations children were placed in customary care arrangements
• The ministry invested $4.5 million in First Nations and urban Indigenous partners for community capacity building and to lay the groundwork for ongoing youth life promotion and suicide prevention initiatives. The ministry also invested almost $700,000 more to enhance the Tele-Mental Health Service to enable more outreach to Indigenous communities and to provide additional consultations for children and youth in rural, remote and under-served communities
• The ministry provided $163.8 million in funding to Indigenous child well-being societies for culturally-appropriate child protection services, and $12.4 million to support Indigenous pre-designated agencies to work towards becoming Indigenous child well-being societies
• Ontario is investing $538M over five years to expand and improve services for children and youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder. These investments will support making it easier for families to access services for their children by reducing wait times, providing more flexible services based on children's needs, and serving more children and youth.
  • In January 2017, five new diagnostic hubs were established to improve the availability of timely autism spectrum disorder diagnostic assessments. The hubs will provide an additional 2,000 assessments by March 2018, allowing more children to begin accessing services as quickly as possible
  • By February 2017, Ontario parents had access to four new early intervention sites for young children showing early signs of autism spectrum disorder
  • Implementation of the new Ontario Autism Program (OAP) is beginning in June 2017, and with the program expected to be fully in place by Spring 2018
• Ontario Child Benefit (OCB) payments increased to a maximum of $1,356 per child, per year. About one million children in over 500,000 low- to moderate-income families are provided financial assistance by the OCB
• The ministry invested $20 million into a Family Well-Being program in support of the Ontario Indigenous Children and Youth Strategy and Walking Together: Ontario’s Long-term Strategy to End Violence Against Indigenous Women. This investment promotes culturally-grounded wellness and family supports through the hiring 270 new frontline workers in over 200 Indigenous communities to establish safe spaces and provide community based programming to address the impacts of violence on Indigenous families
• Additionally, in 2016-2017, MCYS invested $3 million in capacity funding to support First Nations, Métis, Inuit and urban Indigenous partners in co-implementing the Ontario Indigenous Children and Youth Strategy. This funding supported Indigenous partners in developing the infrastructure, tools and supports to continue their transformation planning through enhanced Indigenous control/First Nations jurisdiction, based upon their communities’ needs and priorities
• Construction is nearing completion on three new children’s treatment centres in Oakville, Mississauga and Brampton, which received $163 million in funding from the ministry
• To support the Collective Impact for Disconnected Youth initiative, the ministry brought together a provincial leadership table of partners from across sectors including government, private business, philanthropic and non-profit organizations to explore a new model to improve outcomes for youth who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET youth) using a Collective Impact approach
• In June 2016, MCYS initiated a review of its Healthy Babies Healthy Children program to assess program efficiency and effectiveness, and alignment with the ministry’s mandate. Beginning in the Summer of 2017-18, work will begin in partnership with public health units to improve the delivery of this foundational program to support as many vulnerable children and families as possible to achieve their full potential
• Under the Special Needs Strategy, the ministry continued to work with inter-ministerial partners, local service providers and educators to implement Coordinated Service Planning for children and youth with multiple and/or complex special needs. Through this work, local collaborative processes are being put in place to help connect children and youth with multiple and/or complex special needs to a range of services across sectors.
  • New local models to support integrated children’s rehabilitation services have been developed and will begin rolling out across the province in Fall 2018
  • Holistic Coordinated Service Plans were implemented with an initial group of Coordinating Agencies in spring 2016-17 to ensure services are responsive to the individual goals, strengths and needs of children, youth and families. These early adopters have built momentum, provided lessons learned and will serve as models for implementation across the province
• The ministry and the sector continued to implement Moving on Mental Health, with lead agencies developing plans to meet the needs of children and youth in their service areas and to support province-wide consultation on the development of a needs-based funding allocation model
• The Premier’s Council on Youth Opportunities met with over 400 youth in ten communities across the province on Listening Tours. The council also held six official meetings and was consulted by seven ministries on various initiatives
• Between 2003 and 2015, the youth violent crime rate in Ontario decreased by 39%
• Twenty-five ministries, secretariats and offices contributed to the Stepping Up 2016 Annual Report and Inventory of Youth Programs, reflecting an awareness of the need for a whole-of-government approach to helping youth reach their full potential
• The ministry responded and continues to respond to the needs of families arriving from Syria with increased funding to the Youth Outreach Workers (YOWs) to provide support to Syrian refugee youth
• As of March 2017, the ministry provided $19.3 million for upgrades and repairs at approximately 170 community agencies across Ontario. These investments will help children's treatment centres, children’s aid societies, youth centres and other sites used to deliver ministry programs maintain and improve their facilities
• Ontario released the 2016 Poverty Reduction Strategy Annual Report on March 20, 2017, highlighting progress made in lifting people out of poverty. Key achievements include providing healthy meals and snacks to more than 896,000 children and youth during the school year, and to 63 First Nations communities, through the Student Nutrition Program

Alignment of programs with the government's priorities

The key results achieved support the ministry’s mandate and align with the government’s broader priorities.

The chart below lists the ministry’s latest projects and transformations directly supporting key government priorities:

Ministry programs and activities

A) A healthier population

1. Child and youth mental health

   Approximately one in five Ontarians experience a mental health challenge. The Moving on Mental Health plan is working to ensure that youth and their families can easily Ministry of Children and Youth Services 7 of 105 navigate core mental health services as close to home as possible for a range of conditions, such as depression, behavioral problems or anxiety.

   These local services are coordinated by community-based child and youth mental health lead agencies, which are also responsible for collaborating with schools, hospitals, primary care, child welfare authorities and other child and youth serving sectors to improve access to needed supports and services.

2. Services and supports for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

   Beginning in 2016-17, Ontario is investing $538 million over five years to improve and expand autism services so that more children and youth receive critical interventions sooner and services are better matched to their needs.

3. Children’s rehabilitation services

   The ministry funds 20 Children’s Treatment Centres, which provide core rehabilitation services in local communities, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech-language therapy. These centres served more than 76,000 children and youth with special needs in 2015-16 across Ontario. Children’s Treatment Centres offer a variety of other services and clinics depending on local needs and the mix of other providers in each community.

4. Special needs strategy

   The ministry is working with other ministries and local communities to implement the Special Needs Strategy, which will help young Ontarians with a range of needs, such as autism, physical and developmental disabilities, rehabilitation, and hearing and vision challenges, to connect with the services they need as early as possible and have a better service experience.

   The strategy lays the foundation for a system where young people with special needs get the timely and effective services they need to participate fully at home, at school, in the community, and as they prepare to achieve their goals for adulthood.

   This vision will be achieved through a new preschool developmental surveillance process for earlier identification of developmental concerns, Coordinated Service Planning, and the integrated delivery of rehabilitation services.

   1. Developmental surveillance process

      All children for whom there is a developmental concern will be identified as early as possible through a flexible, continuous developmental surveillance process. A new surveillance tool and accompanying learning resource, currently in validation and Ministry of Children and Youth Services 8 of 105 prototype testing, will facilitate conversation among parents and providers to enhance understanding of a child’s development and, when needed, connect them to appropriate early identification and intervention services.

   2. Coordinated service planning

      New Service Planning Coordinators will help connect families of children and youth with multiple and/or complex special needs to the services and supports they need and create holistic Coordinated Service Plans.This Coordinated Service Plan will take into account all of their goals, strengths, and needs, as well as the services that the child or youth is or will be, receiving without families having to unnecessarily repeat their stories.

   3. Integrated rehabilitation services

      The integrated delivery of rehabilitation services will mean that children who need occupational therapy, physiotherapy and/or speech and language services will experience seamless service delivery from birth through to school exit, including the transition from preschool to school-based services.

   4. Regional service resolution

      The ministry is planning improvements to service resolution for children and youth with multiple and/or complex special needs and their families. These changes will lead to a transparent service resolution process with accountable decision-making that is easily understood and available when families need it. This will lead to better service experiences for families and better outcomes for children and youth.

   5. Transition planning

      An integrated transition plan for young people with developmental disabilities supports youth as they move into adulthood and search for work, further education and engagement with their community. This process involves parents, service providers and schools.

5. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)

   Starting in 2017-18, the ministry is investing $26 million over four years to expand support for children, youth and families affected by FASD. Initiatives will help reduce the prevalence of the disorder, increase coordination of services, improve the quality of life for those with FASD, and enhance support for families and caregivers.

6. Healthy Babies Healthy Children

   The Healthy Babies Healthy Children program supports healthy child development by screening pregnant women and families from birth to the child’s transition to school. Intensive blended home visiting services are offered to families confirmed to be at risks.

7. Early years community support

   The ministry supports healthy child development through a number of programs providing screening, assessment and intervention services to children, youth and their families (e.g., Ontario Infant Hearing Program, Preschool Speech and Language Program).

B) Towards a fair society

1. Child protection services

   All children deserve to grow up in safe, stable and caring environments. In cases where abuse or neglect are suspected and/or verified, children and youth in Ontario are supported by 38 children’s aid societies, and ten Indigenous child well-being societies (societies).

   The ministry provides funds to these societies to investigate child abuse, provide protection services and alternate living arrangements, and facilitate adoptions. The ultimate goal of these services is to prevent abuse and neglect, create permanent, stable homes and help prepare these young people for future success.

   The ministry also continues to implement the Strategy to Further Transform Ontario’s Child Welfare System, which aims to move the child welfare system towards long-term sustainability, improve outcomes and the experiences of children and youth receiving services and strengthen the accountability of societies.

   As part of that work, Ontario announced the Permanency, Adoption and Stability Strategy in September 2015 to make it easier for children and youth in the care of societies to find permanent homes, while providing more support to adoptive parents. The ministry has also required societies to develop and implement Quality Improvement Plans (QIPs) to address non-compliance with a number of requirements and standards for child welfare identified by the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario.

   Implementation also continues for CPIN, a multi-year initiative to implement a common information system for all societies across the province. To date, 17 societies are live on CPIN with two more societies scheduled to go live by summer 2017. The remaining societies will be on-boarded to CPIN through a phased approach, with full implementation by 2019-20.

   The ministry continues to support the designation of Indigenous child well-being societies to support Indigenous communities to provide culturally-appropriate services and supports.

   Beginning in 2017-18, the ministry is investing $134 million over four years to support new initiatives in the child welfare sector. This investment will build on the work of previous transformation initiatives with an evidence-based and targeted approach to address current policy and program challenges and to improve quality and oversight for the child welfare and residential services system.

   Further, the ministry is supporting new legislation to strengthen and modernize child, youth, and family services. If passed, the proposed Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 would increase the age of protection to 18, put children and youth at the centre of decision-making, support more accountable, responsive and accessible, child and youth services, and strengthen oversight for societies and licensed residential services.

2. Child and youth residential services
   
   Residential care for children and youth in Ontario is delivered by a diverse mix of service providers, including ministry direct-operated, transfer payment operated, private non-profit and for-profit operators. Children and youth may come into residential care for a number of reasons, including:
   • protection concerns identified by a children’s aid society (CAS)
   • a court order for youth in conflict with the law
   • developmental and physical challenges, medical conditions, behavioural difficulties, mental health, psychiatric disorders and/or substance abuse problems, with parental consent

   The Minister of Children and Youth Services has a mandate from the Premier to develop a blueprint to reform child and youth residential services and improve the quality of care for children and youth in licensed residential care. The work is being guided by the Residential Services Review Panel’s Report, Because Young People Matter, along with input from stakeholders, including the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth.

   Working in partnership with the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, the ministry established a Youth Panel comprised of youth with lived experience of residential care to ensure that the voices of youth are central to our work and guide us as we move forward.

   The ministry is seeking the advice of service providers and stakeholders through a reference group to help guide the reform of licensed residential services for children and youth.

   As well, the ministry is building on our strong partnership with First Nations, Métis, Inuit and urban Indigenous partners to co-develop approaches that will address their distinct needs with respect to licensed residential services.

   In the meantime, the ministry is implementing an action plan to take immediate measures to support the safety and oversight of residential settings. We are responding, and we will be:

   • Conducting more targeted unannounced inspections of residences based on new tools developed to assess compliance of licensed residences. This includes Serious Occurrence data, complaints, and other risk analytics
   • Working with fire and municipal officials to determine ways to strengthen safety in residences and increase the reporting on compliance with Fire Code, Building Code and municipal by-laws, as applicable. This would include requiring updated documentation respecting fire evacuation and emergency procedures
   • Establishing an Intensive Site Review Team to visit licensed residential settings across the province. This builds upon the experience of a residential oversight response team
   • Expanding the data already collected and reported by Societies and other service providers respecting placements of all children and youth in the residential system. This will support better reporting back to communities, for example, the number of children from the North receiving residential services in the South
3. Youth leaving care

   The ministry is continuing to work with children’s aid societies and Indigenous child well-being societies to provide support and resources for youth leaving care. These resources include: youth-in-transition workers to help youth make a smooth transition to independent living and adulthood; grants to attend postsecondary education and training; and aftercare benefits for prescriptions, dental and extended health benefits.

4. Services and supports for Indigenous children and youth

   First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children and youth are one of the fastest growing populations in Ontario. They face a number of unique challenges, from poverty to overrepresentation in the child welfare and youth justice systems.

   Through the Ontario Indigenous Children and Youth Strategy, the ministry is working with First Nations, Métis, Inuit and urban Indigenous partners to support the unique needs of Indigenous children, youth and families in Ontario.

   Indigenous children and youth deserve to grow up healthy, happy, resilient, grounded in their cultures and languages, and thriving as individuals and as members of their families and communities.

   The Family Well-Being program is a key initiative of the Strategy, and provides funding for Indigenous partners to design and deliver a continuum of prevention-based, culturally-specific supports. The program is also part of Ontario’s commitment to implement Walking Together: Ontario’s Long-Term Strategy to End Violence Against Indigenous Women to prevent violence against Indigenous women and reduce its impact on youth, families and communities. The multi-ministry strategy is supported by an investment of $100 million over three years.

   Other programs that are aligned with the principles of the Ontario Indigenous Children and Youth Strategy include, MCYS’s investment in:

   • the Aboriginal Healthy Babies Healthy Children Program
   • Indigenous Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and Child Nutrition Program
   • Indigenous Mental Health and Addictions Workers
   • prevention and rehabilitation services
   • Akwe:go and Wasa-Nabin Urban Indigenous Programs
   • capacity funding for the Ontario Indigenous Children and Youth Strategy

   The ministry invests $4.8 million per year in 45 community-based programs and supports specifically for Indigenous youth in, or at risk of, conflict with the law. Culturally appropriate programs include prevention, diversion, alternatives to custody and reintegration.

   The ministry is investing $17 million in 2017-18 and $23 million in 2018-19 and ongoing for Indigenous youth life promotion initiatives that include:

   • holistic response and prevention, which combine clinical services and cultural/land-based programming
   • enhancement of the Tele-Mental Health Service to enable more outreach to Indigenous communities and additional specialized consultations
   • mental health and addictions workers and supports for students in First Nations schools

   The ministry was pleased to work with Pikangikum First Nation and other ministry partners to open a new youth community hub in April 2017 to provide safe, welcoming environments for youth, services, and programming.

5. Ontario Youth Action Plan

   In 2015, Ontario invested $55 million over a three-year period to expand successful youth engagement and empowerment initiatives beyond the Greater Toronto Area, while addressing the root causes of youth violence and further enhancing community supports. In total, Ontario provides 65,000 opportunities per year to at-risk youth.

   This expansion was a part of the Ontario Youth Action Plan, a multi-ministry, 20 commitment plan, announced in 2012, which has since been implemented and provides ongoing services to youth.

   In March 2017 Ontario announced the Ontario Black Youth Action Plan; an investment of $47 million over four years to increase access to supports for 10,800 Black children, youth, and families. The Ontario Black Youth Action Plan will:

   • invest in culturally-focused parenting initiatives and mentoring programs
   • encourage Black children to stay in school by investing in early intervention programming
   • help Black students access higher education through culturally-focused outreach
   • ensure programs and policies meet the specific needs of at-risk youth through Ontario-based research
   • help Black youth find their career path by investing in targeted skills development programs
   • invest in community outreach and violence prevention

   The Ontario Black Youth Action Plan builds on partnerships in the community to more specifically address the needs and improve the outcomes of Black youth in Windsor, Ottawa and the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

6. Collective Impact for Disconnected Youth

   The ministry is exploring new ways to address complex social problems by testing a Collective Impact approach to improve outcomes for youth not in employment, education or training.

   Collective Impact is the commitment to solve specific social problems using a structured form of collaboration between groups from different sectors, such as business, not-for-profits and government.

   The ministry will establish demonstration communities for the Collective Impact model in up to five communities by Fall 2017.

7. Ontario Child Benefit and Ontario Child Benefit Equivalent

   The Ontario Child Benefit helps families with the cost of raising children under the age of 18 years. In 2016-17, payments increased to a maximum of $1,356 per child, per year. The benefit program helps about one million children, in over 500,000 low- to moderate-income families.

   The Ontario Child Benefit Equivalent (OCBE) payments are provided directly to children’s aid societies and Indigenous child well-being societies to provide children and youth in care, or in customary care, with increased educational, recreational, cultural and social Ministry of Children and Youth Services 14 of 105 opportunities. OCB payments also provide a savings program for older youth in care to improve their educational outcomes, build their resilience, and enable them to transition smoothly to adulthood.

   The OCBE program provided supports to 9,560 children and youth in care and in customary care in 2015-16. Approximately 6,075 eligible youth aged 15-17 years participated in the OCBE savings program that year.

C) Strenthened public safety and security

1. Youth Justice services

   The ministry provides programs and services to youth (aged 12 to 17 years at the time of the offence), who are in or at risk of conflict with the law. Ontario’s youth justice system provides a continuum of evidence-informed community and custodial programs that are aligned with the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA). Programs and services are intended to:

   • Reduce re-offending, contribute to community safety and prevent youth crime through rehabilitative programming, holding youth accountable, successfully transitioning youth out of custody and creating opportunities for youth at risk
   • Improve outcomes for youth through programs and services that are responsive to the risks, needs and strengths of youth

   In addition, the ministry is taking a comprehensive approach to the collection and use of data to define and measure the impact of youth justice services.

   Youth justice transformation has resulted in an 83% decrease in the number of youth in custody and a 46% decrease in the number of youth in detention (between 2003-04 and 2015-16). Thousands of young people are accessing over 400 community-based programs. Moreover, nine out of ten youth currently receive services in the community.

D) Modernized infrastructure

1. Infrastructure program

   The ministry’s 2017-18 infrastructure plan is focused on developing program specific infrastructure investment plans and making strategic investments in infrastructure that enable ministry program outcomes.

   Investments help children's treatment centres, children’s aid societies, youth centres and other sites used to deliver ministry programs provide safe and comfortable environments for the children and families who rely on their services.

   In 2017, the construction of the new state-of-the-art ErinoakKids children's treatment centre facilities in Mississauga, Oakville and Brampton continues. Ontario is investing $163 million in construction costs for three ErinoakKids facilities. When complete, the centres will serve nearly 15,000 children and youth in Peel, Halton and Dufferin. They will provide services for children and youth with physical, developmental and communication disorders, hearing and vision impairment and for children and youth who are on the autism spectrum.

   MCYS will continue to develop an asset management plan with a focus on enabling business transformation, better outcomes, sustaining and enhancing service delivery capacity, and demonstrating effective stewardship of public assets.

2. Infrastructure program – Youth Justice services

   As a result of the ministry’s youth justice transformation the need for detention/custody services in Ontario has dramatically declined. Consequently, the Province is repurposing the Roy McMurtry Youth Centre, an underused youth justice facility, to meet the unique environmental and programming needs of adult female offenders, including those who require specialized mental health services. The facility will be transferred to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, and the government will construct smaller, strategically located and program appropriate facilities to effectively and efficiently support the programming needs of youth in conflict with the law.

3. Toronto District School Board Community hubs

   Ontario is seeking to preserve vital community services by proposing to purchase two facilities from the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) to maintain them as community hubs.

   This proposed investment would mean the full range of support services currently offered at McNicoll Public School in North York, and Silver Creek Public School in Etobicoke, would continue to be available for local children and their families.

   Community hubs improve the daily lives of people in Ontario by offering multiple services, often in a highly integrated, citizen-centred way and under one roof.

Investing in Ontario's future

Our young people are Ontario’s greatest resource. To build Ontario’s economy, its people and communities must succeed. The ministry is working with its partners to build up our young people to secure the future for all Ontarians.

Key investments are listed below.

• On March 29, 2016, Ontario announced an investment of $333 million over five years to launch the new Ontario Autism Program to make it easier for families to access services for their children by reducing wait times, providing more flexible services based on children's needs, and serving more children and youth
• On June 28, 2016, Ontario announced an additional $200 million investment over four years to enhance supports for families as they transition to the new Ontario Autism Program, and to accelerate the program by one year to begin implementation in June 2017.
  • On May 18, 2017 Ontario announced that a new, permanent direct funding option will be available in the new OAP, by the end of 2017. This will give families more options for obtaining the supports and services needed for their children. Families will be able to choose between receiving direct service or receiving funding to purchase services for their child
• In June 2016, as part of the Ontario First Nations Health Action Plan and The Journey Together: Ontario’s Commitment to Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, the government announced new annual investments, reaching up to $23 million at maturity, for Indigenous youth life promotion and suicide prevention initiatives. The ministry is working with First Nations, Métis, Inuit and urban Indigenous partners to invest in services and supports at the community level
• On April 11, 2016, Ontario announced that the Youth Opportunities Fund would be expanded to a total of $12.95 million and that 31 grassroots projects will receive $7.7 million from the fund to help at-risk youth across communities in Ontario succeed. Projects focus on youth who are in the child welfare or youth justice systems and children with special needs
• On August 8, 2016, Ontario announced a $1.6 million investment to ensure The Boys and Girls Clubs of Kawartha Lakes' facilities are in good repair and support its role as a community hub. The investment will allow Chimo Youth and Family Services to share the facility with The Boys and Girls Clubs and will help the agencies share supports and services to better meet the needs of the Kawartha Lakes children, youth and their families
• On October 31, 2016, Ontario invested $24 million in new supports for families adopting crown wards, including the new Living and Learning Grants program to help cover the costs of postsecondary education
• On December 5, 2016, Ontario announced $600,000 towards the expansion of special needs care at the Ottawa Children's Treatment Centre at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario to help children and youth with special needs and their families receive better care close to home
• On December 9, 2016, Ontario announced $3.2 million in capital funding to Hands, TheFamilyHelpNetwork.ca for the North East Ontario Family Help and Treatment Centre in North Bay. The new facility will allow the organization to provide even more families in the region with access to critical programming, including autism services, child and youth mental health counselling and prenatal, infant and child development services
• On January 12, 2017, Ontario announced over $500,000 in capital funding to Five Counties Children’s Centre in Cobourg to consolidate their footprint, provide more adequate space and enhance a community hub for the children and youth in Northumberland County
• On January 25, 2017, Ontario announced an investment of $3.4 million over five years for Kids Help Phone’s Resources Around Me tool
• In March 2017, construction began on a youth centre in Attawapiskat to provide space to deliver youth programming and mental health services to improve outcomes for children in the community
• On May 19, 2017, Ontario announced an investment of up to $31 million over four years to help Grandview Children’s Centre build a new treatment space for children and youth with special needs in Durham region

Table: Ministry planned expenditures 2017-18 ($M)

Ministry organizaton chart

Ministry of Children and Youth Services Organization Chart, February 2015

• Minister – Michael Coteau
  • Parliamentary Assistant - Sohphie Kiwala
• Deputy Minister - Nancy Matthews
  • Executive Assistant to the Deputy Minister - Allyson Collymore
  • Director, Communications and Marketing Branch Melissa Hogg
  • Director, Legal Services Branch - Diane Zimnica
  • Chief Information Officer, Children, Youth and Social Services I&IT Cluster - Dafna Carr
  • ADM, Strategic Policy and Planning - Darryl Sturtevant
    • Director, Early Child Development - Stacey Weber
    • Director, Strategic Policy and Aboriginal Relationships - Sarah Caldwell
    • Director, Strategic Information and Business Intelligence - Anne Premi
    • Director, Youth Strategies - Sean Twyford
  • ADM, Policy Development and Program Design - Jennifer Morris
    • Director Specialized Services and Supports - Jane Cleve
    • Director Children and Youth at Risk - Marian Mlakar
    • Director Child Welfare Secretariat - Peter Kistpis
    • Project Director System Transition Team - Patrick Mitchell
    • Director, Ontario Autism Program Project - Sarah Hardy
    • Director, Child Welfare Reform Project - Esther Levy
  • ADM, Youth Justice Services - David Mitchell
    • Director Operational Support and Program Effectiveness - Trish Moloughney
    • Director Planning and Program Development - Tamara Stone
    • Director Divisional Services - Jim Faulkner
    • Director Youth Justice Direct Operated Facilities - John Scarfo
    • Director, Collaborative Initiatives - Angela James
  • ADM, Service Delivery - Rachel Kampus
    • Director Client Services Judy Swinton
    • Director Resource Management - Harrison Moon
    • Director, Children’s Facilities - Shannon Bain
    • Director, Child Welfare Operations - Linda Chihab
  • ADM, Transformation and Implementation Planning - Melissa Thomson
  • ADM, Business Planning and Corporate Services - Nadia Cornacchia
    • Executive Director, Organizational Renewal Directorate - Madeline Davidson
    • Director, Financial Planning and Business Management - Sean Keelor
    • Director, Strategic Business Unit - Patricia Kwasnik
    • Director, Community Services Audit Services - Jeff Bird
    • Director, Capital Planning and Delivery - Tony Lozzaro (A)
    • Director, Corporate Services - Maxine Dailey

Regional Directors: Karen Eisler, David Remington, Anne Stark, Paul Wheeler and Nicole True. Regional Directors report jointly to ADMs in Ministry of Community and Social Services (MCSS) and MCYS

Detailed financial information

Table: Operating and captial summary by vote

Operating expense

Operating assets

Capital expense

Capital assets

Ministry total operating and capital including consolidation and other

Estimates, interim actuals and actuals for prior fiscal years are re-stated to reflect any changes in ministry organization and/or program structure. Interim actuals reflect the numbers presented in the 2017 Ontario Budget.

Operating and capital expenditure estimates by vote

Children and Youth Services: 98.4%
Infrastructure program: 1.3%
Ministry administration: 0.3%

Total ministry operating expense by vote

Children and youth services: 99.7%
Ministry Administration: 0.3%

Total ministry captial expense by vote

Infrastructure program: 84.8%
Children and Youth Services: 15.2%

Appendix: 2016-17 annual report

2016-17 achievements

Since its creation, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services has developed considerable expertise in the area of child and youth development. This focus on child development informs our role as a champion and catalyst for the positive outcomes of all children and youth in Ontario. The ministry actively shares that expertise and works in partnership to create opportunities for the voices of children and youth to be heard across government.

Healthy child development

• The Preschool Speech and Language Program identifies children with speech and language disorders as early as possible and provides these children with services to enable them to develop communication and early literacy skills so they are ready to learn when they start school

Preschool Speech and Language Program (number of children in active service)

• The Infant Hearing Program provides newborn hearing screening in hospitals and community settings, audiology assessment and hearing aid selection, monitoring for babies born at risk of early childhood hearing loss, and services to support language development in infants and preschool children who are deaf or hard of hearing

Infant Hearing Program (number of newborns screened)

• The Blind-Low Vision Program provides specialized early intervention and parent education services needed by families of children born blind or with low vision to help them achieve healthy development

Blind Low Vision (number of children receiving intervention)

• The Healthy Babies Healthy Children program provides screening for pregnant women and new families; and provides intensive blended home visiting intervention to families confirmed to be at risk

Healthy Babies Healthy Children (number of women screened postpartum)

• The Infant Development Program provides support to children and their families from birth to age five with a developmental disability or at risk of developmental delay

Infant Development (number of children served)

Note: 2016-17 data is not available until Summer 2017

• In 2015-16, the ministry has also provided an additional $1.1 million in funding to the Student Nutrition Program, bringing the province’s total budget for the program to $32.3 million. This helped created approximately 160 new programs in provincially funded schools and helped implement a new stream of the program serving 63 First Nations across 120 program sites. As a result, over 890,000 children and youth received healthy snacks or meals through the Student Nutrition Program to support their learning and healthy development

Child welfare

• The ministry has introduced new subsidies and supports to ensure more young people remain in a stable home environment
• The government passed legislation granting the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth investigatory functions over children’s aid societies
• The ministry is supporting the designation of additional Indigenous child well-being societies to ensure culturally appropriate and accessible services and supports
• The ministry has made progress on all ten 2015 Office of the Auditor General of Ontario’s (OAGO) recommendations that require ministry action. In addition the ministry has taken action to ensure that societies are addressing the findings:
  • Beginning in 2015-16, all societies are posting travel expenses incurred by their executive-level staff and board members on their public-facing websites
  • In December 2015, the Minister sent a letter to Boards of Directors of all societies to remind them of their responsibility to comply with all legislation, regulations, and directives, including the use of the Child Abuse Registry. Through this letter, the Minister also required Quality Improvement Plans from all societies focusing on addressing compliance issues identified by the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario
  • All societies have a Quality Improvement Plan in place and, in March 2017, submitted their fourth progress report since the plans were initiated. The results indicate that progress has been made towards consistent provincial compliance reporting
• The ministry continues to work with its partners to improve the child welfare system and outcomes for children, building on the advice of the Commission to Promote Sustainable Child Welfare and other inputs.
  • The ministry continued to roll-out the end-to-end review process in two additional societies in 2016-17. End-to-end reviews will enhance society accountability and support a culture of learning and organizational continuous improvement in societies, ultimately improving services for and leading to better outcomes for children, youth and their families
• The ministry continued implementation of the CPIN which to date, has consolidated 45 million records from 17 children’s aid societies across Ontario. CPIN is enhancing child safety through the ability to consistently track children and their outcomes, quickly transfer critical case history across societies, and get timely access to crucial information
• Based on 2016-17 forecasts, societies will complete about 83,330 investigations into allegations that a child/children has/have been abused or neglected or is/are at risk of abuse or neglect. The average number of children in care is 14,808 and the average number of Crown wards in Ontario is 5,125

Total number of adoptions completed for every 100 children in care

Note: The 2016-17 figure is a forecast as year-end actual data is not yet available.

Youth at risk

• The ministry is responsible for a range of Youth Opportunities programs that provide opportunities for at-risk youth to help them to achieve better life outcomes, such as:
  • Youth Opportunities Fund (YOF) – provides granting opportunities to communities across the province including on-reserve
  • Youth Outreach Worker Program (YOW) – equips and empowers at-risk youth and their families to take action by acting as pro-social mentors and connecting youth with services and opportunities
  • Youth in Policing Initiative (YIPI) – provides a safe and positive employment opportunity for youth and enhances the relationships between police and the communities they serve
  • U for Change – an organization that runs mentor and training programs for youth interested in the arts by providing classes for film, fashion, dance, and job and university application training
  • Studio Y – leverages Ontario’s world-leading, social innovation infrastructure at MaRS to educate and harness youth talent to address the province’s complex social and economic challenges
• Youth Opportunities programs are aimed at preventing youth crime. According to the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, between 2003 and 2015 the youth crime rate in Ontario decreased by 46%, and over the same time period, the youth violent crime rate in Ontario decreased by 39%. Ontario has the third lowest youth violent crime rate in Canada

Youth crime rate and youth violent crime rate (2003-2015)

Number of youth accessing opportunities in Ontario (2012-2016)

Note: Represents youth served under the Youth Opportunities Fund, Youth Outreach Worker Program, Youth in Policing Initiative (YIPI), Studio Y and U for Change.

• Ontario announced that programs related to the Enhanced Youth Action Plan became fully operational in 2016-17. The Plan builds on the successes of the 2012 Ontario Youth Action Plan. An additional 37,500 youth are now being served by augmenting existing programs and by introducing new programs such as:
  • The Stop Now and Plan (SNAP)
  • Youth Mentorship Program (YMP)
  • Gang Prevention/Intervention Program
  • Restorative Justice and Conflict Mediation
  • Youth Justice Family Worker Program
• Enhanced Ontario Youth Action Plan funded services are provided in the GTHA, Brantford, Kingston, London, Ottawa, Peterborough, Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Windsor
• The ministry is expanding granting opportunities to communities across the province, including First Nations on-reserve communities

Indigenous children and youth

• The ministry is co-implementing the Ontario Indigenous Children and Youth Strategy with First Nations, Métis, Inuit and urban Indigenous partners in Ontario. Through the strategy, Indigenous communities and the ministry are strengthening bonds to their community and culture, and improving services to meet the needs of Indigenous children and youth. This will enable First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities to have a holistic, culturally-based and community-driven approach to children and youth services
• Through the Family Well-Being program, more than 200 Indigenous communities will develop and deliver supports and services, which includes hiring and training more front-line service workers, developing community-based programming and creating safe spaces
• The ministry continues to support the designation of Indigenous child well-being societies to support Indigenous communities to look after their children through culturally-appropriate practices. In 2016-17, there were five Indigenous agencies moving through the designation process; one of the five agencies was designated on April 1, 2017

Mental health

• As part of Ontario’s Mental Health and Addictions Strategy, the ministry is continuing to implement Moving on Mental Health. As of December, 2015, 31 of the 33 lead agencies have been identified in communities across the province. Lead agencies are leading planning processes to identify and respond to the mental health needs of children and youth in their communities. Interim community planning processes are in place in the remaining two service areas with all lead agencies expected to be identified in 2017-18. The ministry has defined a set of common core services to be available, over time, across the Province, and is in the process of developing a needs-based funding allocation model for child and youth mental health core services
• Since the launch of Moving on Mental Health, the focus has been on putting the foundation in place to support a high-quality responsive system that meets the needs of children and youth. With this in place, the emphasis is now on strengthening the impact on-the-ground for children, youth and families, through building stronger and more sustainable pathways including:
  • Aligning services across sectors
  • Integrating access
  • Enhancing transition planning
• In early Fall 2016, the ministry received approval to develop and implement the Child and Youth Mental Health Business Intelligence (BI) Solution. Through the BI Solution, data will be provided to the ministry and agency staff to inform service delivery, planning, performance measurement and monitoring, and continuous improvement of the child and youth mental health system for children, youth and their families
• Building on the work of the three year suicide prevention plan (2012 to 2015), in June 2016 Ontario announced investments in culturally appropriate well-being and mental health supports for Indigenous children and youth through the Ontario First Nations Health Action Plan and The Journey Together: Ontario’s Commitment to Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. These youth life promotion/suicide prevention supports include:
  • holistic response and prevention supports
  • enhancing the Tele-Mental Health Service to enable more outreach to Indigenous communities and additional consultations
  • Indigenous mental health and addictions workers and supports for students in First Nation Schools
• Clinicians from the ministry’s Child and Parent Resource Institute are regularly invited to speak across Canada and internationally about evidence-based clinical programming and ministry research in areas such as Trauma-informed Care, Tourette’s Syndrome, psychotropic medication monitoring, attachment disorders and sensory processing disorder
• CPRI has also partnered with interRAI, an international collaborative of more than 85 experts from 40 countries, to publish evidence-informed assessment and care planning tools; and with the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI), to leverage information from the tools to improve accountability, outcome measurement and provide the ministry with information to compare and evaluate. Sixty-five organizations are currently implementing interRAI, including: 16 Lead Agencies, two Lead Agency/Hospitals, 38 Core Service Agencies, two Core Service Agencies/Hospitals, two School Boards, with over 40,000 Children and Youth Assessments completed

Special needs

• Together, with the ministries of Education, Community and Social Services, and Health and Long-Term Care, MCYS is implementing the Special Needs Strategy with a vision of an Ontario where children and youth with special needs and their families get the timely and effective services they need to participate fully at home, at school, in the community, and as they prepare to achieve their goals for adulthood
• Under the Special Needs Strategy, children’s service providers, community and mental health service providers and district school board representatives across the province are working together to support the continued phased implementation of Coordinated Service Planning throughout 2017-18
• The ministries will work closely with local communities for the Integrated Delivery of Rehabilitation Services, where newly formed steering committees will develop final proposals and implementation plans throughout 2017-18; transition to new service delivery models is expected to begin as early as Fall 2018

Autism spectrum disorder

• On March 29, 2016, Ontario announced an investment of $333 million over five years to launch the new Ontario Autism Program to make it easier for families to access services for their children by reducing wait times, providing more flexible services based on children's needs, and serving more children and youth
• On June 28, 2016, Ontario announced an additional $200 million investment over 4 years to enhance supports for families as they transition to the new Ontario Autism Program, and to accelerate the program by one year. Ontario committed to:
  • Enhancing access to autism services so that families will no longer need to apply to two programs or receive multiple assessments or service plans. There will be a single point of entry for autism services in each region
  • Increasing the number of treatment spaces available so that more children and youth with autism can receive the services they need sooner
  • Expanding services so that children of all ages can receive services that meet their unique needs
• Implementation of the new Ontario Autism Program is beginning in June 2017, with the program expected to be fully in place by Spring 2018
• In January 2017, the ministry established five new time-limited diagnostic hubs to improve the availability of timely Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnostic assessments. The hubs will complete an additional 2,000 assessments by March 2018 so that more children can begin accessing services as quickly as possible
• The ministry is partnering with clinical experts and children’s services organizations to demonstrate four new pre-diagnosis early intervention models in Ontario over the next three years. The pilots, launched in February 2017, are play-based and are delivered in natural settings (e.g., child’s home or the playground) to help very young children meet individualized goals
• The ministry in partnership with the Ministry of Community and Social Services (MCSS) launched three supported employment demonstrations to support young people (ages 14-30) with ASD as they transition into the workforce. The demonstrations will be delivered for two years throughout 2016-17 and 2017-18. Each agency has a target of supporting 60 clients with ASD in attaining and maintaining paid employment over the two-year period

Annual autism funding for IBI/ABA

Notes: Figures from 2004-5 – 2010-11 numbers reflect IBI services only; Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) services commenced midway through 2011-12; Figures from 2011-12 – 2014-15 numbers reflect IBI and ABA

Number of children receiving Autism services

Notes: ABA services commenced midway through 2011-12; the number of IBI and ABA clients served is the service target. Actual number of children served data will not be available until Summer 2017.

Infrastructure program

• In 2016-17, the ministry continued to implement its multi-year asset management plan for the ministry’s funded transfer payment agency sites and direct-operated sites. These sites are used to deliver a variety of ministry programs and services.
  • The asset management plan focused on sustaining existing assets to support the delivery of ministry-funded programs, supporting program enhancements to meet service demands and enabling program transformation
• As of March 2017, the ministry had provided $19.3 million for upgrades and repairs at approximately 170 community agencies across Ontario. These investments will help children's treatment centres, children’s aid societies, youth centres and other sites used to deliver ministry programs maintain and improve their facilities

Table: Ministry interim actual expenditures 2016-17