Children in Care

Indicator #35: Rate of Children in Care

Indicator 35: Rate of children in care at year end, expressed as a rate per 1,000 children.

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Key Messages

• Children and youth in care: (typically referred to as “children in care”) are children or youth who are under the care of the Government of British Columbia and live in a foster or group home.¹ These children and youth are considered a vulnerable sub-population.
• As child abuse and child neglect are the overwhelming reasons why children and youth are in care, they are more likely than the general population to have suffered from trauma, to experience a mental health condition such as anxiety, or to suffer from developmental delay and/or a disability. They are also more likely to be suspended or expelled, and to have poor educational outcomes such as failing or repeating a grade.^2,3,4,5
• Figures 35.1 and 35.2 present the rate of children and youth in care per 1,000 population age 0–18. They show that there are geographic differences in rates of children and youth in care; for example, the rates in Central Vancouver Island and Thompson Cariboo Shuswap Health Service Delivery Areas (HSDAs) are more than eight times the rate in Richmond HSDA (Figure 35.2).

Figure Notes and Sources