This editorial from the Toronto Star highlights the racial disproportionality in Toronto’s child welfare system and in child welfare systems across Canada. Previous investigations by the Star found that 42% of children in the care of the Children’s Aid Society in Toronto were black, while black children and youth in Toronto comprise only 8% of the city’s population. Furthermore, the Star reported that black children stay longer in care, on average, than their peers of other racial/ethnic groups. This is not an isolated issue, says the Star, ““There is an acknowledged disproportionality, disparity and discrimination in services provided to Black families by child welfare agencies across North America,” according to one official at the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto. The problem is also not limited to black children, or to big cities, says the article. There are also a disproportionate number of First Nations and aboriginal children represented in child welfare systems across Canada. The Toronto Children’s Aid Society published a report on the demographic make-up of the children in their care, making this information public and more transparent, and now a group of Ontario children’s aid societies has agreed to do the same. “Vigilance and transparency are the first steps in weeding out the often subtle discrimination that seems to tilt the system against black and aboriginal kids in a variety of ways,” says the article.
