Description

---

Child abuse is typically considered to be the most severe form of early adversity to which children or adolescents can be subjected. Maltreated young people seen as at the highest risk are likely to be placed in out-of-home care for their own protection, including foster care, kinship care, group care, or independent living. Young People in Out-of-Home Care is based on more than two decades of applied research and evaluation, conducted since 2000, as part of the ongoing Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) Project.

The OnLAC project was based on a new child welfare approach known as Looking After Children, developed in the UK in the late 1980s and 1990s, to reform and improve services to vulnerable young people who were being looked after in out-of-home care. When launched in 2000, the OnLAC project "Canadianized" the UK approach and partnered with the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies (OACAS) and some 20 children's aid societies in the province. Since 2007, the Ontario government has mandated that local societies use the OnLAC method to plan services and monitor outcomes.

Since 2000, the Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) project has gathered information on results and well-being from interviews with more than 35,000 young people in care, their caregivers, and their child welfare workers. Young People in Out- of-Home Care presents major project findings and lessons that promise to improve young people's education, development, health, social and family relationships, mental health, and preparation for transition to community life.

About the Author

---

Robert J. Flynn (Author) Robert J. Flynn is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Ottawa and Principal Investigator of the Ontario Looking After Children Project since its beginning in 2000.Meagan Miller (Author) Meagan Miller is Research Associate with the Ontario Looking After Children Project at the Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services, University of Ottawa.Tessa Bell (Author) Tessa Bell works in Quality Assurance and Organizational Development at the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa and holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Ottawa.Barbara Greenberg (Author) Barbara Greenberg is Research Assistant with the Ontario Looking After Children Project, holds a PhD from the University of Toronto, and researches over-representation and disparities among youth in out-of-home care.Cynthia Vincent (Author) Cynthia Vincent is Research Associate with the Ontario Looking After Children Project at the University of Ottawa and has previous experience as Executive Director of a child welfare agency.