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Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10393/37837

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Permanency: Definition, Measurement, and Outcomes
(2018-09) Greenberg, Barbara; Miller, Meagan; Flynn, Robert; Michael, Erik; Vincent, Cynthia
This document was prepared by members of the Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) project at the University of Ottawa for discussion by the OACAS Child and Youth Caring Council-Community of Practice (CYCC-COP). The OnLAC team created the document to assist members of the CYCC COP in their task of formulating a useful definition (conceptual or operational) of permanency, which is a necessary prelude to evaluating the outcomes of permanency in the Ontario child welfare system. In particular, the document is a response to Work Plan #2 (2018-2019) of the OACAS Service Excellence Strategic Council, namely, “to examine the Ontario Child Welfare Service Framework ‘Meeting the needs of children in Care and Crown wards’ outcome #8- Increasing numbers of children are safely reunified permanently with their parent/guardian” (OACAS, 2018b, pg. 1). The document has four main purposes and parts. First, we provide a survey of definitions of the concept of permanency that are found in the child welfare literature. Second, we examine some of the major outcomes (i.e., correlates rather than consequences) of permanency that emerge from a highly selected sample of high-quality empirical articles. Third, based on research findings, we respond to the work plan objective regarding how to measure permanency and keep children and youth reunited with their family of origin. Fourth, we suggest a potential pilot project in which permanency and its outcomes in Ontario would be evaluated empirically by following a sample of young people who have exited from out-of-home care. This pilot project could potentially lead to a multi-year longitudinal research project in which a relatively large sample of young people who have left care in Ontario would be followed for an extended period in order to understand how they fare in their transitions to young adulthood.
A comparison of selected OnLAC year 7 and year 8 longitudinal results for 12-17 year olds in care
(2010) Flynn, Robert; Miller, Meagan
Presented at the 2010 Ontario Looking After Children Data Review Day
Understanding the Looking After Children Ontario Provincial Report (Year Seven)
(2009-10-24) Miller, Meagan
Presented at the 2009 Ontario Looking After Children Data Review Day
A comparison of selected OnLAC year 6 and year 7 longitudinal results for 10-15 year olds in care
(2009) Flynn, Robert; Miller, Meagan
Presented at the 2009 Ontario Looking After Children Data Review Day
Positive mental health in young people in care: Findings from a new measure
(2012-08-21) Miller, Meagan; Michael, Erik; Flynn, Robert; Keyes, Corey
A growing emphasis on resilience and positive youth development in child welfare makes the assessment of the positive mental health of young people in care especially timely. The present paper will provide an overview of the main findings derived from the use of Keyes’ (2006) new 14-item self-report measure of positive mental health in a cross-sectional sample of 3,954 young people aged 10-17 years and residing in out-of-home care in Ontario, Canada, in 2010-2011. Keyes’ instrument is an integral component of the revised Canadian version of the Assessment and Action Record (Flynn, Miller, Desjardins, Ghazal, & Legault, 2010) that is used in the Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) service-planning and outcome-monitoring project. The 14 items cover three aspects of subjective well-being: emotional (3 items), social (5 items), and psychological (6 items). We will describe the prevalence in young people in care of Keyes’ (2006) three levels of youth mental health, namely, flourishing, moderately mentally healthy, and languishing, and compare the results to the norms established by him in a large national sample of youth in the USA. We will also describe the degree of association between the positive mental health of the young people in care and other aspects of their functioning, both positive (e.g., developmental assets, pro-social behaviour, positive experiences in care, school performance) and negative (e.g., behavioural difficulties, use of drugs). The implications of the findings for the potentially wider use in child welfare of Keyes’ (2006) measure of positive mental health will be discussed. Presented at EUSARF 2012 in Glasgow, Scotland
Selected Variables from Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) Informing the Service Framework for Child Welfare in Ontario 2016 Ontario Provincial Report
(2017-10) Miller, Meagan
This report was prepared by the University of Ottawa OnLAC team at the request of the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies (OACAS) in preparation for the 2017 Ontario Child Welfare Data Forum. The variables selected in consultation with OACAS and presented here are intended to inform 2016 Service Framework for Child Welfare in Ontario item 6 – Expected outcomes for children and families as a result of their receipt of services: Meeting the needs of “children in care” and Crown wards (Service Framework, p. 12). Specifically: - Children have a voice in their planning - Children develop resiliency as a result of having their needs met (through the OnLAC approach) - Children experience increased protective factors (asset building) and reduced risk factors that contribute to improved well-being - Aboriginal children have the opportunity to know their culture and identity, connect with the land, and learn/speak their language
Selected longitudinal OnLAC results from 2019-2021 for a sample of 692 young people in care aged 10-15 in 2019
(2022-09) Miller, Meagan
Selected Variables from Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) Informing the Service Framework for Child Welfare in Ontario 2017 Report
(2018-11) Miller, Meagan; Michael, Erik
Selected Variables from Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) Informing the Service Framework for Child Welfare in Ontario Presented to the Child Welfare Data Forum - October 25, 2017
(2017-10-25) Miller, Meagan; Flynn, Robert J.
Reponse to Priority Subgroup questions - Ontario Looking After Children
(2010) Flynn, Robert; Miller, Meagan
Presented at the 2010 Ontario Looking After Children Data Review Day
OnLAC Developmental Assets and Selected OnLAC Year 10 Outcomes
(2011-11-04) Flynn, Robert; Miller, Meagan
Presented at the 2011 Ontario Looking After Children Data Review Day
What to do with this data? Case Example
(2013) Miller, Meagan; Flynn, Robert
Presented at the 2013 Ontario Looking After Children Data Review Day
Ontario Looking After Children: OnLAC 101
(2022-05-26) Miller, Meagan
An introduction to our team, a history of the OnLAC project, a discussion of its theoretical frameworks, a look at the Assessment and Action Record, or AAR, the main instrument of the project, and finally a look at how the AAR is intended to be used in planning and outcome monitoring for young people in care, both individually and at the aggregate level.
A comparison of selected year 8, year 9, and year 10 longitudinal results for 10-17 year olds in care
(2011-11-04) Flynn, Robert; Miller, Meagan
Presented at the 2011 Ontario Looking After Children Data Review Day
Selected longitudinal results for OnLAC years 10, 11 & 12 for a sample of 1714 young people in care aged 10-15 in year 10
(2013) Flynn, Robert; Miller, Meagan
Presented at the 2013 Ontario Looking After Children Data Review Day
Report on the Three OnLAC-Derived Service Performance Indicators: SPIs 14, 15, and 16
(2014-06-24) Flynn, Robert; Miller, Meagan; Vincent, Cynthia
This report provides basic information and interpretation on service performance indicators (SPIs) 14, 15, and 16, which, in the new Ontario child welfare accountability framework, are concerned with client well-being and derived from data collected annually by the Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) project. The three indicators are SPI 14: Development assets for children in care; SPI 15: Quality of the caregiver-youth relationship for children in care; and SPI 16: Age-to-grade educational performance of children in care. We present data from OnLAC years 10, 11, and 12 (respectively, 2010-2011, 2011-2012, and 2012-2013). For 0-17 year olds, with whom most of the present report is concerned, the annual samples ranged between 6,580 and 6,851 young people in care, with data collected by 41 local Children’s Aid Societies (CASs) in each year. For the analyses in the Executive Summary (Tables B.1-B.3), based on SPI 14 (developmental assets), the sample sizes ranged between 6,732 and 6,930. The results showed, first, that CASs accounted for only a very small portion of the total variation in SPI 14-16 scores. Second, SPI 14 correlated consistently and significantly with SPIs 15 and 16, whereas SPIs 15 and 16 were related only very weakly or not at all. Third, as noted in Table A (next page), of 36 ANOVA or chi square-based comparisons made on SPIs 14-16 between the means or percentages of the female and male youths in care across the three OnLAC years, the females had significantly higher scores on 53% of the comparisons, versus 3% for the males, and the female advantage was especially marked on SPI 16 (92% versus 8%). Also as noted in Table A, of 36 comparisons made between the means or percentages of the First Nations, Métis, or Inuit (FNMI) and non-FNMI young persons in care, the FNMI youths had significantly higher scores on 22% of the comparisons, versus 6% for the non-FNMI youths. The differences tended to be most marked on SPI 16, least marked on SPI 15, and intermediate OnLAC Performance Indicators: SPIs 14, 15, & 16 4 on SPI 14. Finally, in the ANOVAs involving SPIs 14 and 15, only 2 of the 48 ethnicity-by-gender interactions were statistically significant, indicating that ethnicity and gender had largely independent influences on the SPIs.
Selected Variables from Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) Informing the Service Framework for Child Welfare in Ontario
(2017-10) Miller, Meagan
This report was prepared by the University of Ottawa OnLAC team at the request of the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies (OACAS) in preparation for the 2017 Ontario Child Welfare Data Forum. The variables selected in consultation with OACAS and presented here are intended to inform 2016 Service Framework for Child Welfare in Ontario item 6 – Expected outcomes for children and families as a result of their receipt of services: Meeting the needs of “children in care” and Crown wards (Service Framework, p. 12). Specifically: - Children have a voice in their planning - Children develop resiliency as a result of having their needs met (through the OnLAC approach) - Children experience increased protective factors (asset building) and reduced risk factors that contribute to improved well-being - Aboriginal children have the opportunity to know their culture and identity, connect with the land, and learn/speak their language
Selected longitudinal results for OnLAC years 10 & 11 for a sample of 2875 young people in care aged 10-16 in year 10
(2012) Flynn, Robert; Miller, Meagan
Presented at the 2012 Ontario Looking After Children Data Review Day
Selected Variables from Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) Informing the Services Framework for Child Welfare in Ontario Year 13 Ontario Provincial Report
(2017-10) Miller, Meagan
This report was prepared by the University of Ottawa OnLAC team at the request of the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies (OACAS) in preparation for the 2017 Ontario Child Welfare Data Forum. The variables selected in consultation with OACAS and presented here are intended to inform 2016 Service Framework for Child Welfare in Ontario item 6 – Expected outcomes for children and families as a result of their receipt of services: Meeting the needs of “children in care” and Crown wards (Service Framework, p. 12). Specifically: - Children have a voice in their planning - Children develop resiliency as a result of having their needs met (through the OnLAC approach) - Children experience increased protective factors (asset building) and reduced risk factors that contribute to improved well-being - Aboriginal children have the opportunity to know their culture and identity, connect with the land, and learn/speak their language
Ontario Looking After Children 2022 Report
(2023-05-01) Miller, Meagan
In July 2020, Ontario's Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS) released Ontario's Quality Standards Framework: A Resource Guide to Improve Quality of Care for Children and Young Persons in Licensed Residential Settings, a document that describes best practices for providing high-quality care in view of positive futures for young people. This framework is a compliment to the guiding principals of the Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) model, namely that good parenting leads to good outcomes. When substitute parenting (caregiving) is of high quality, young people are supported to develop and achieve goals, maintain connections with their communities and build healthy relationships, develop a strong sense of knowledge and pride in their unique identities, and foster resilience despite adversities they have experienced. Both the Quality Standards Framework and OnLAC seek to provide those caring for children and young people with a model for quality caregiving, and as such, they align well. The selected information presented in this report is the product of the OnLAC project's 22nd year of provincial data collection and aggregation via the Assessment and Action Record (AAR). The University of Ottawa OnLAC team has endeavoured to present information, measures, and variables that, when used in conjunction with contextual knowledge and other information sources, can help Ontario children's aid societies (Societies) to evaluate the quality of care provided to young people in care in Ontario in line with Ontario's Quality Standards Framework. This report is intended for use in three main areas: 1. Regular outcome monitoring, by comparing young people's developmental progress to intended goals 2. Evaluating and promoting continuous quality improvement and relevance of services 3. Providing policy-makers with accurate, up-to-date knowledge of system wide outcomes, fulfilling an accountability function The basic findings presented in this report must be reviewed and interpreted carefully by readers. Our attempt to confer this information as simply as possible has meant that we have had to be selective in what items and measures are presented and how. Societies are encouraged to undertake their own analysis and explore stratifications that are meaningful to local contexts, goals, and knowledge needs. If users have questions or comments about the findings described, or need assistance in interpreting their Society's own data, please contact Meagan Miller, OnLAC Research Associate, at mmiller@uottawa.ca. There is also a section of selected 'Further Reading" at the end of this report. Since 2000, the OnLAC project has been a partnership between the Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services (CRECS) at the University of Ottawa and the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies. We gratefully acknowledge the funding and support of OACAS and MCCSS. We also wish to thank the numerous child welfare workers, quality assurance staff, supervisors, managers, admin and executive personnel, caregivers, and especially, the young people in care who have contributed so much to the OnLAC project since the beginning.

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