Information
September 2000
Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare
As one of the five Centres of Excellence for Children's Well-Being, the Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare is a consortium under the administrative leadership of the Bell Canada Child Welfare Research Unit, Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, in partnership with the Child Welfare League of Canada in Ottawa, Ont.; the Institut de recherche pour le développement social des jeunes in Montreal, Que.; First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada in West Vancouver, B.C.; Prince Edward Island Department of Health and Social Services in Charlottetown, P.E.I.; the Canadian Association of Provincial/Territorial Child Advocates in Regina, Sask.; the Sparrow Lake Alliance in Toronto, Ont., and l'École de service social de l'Université de Montréal in Montréal, Que. These organizations make up the core group that will provide direction to the work of the centre.
Child abuse and neglect are serious problems in our society, often requiring that children be taken into care. Over 140,000 child abuse and neglect investigations are conducted across Canada on an annual basis. At least 60,000 children, a disproportionate number of whom are Aboriginal, spend some time in out-of-home care every year. Child abuse and neglect are associated with poor developmental outcomes for children, including behavioural and mental health problems, poor educational and employment performance and parenting problems that in turn perpetuate the cycle of abuse and neglect. The Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare will work to address some of these issues.
Focussing on services delivered through the child welfare system, the centre will encourage collaborative projects that integrate prevention and intervention efforts in health care, education, justice and recreation. Building on the skills of researchers and service providers, this centre will create mechanisms for the effective co-ordination and integration of child welfare research across multiple service systems, including health, education and justice sectors. It will create a National Scientific Advisory Council that will bring together a recognized group of child welfare experts who will examine key child welfare policy issues in light of scientific research. The centre will also create a clearinghouse of current research on the Internet and through a research digest, which will be made available through the Child Welfare League of Canada. Research supported by the Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare will include children at all stages of development and both genders, and will reflect diverse linguistic, cultural and geographic aspects of child maltreatment in Canada.
Many other organizations will contribute to the work of this centre, including l'Association des Centres de jeunesse du Québec, the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies, and Alberta Children's Hospital Child Abuse Service. The centre will involve a consortium of over 35 research centres, services networks, governments and non-governmental organizations.
There will be financial and in-kind resources contributed over the five year life span of the Centre to supplement the funding provided by Health Canada.
For more information on the Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare:
Peter Dudding - Child Welfare League of Canada
75 Albert Street, Suite 209
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5E7
Tel: (613) 235-4412
Fax: (613) 235-7616
E-mail - peter@cwlc.ca
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