Ontario vows to help foster kids after scathing report

Nurse Ratched

TORONTO - Ontario is promising to improve standards of care for nearly 16,000 young people in foster and group homes, youth justice facilities and mental health residential treatment following a scathing report from an expert panel.

The report focuses on a scattered system with no common standards of care for the children or set qualifications for staff who look after them in institutions that "need significant security controls" because of gangs and peer-to-peer violence.

"There is an urgent need to address the existing and longstanding challenges in the current model of residential service delivery," concludes the government-appointed panel. "Change has been very slow. It is time to shift gears."  (more...)

Ontario vows to help foster kids after scathing report