23/07/2025
Ottawa, Ontario — Wednesday July 23, 2025
In Canada, between 4% and 7% of children will live in a foster home at some point during their childhood. These children face significantly higher risks of mental and physical health challenges, including increased rates of emergency department visits, hospitalizations, substance use, and premature mortality.
First Nations children are 15 times more likely to be placed in care and often experience additional barriers to accessing equitable health services. Black children are more likely to be in care with structural and child welfare institutional factors contributing to this longstanding overrepresentation.
With funding from a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Spring 2025 Project Grant, Dr. Andrea Evans, Investigator at the CHEO Research Institute and Assistant Professor in Pediatrics at the University of Ottawa, will lead a groundbreaking national study on the health outcomes of children in foster care.
Until now, Canada has lacked national data on the health and mortality outcomes of children in foster care.
Dr. Evans and her team are addressing this critical gap by developing CanFos, a first-of-its-kind data platform that links health administrative data to children identified as living in foster homes through the Canadian census. This innovative platform will enable the largest analysis to date of health care use and health outcomes for children in foster care across Canada.
“This project represents a critical step forward in understanding and addressing the health inequities faced by children in foster care across Canada,” said Dr. Andrea Evans, the project’s principal investigator. “By building the CanFos data platform, we are creating the first national picture of health outcomes for this often overlooked and underserved population. Our goal is to ensure that every child—especially First Nations and Black children who are vastly overrepresented in care—has access to the health services they need to thrive. This research will provide the evidence needed to drive meaningful, systemic change.”
The project will analyze three national cohorts of children identified as living in foster homes on census days in 2011, 2016, and 2021. By comparing these children to their peers not in care, the research will provide vital insights into disparities in health outcomes and inform future investments in health service delivery for all children in Canada—with a distinct approach for First Nations and Black children.
The CanFos platform is being developed in partnership with national First Nations agencies and guided by a First Nations Advisory Circle and Black researchers and Black youth. The research team includes experts with First Nations, Métis, Inuit, or Black identity, and/or lived experience, ensuring the work is grounded in community priorities and cultural safety.
CIHR Spring 2025 Project Grant
Project: CanFos: Improving the Health of Canadian Children in Foster Homes
Amount/duration: $638,776, over five years
Nominated Principal Investigator: Andrea Evans
Other Principal Investigators: Ashley Quinn, from the University of Toronto, and Doug Manuel, from the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Co-investigators: Ali, Samina; Alqurashi, Waleed; Barrowman, Nicholas J; Brown, Hilary; Halverson, Julie; Kassam, Altaf; Racine, Nicole M; Saunders, Natasha R; Trocme, Nico; Urquia, Marcelo L; Vandermorris, Ashley.