A critical examination of youth service trajectories: Black children’s transition from child welfare to youth justice

In Canada, and more specifically Quebec, little research exists regarding Black children’s exits from the child welfare system (CWS) and subsequent involvement under the youth criminal justice system. This study uses longitudinal clinical administrative data to examine racial differences in youth justice involvement among maltreated youth and adolescents. Our sample cohort is based on the child welfare records of 7592 children who were first referred for ongoing child welfare services between January 1st 2007, and December 31st 2017. Cox proportional hazard model was used to investigate the associations between youth justice involvement and various predictor variables. From our cohort, 12.7% of children had youth justice involvement after having committed an offence under the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA). Child and social risk factors found to predict youth justice involvement included age at the initial child welfare investigation, sex, language, and race. First-generation immigrant youth were less likely to transition to youth justice. Regarding CWS case characteristics, source of the child welfare report, investigations for behavioural disturbance, placement instability and placement in a rehabilitation centre also predicted youth justice involvement. Longer duration of CWS involvement was found to decrease the likelihood of youth justice involvement. These findings raise important implications for critically examining racial disparity in Quebec.