2007. 18^th ANNUAL MEETING
“Policy and Practice: Assessing the Integration of Services for Ontario’s Children and Youth”

Have we made progress in improving the integration of services for children and youth since the inception of the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services in 2003? This year's conference engaged participants in a critical examination and discussion of our progress.

Focusing on three areas where provincial reforms have been recommended and/or undertaken - Child Welfare, Youth Justice and Mental Health - the sessions examined how the policies and practices introduced in each of these areas have either improved or hindered the integration of services and the impact on children and youth.

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2006. 17^th ANNUAL MEETING
“Creating the Schools We Want for Our Children: A Community Responsibility”

This year's annual conference consists of presentations that focus on how safe and caring schools can be created for our children and youth.

Broad concern for international competitiveness has led to a renewed focus on academic achievement and public accountability by educators.  At the same time, there has been widespread concern about school violence, bullying and school drop outs. Changes in society and families are producing pressure for schools to do more to foster academic and life success.  How can we, as a community, use our resources, our values, and the evidence of research, to create the school culture that our children and youth require to be successful?

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2005. 16^th ANNUAL MEETING “Children, Youth and Families: Inclusion & Integration”

This year's annual meeting consists of presentations that focus on the issues of inclusion and integration in the provision of services to children, youth, and families.

Please note that new this year is the addition of an expertly facilitated discussion session that will provide attendees with an opportunity to participate in the development and refinement of a discussion paper and policy recommendations on service integration in Ontario.

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2004. 15^th ANNUAL MEETING “An Unintended Journey: Children & Youth, From Child Welfare to the Youth Justice System”

In this Olympic Year, the Ontario government is seeking a gold medal by establishing The Ministry of Children and Youth Services!  As such, a high point of our 2004 meeting was hearing from the newly appointed Deputy Minister of Children and Youth Services, Jessica Hill about the future of services for children and youth. 

Our hope is to establish a continuing dialogue with the Ministry about how to improve service delivery and obtain better outcomes.  The rapid growth in the number of children in care and the increase in the number of violent crimes committed by youth create urgency for us to adapt the system to meet the complex needs of these children and youth.

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2003. 14^th ANNUAL MEETING | “From Child & Youth Development to Human Development”

This theme of this year’s Annual Meeting centered on how the relationship between the social, physical and mental development of children and adolescents is linked to human development and the broader social growth and development at the scale of the nation.

The speakers assembled for this year’s program spoke to this framework, addressing the critical “pathways” of health, education, and social inclusion.

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2002. 13^th ANNUAL MEETING
“Integrating Research, Policy & Practice”

This year’s Annual Meeting brought together an exciting roster of leaders in the fields of child and youth research, policy, and advocacy.

The goal of the meeting was to explore how we as service providers, decision-makers, and community members can better translate and apply cutting-edge research evidence to our work with, and for children, youth, and their families.

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2001. 12^th ANNUAL MEETING
“Challenges In Healthy Child Development
In Today's Complex Communities”

This year’s annual meeting brought together presentations and discussion designed to better enable us to develop strategies to support children and families during changing times.

As the “knowledge revolution” has moved us rapidly towards a global economy, there has also been key changed in the nature of the family. In Canada, we are also keenly aware of the potential in and the problems of becoming an ethnically and culturally diverse society. The aim of the annual meeting was examine some of the results of the growing economic and social inequities being produced.

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2000. 11^th ANNUAL MEETING | “The Struggle To Gain Public Support: Playing To Win”

This year’s Annual Meeting was designed to obtain a consultation from experts, some outside the children’s service field – leading pollsters, politicians, and social marketers – about how to develop effective strategies to increase the commitment of both the public and governments to the well-being and development of Canada’s children and youth.

The aim of the meeting was to address the following questions:

How do we champion children as a public priority – children or tax cuts?
How do we get the public and politicians on side?
What can we learn from those who have not bought into the children’s agenda?
How does our current thinking limit our ability to convince the unconvinced?

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