Missing and at risk: Why children in care often run from group homes
Department ‘deeply concerned’; former youth in care explain their views
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youth → miss → views
Grayson Balzan was only 12 when the last pieces of his childhood were stolen.
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pieces → steal → childhood
A tattered, one-eyed stuffed toy dog named Puppy was one of the few items he took with him to a Dartmouth, N.S., group home when he was placed into government care.
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he → name → care
He’d had it since he was a baby.
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he → have → it
Balzan had Puppy tucked away in his private room when another youth swiped it and hid it.
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youth → have → it
The dog was eventually returned, but the damage was done.
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damage → return → ?
In the first weeks of his stay, he said he remembers other kids in his group home smashing glasses or dishes, ripping posters from walls, throwing food at him, or threatening to fight him.
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kids → say → him
So he left.
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he → leave → ?
“I would go anywhere, anywhere other than there,” said Balzan, now 21.
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Balzan → go → ?
For the first time, Nova Scotia is tracking how many youth in care run away like Balzan did.
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Balzan → track → care
In the last year, group homes have reported hundreds of incidents when youth went missing and were considered at “imminent risk,” a problem the provincial department in charge acknowledges is a major concern.
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department → report → charge
The numbers come from new quarterly reports compiled by the Department of Opportunities and Social Development that the CBC obtained through a freedom of information request.
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CBC → come → request
Between August 2025 and March 2026, the province tracked hundreds of serious incidents at group homes.
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province → track → homes
Among them, 491 involved a missing child or youth, and it appears from the statistics that some youth are running away repeatedly.
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youth → involve → statistics
Fewer than 150 children in Nova Scotia live in group homes, suggesting some youth are being reported missing and at risk multiple times.
While serious incidents in group homes have long been reported on an individual level, two years ago Nova Scotia’s auditor general criticized the department for not examining them for "trends or patterns that need to be addressed."
- Weak oversight of N.S. youth homes increases risk of improper child care: auditor
- READ MORE: Auditor general’s report on well-being of children in care
The department accepted the AG’s recommendation and in the summer of 2025 began doing this quarterly analysis.
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department → live → analysis
Lorna Ferguson, an assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Regina, believes it’s critical to pay attention to trends of youth being reported missing.
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it → believe → youth
“Missing persons kind of sits at the hub of a lot of social problems in Canada, but yet there's not a lot of attention on it,” said Ferguson, who has written multiple books on the topic.
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who → miss → topic
She said missing youth can be more likely to end up homeless or vulnerable to other dangers like human trafficking.
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youth → say → trafficking
Ferguson’s research shows group homes are the “number one location” where youth are reported missing, and the place where the most Canadian missing persons reports originate overall.
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reports → show → ?
That’s partly because group homes are required to report missing youth, and often the young person is found safely within hours or returns on their own.
But buried within that larger number are some cases where young people are harmed.
“Any case that goes missing from a group home, because of the pre-existing vulnerabilities for youth in these situations, can have the potential to turn into a harmful or negative experience for the missing person,” said Ferguson.
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Ferguson → ’ → person
According to the RCMP’s National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains, Nova Scotia police reports list hundreds of “runaway” children each year, with approximately 500 reports in 2025.
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reports → accord → 2025
An RCMP analysis in 2024 suggested more than half of examined Nova Scotian cases represented “habitual” or “chronic” runaway children and youth.
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half → suggest → children
Why do youth go missing?
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youth → go → ?
Balzan said he left his group home because it never felt like a safe place for him.
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it → say → him
Being on the autism spectrum and the youngest in the group home, he said he instantly became a target for bullying and physical violence from older kids.
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he → say → kids
After the theft of his stuffed animal, he felt he couldn't trust the group home staff.
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he → stuff → staff
Balzan said Puppy had been a comfort to him in years when he struggled with sexual abuse and substance abuse in elementary school.
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he → say → school
The staff said there wasn’t much they could do about the theft.
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they → say → theft
“I was just really distraught because I was a kid and that was like the only thing I had that was really important to me,” he said.
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he → have → me
“I think that was a part of me realizing that, you know, it's nobody but you.”
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it → think → you
He was young enough to get on a Halifax Transit bus for free, so he rode around the city and hung out at transit terminals.
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he → get → terminals
He wandered in parks at night and sat in the parking area of Dartmouth General Hospital.
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He → wander → Hospital
One time a strange man picked him up in a car and returned him to the group home.
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man → pick → home
In retrospect Balzan said that was a risky situation for a young child.
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that → say → child
“I was just everywhere, just like on the streets,” he said.
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he → say → streets
Balzan said he continued running away from every other group home he was later placed in.
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he → say → home
Department deeply concerned
Jill Barkhouse, executive director of the Department of Opportunities and Social Development’s child and family well-being division, said in a recent interview she is “deeply concerned” about the numbers of missing children, and officials are trying to understand them.
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officials → say → them
“We do work to see the child and youth behind those reports,” Barkhouse said.
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Barkhouse → do → reports
The department reaches out directly to the care provider about how to respond to each report.
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department → reach → report
The child’s social worker will also meet the child to figure out what they need or how to keep them safe, she said.
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she → meet → them
…and 43 more, not listed.
The Aporia
