An Ontario youth foundation is calling on Ottawa to set up education savings accounts for the 18,000 Ontario children in state care.

The Laidlaw Foundation has released a new report that suggests Ontario children living in foster care don't benefit from federal programs like the Canada Learning Bond and the Canada Education Savings Grant the same way that children living with their families do.

"These are the most vulnerable kids in the province and in Canada, where the parents are actually unavailable," said social policy expert John Stapleton, co-author of the report.

Parents with children living at home often open Registered Education Savings Plans (RESP) for their children, triggering financial contributions from the government. A child can receive up to $2,000 from the learning bond and up to $7,200 from the savings grant.

When a child enters the care of a Children's Aid Society, the basic child benefits are transferred to the aid society to help cover the cost of raising the child.

Stapleton said that, under the current system, only children under the age of six are able to use federal benefits to establish an RESP.

"Older children may receive provincial supports for post-secondary education but they don't get the same benefit from the federal programs," Stapleton said. "It's complicated and inequitable."

The proposed savings account would have the federal government match the education funds currently denied to children in state care, and would cost about $8 million a year.

Stapleton said this funding would help these children save for a post-secondary education.