The first contact usually comes without warning. A voicemail from a worker at Peel Children’s Aid, a card left in the door, or a knock at dinner time. Someone at your child’s school, a doctor, a neighbour or a former partner may have made a report, and you may not be told who. Most parents respond with a mix of fear and anger, and both are understandable.
What helps in that moment is knowing that a children’s aid society is a body with legal powers and legal limits. It can investigate. It can ask a court for orders. In serious situations it can remove a child. It cannot simply decide your family’s future on its own, and when it takes a child into care it must bring the matter before a judge quickly. As a parent you are a party to any court case, which means you have the right to see the evidence and to answer it.
This post is general information about Ontario’s child protection law and is not legal advice. Every investigation turns on its own facts, so speak to a lawyer about yours as early as you can, ideally before you sign anything.
Why a society gets involved at all
Ontario’s Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 lists the situations in which a child is “in need of protection.” They include physical harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, emotional harm, a failure to get a child needed medical or psychological treatment, and abandonment, along with a risk that some of these will happen. The risk grounds matter. A society does not have to wait until a child has been hurt.
Section 125 of the Act also places a duty on everyone in Ontario, not only professionals, to report immediately when they have reasonable grounds to suspect a child is in need of protection. Teachers, doctors and child care workers face additional consequences if they fail to report. That is why a report can feel out of proportion to what actually happened: the person reporting only needed a suspicion, and the society must then look into it.
A report is an allegation and nothing more. Many investigations close without any further step, and some end with the family being offered services. An investigation being open does not mean anyone has concluded that you did something wrong.
The first conversation with a worker
A worker will generally want to see the child, see the home, and speak with each parent. Depending on the child’s age, the worker may also want to speak with the child alone, sometimes at school.
Parents often ask whether they have to cooperate. The honest answer has two sides. A voluntary interview is exactly that, and you may ask to speak with a lawyer before you answer questions. A worker does not get to walk through your door at will in every situation. On the other hand, a society that is shut out completely can apply for court orders or a warrant, and a flat refusal may be described in later court documents as a reason for concern. For that reason most lawyers will help a parent find a middle path: cooperating on the things that show the child is safe, while getting advice before making statements about disputed events.
A few habits are worth adopting from day one:
- Stay polite, even if the allegation is untrue and insulting. Workers write notes, and those notes can end up in an affidavit.
- Write down the worker’s name, the date, and what was said and asked, on the same day.
- Do not coach your children on what to say. It can harm them and damage your credibility.
- Do not guess at details you are unsure of. “I do not remember the date” is a complete answer.
- If you are also facing a criminal charge arising from the same events, get legal advice before you discuss those events with anyone, since what you tell a worker may not stay in the protection file.
When a child can be removed
The Act uses the phrase “brought to a place of safety.” Under section 81, a justice of the peace may issue a warrant to a child protection worker where there are reasonable and probable grounds to believe that the child is under 16, is in need of protection, and that a less restrictive course of action is not available or will not protect the child adequately. A worker may also act without a warrant in urgent circumstances where the delay of getting one would create a substantial risk to the child’s health or safety. Police, including Peel Regional Police, may be asked to assist.
Removal is meant to be the serious end of the range, and the words “less restrictive” run through the whole Act. If there is a relative who could care for the child, or a safety plan that would keep the child at home, say so at once and give names and phone numbers. Grandparents, aunts and uncles who are prepared to help should be identified early and should be told to expect a call.
The five-day rule
Section 88 sets one of the most important limits in child protection law. As soon as practicable, and in any event within five days after a child is brought to a place of safety, one of a short list of things must happen. The matter must be brought before a court, or the child must be returned, or a temporary care agreement must be made (or, for an older youth, a different kind of agreement).
So if your child has been taken into care, a court date should come quickly, often before you have had a chance to catch your breath. In Brampton, child protection cases are heard in the Ontario Court of Justice at 7755 Hurontario St. You should go, and you should go with a lawyer if at all possible. Legal Aid Ontario provides help in child protection matters for those who qualify, and duty counsel may be available at court on the day. Call them before the hearing if you can.
That first appearance will rarely decide the whole case. It usually leads to an adjournment and a temporary care and custody order under section 94. The court must choose among keeping the child with the person who had charge of them, doing so with society supervision and conditions, placing the child with someone else under supervision, or keeping the child in society care. Adjournments generally cannot exceed 30 days without consent. This temporary stage has real weight, because where a child lives during the case tends to shape what happens later, so it is worth contesting properly if the placement is wrong.
Thinking carefully before you sign
Workers commonly present paper to sign. Two kinds deserve particular attention.
A safety plan or service agreement is a voluntary arrangement that may require a parent to, for example, leave the home for a period, avoid being alone with the child, attend counselling, or take a test. These can be a sensible way of avoiding court. They can also be hard to live with, vague in what they ask, and difficult to get out of. Before signing, ask how long it lasts, what would count as a breach, and what the society will do if you later change your mind.
A temporary care agreement under section 75 is a written agreement giving a society care and custody of a child for a period, where the parent is temporarily unable to care for the child adequately. A child aged 12 or older must generally be a party. Parents sometimes sign these during a health crisis or a housing emergency. Time under such an agreement counts toward the overall limits explained below, which is something many parents do not realize at the point of signing.
If you are being pressed to sign today, you can say that you want legal advice first. Ask for a copy to take with you. A short delay to get advice is usually possible unless there is an immediate safety concern.
What the court can order at the end
If a judge finds that a child is in need of protection and that a court order is necessary to protect the child in the future, section 101 provides a limited set of outcomes:
- a supervision order, placing the child with a parent or another person under society supervision for at least 3 and at most 12 months
- an order for interim society care of up to 12 months
- an order for extended society care, which removes the parent’s custody rights and can open the way to adoption
- a combination of interim care followed by supervision
Section 102 also lets the court give custody of the child to another person, such as a relative, which ends the society’s involvement in many cases. Access is dealt with separately. Where a child is removed under a supervision or interim care order, section 105 says the court shall order access for the person who had charge of the child, unless satisfied that continued contact would not be in the child’s best interests.
The clock on time in care
Ontario limits how long a child can stay in temporary society care. Under section 122, the total generally may not exceed 12 months for a child younger than 6 on the day of the order, and 24 months for a child 6 or older. Time under temporary care agreements and temporary court orders counts, and previous periods in care may be added too. The court has a limited power to extend the period where that serves the child’s best interests.
For parents, this shapes every decision. Long waits for a counselling program or an addiction assessment still use up the clock. If a society or judge has identified steps you should take, begin early and keep proof: attendance letters, test results, certificates, and notes from your doctor. Show up for access visits on time, and keep showing up.
Rights parents often overlook
Beyond the right to participate in the hearing, there are a number of protections parents miss. You are entitled to receive the society’s evidence and may file your own, including a plan of care for your child. You may ask the court to consider placing a child with extended family. You may appeal a final order under section 121. If your concern is with how a society has treated you, sections 119 and 120 provide a complaint process through the society and, for certain matters, the Child and Family Services Review Board.
The child also has a voice. Section 78 lets a child have legal representation, and the court must consider whether a lawyer is desirable, which is often arranged through the Office of the Children’s Lawyer. For First Nations, Inuk or Métis children, a representative chosen by each of the child’s bands and communities is a party under section 79, and the Act contains further provisions recognizing connection to community and culture.
If your family has a cultural, religious or language background that a worker may misunderstand, tell your lawyer. In a community as diverse as Brampton, ordinary family practices can be misread, and a good interpreter or a carefully prepared explanation may matter a great deal. Ask for a professional interpreter if you need one rather than relying on a relative or your child.
A protection case may overlap with a custody and parenting dispute between separated parents. Sometimes a report is made in the middle of one. While a protection application is under way, the protection court generally takes priority, and it can affect what the family court does with parenting time. If you have an existing court order or agreement, give a copy to the worker and to your lawyer. If you think a report was made maliciously, tell your lawyer rather than confronting the person you suspect.
Where to start this week
Gather the paperwork you have been given and any court documents, and make a simple timeline of what has happened. Write down the names of any relatives who could help. Then get advice. A consultation with a family lawyer will help you understand what the society is actually alleging and which steps deserve your energy first. If you are unsure how to begin, you can contact our Brampton office and we can talk through what is needed.
Child protection cases are hard, and it can feel as though everything you say is being measured. Staying calm, informed and consistent gives you the strongest footing you can have, and it shows your child, as well as the court, that you are doing what you can.