There are very specific steps in a child protection cases. Further on, you will find details of the different steps when the Children’s Aid Society becomes involved with your family.
Before deciding if your child is in need of protection, the judge must determine:
You and the Children’s Aid Society can agree that your child is in need of protection. If you and the Children’s Aid Society cannot agree that your child is in need of protection, a trial will be needed. If there is a trial, it can be many months before you go to trial.
Your child is not in need of protection:
A judge must decide if your child is in need of protection based on the balance of probabilities. If the judge decides that your child is not in need of protection, the case ends, and your child will be returned to the person having the care and custody of the child immediately before the case was started.
Your child is in need of protection:
If the judge decides that your child is in need of protection, the judge must decide whether an order, if any, is necessary to protect your child. The order must be in the child’s best interests. The judge must also decide your access to the child.
If the judge decides that your child is in need of protection, they must make an order to protect your child. There are different orders that a judge can make. The order must be in the best interests of the child.
These orders are called the disposition. You may find the different orders under s. 101(1) and 102 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act. They include:
The judge will either decide that you, another parent, caregiver, another person or the Society will have care and custody of your child.
The judge may make a Supervision Order. If that happens, the judge will decide that you or another person will have the care and custody of your child, but the Children’s Aid Society must supervise the care and custody of your child. The Children’s Aid Society will regularly check to see how your child is doing under your or another person’s care and make sure that the terms of the supervision order are being followed. You, the Children’s Aid and any other party will be given another court date so the judge can receive updates on how things are going.
If the judge makes an Interim Society Care order, this means that your child will be in the care and custody of the Children’s Aid Society for a specific amount of time – usually between three (3) to twelve (12) months. Typically, the child will be placed in foster care.
If the judge makes an Extended Society Care order, this means that your child will be in the care and custody of the Children’s Aid Society until a judge either changes the order, the child is adopted, or the child turns 18.
The judge may also make a Custody Order under s. 102 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act. Instead of an order under s.101 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, the judge may decide that a custody order under s. 102 is in the child’s best interests. If this order is made, it ends the child protection case and any further request to change the custody order must be made under different legislation, called the Children's Law Reform Act .
Online resourcesWhen a judge has found that a child is in need of protection and has made a supervision order or interim society care order, the Children’s Aid Society will issue a status review application before the end of the term of the order. The Children’s Aid Society must serve the status review on you at least thirty (30) days before the supervision order or interim society care order expires.
A status review is a court proceeding to see how the child is doing after the judge has made the previous child protection order and decide if any changes are needed. The judge must decide if a court order is still needed to protect the child. If an order is still required, the judge must decide what order is needed. The order must be in the child’s best interests. You should be aware that there may be more than one status review proceeding.
Status reviews for supervision orders or interim society care orders are covered under s. 113 and s.114 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act.
If you are responding to a status review application, use Form 33B.1, the Answer and plan of care (parties other than Children’s Aid Society). You must complete Parts 1, 3, and 4.
You must file and serve your Form 33B.1 within thirty (30) days of receiving the Children’s Aid Society’s status review application.
When there is a status review of a supervision order or an interim society care order, a judge may change or vary the previous child protection order. The judge can:
You should know that your child remains in the care and custody of the person or society having charge of the child until the application is disposed of unless the judge orders otherwise.
Sections 115 and 116 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act discuss what needs to be done for a status review application for children who are in extended society care, including who can bring a status review application for extended care orders. You should read these sections if your child is in extended society care and you wish to bring a status review application.