Not everyone is blessed with a happy childhood where they feel loved and secure. Many children have been the victims of mental, physical, and emotional abuse and dealt with neglect and abandonment.
There are over 50,000 children in Canada’s foster care and group home system, and many more are at risk. Therefore, organizations like the Children’s Aid Society provide support, care, and work at the forefront of children’s welfare to ensure the safety and well-being of these children.
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What is a Children’s Aid Society?
A children’s aid society or CAS are independent non-profit organizations that aim to protect children under 18. They seek to protect infants, children, and youth from physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, neglect, or abandonment. They also support families who require extra assistance.
Children’s aid societies try their best to ensure that children stay with their families where they can be safe and thrive. However, suppose the conditions at home are unsafe.
In that case, society may sometimes remove children and take them into its care, although the vast majority of their work involves trying to keep families together.
What are the major responsibilities of a Children’s Aid Society?
The primary responsibilities that children’s aid societies have are as follows:
- Investigating evidence that children under the age of 18 may need protection.
- Protection of children under 18 when necessary.
- Provide guidance, counselling, and other necessary services to families for the protection of children or to prevent circumstances that require the safety of children.
- Provide care to children assigned to it.
- Place children for adoption.
In Ontario, children’s aid societies are governed by the Child, Youth, and Family Services Act. There are also similar acts can be found in other states in Canada.
The Ministry of children and social services does the monitoring. The Ministry also creates policies designed to support child welfare programs and provide foster and group homes licenses.
What is the duty to report?
Anyone who believes that a child requires protection is obligated to tell the CAS. It is called the duty to report.
Professionals who work with children, such as teachers, social workers, doctors, religious leaders, and daycare workers, must report to the CAS if they suspect abuse or neglect of a child or face criminal charges. However, they are not obligated to do so in the case of children of ages 16 and 17.
The duty to report is an ongoing matter, which means that even if a report has been previously made, there must be subsequent reports made if they see the abuse continuing.
What happens when a Children’s Aid Society gets involved?
The CAS goes through a few steps when a report is made regarding a child’s safety.
Step 1: Screening
A child protection worker will do an initial screening after a report is made to the CAS. The worker will look into the matter and assess whether CAS needs to be involved in the issue. The screener will often decide not to take further action and, if required, refer them to family services available in the community.
Step 2: Investigating
After the screen, the CAS may decide to investigate to validate the allegations. Representatives from CAS will visit and speak to the child and their parents/guardians.
They can also conduct interviews with people outside the household, such as other family members, teachers, doctors, neighbours, etc.
An investigation by the CAS is severe. The CAS must see enough evidence that the family is ready to listen to their recommendation and are willing to cooperate fully. Otherwise, the CAS may be forced to escalate matters.
After the investigation, the CAS may decide not to pursue the matter if everything is satisfactory.
Step 3: Service Agreement
After completing the investigation, the CAS may decide that the child needs protection and will act to ensure their safety. This means working with families outside of court to keep the child at home in most cases.
In cases like these, the CAS will require a service agreement where you must agree to accept services such as in-home visits, drug tests, and parental courses.
The CAS may also ask you to sign a temporary care agreement that permits them to have custody of the child for up to 6 months or if they find the situation at home to have improved to a satisfactory level.
If the CAS is satisfied with the situation, they will no longer pursue the matter.
Step 4: Removing the Child
The CAS can remove a child from the home if they decide that the child requires protection, and removing them from their home is the best option. If this happens, the court will then determine the next steps and may take any of the 5 steps they think is necessary for the child’s safety.
The actions they can take are:
- Dismissal– the court decides that no child protection order is needed, and the child is returned home
- Supervision Order– means the child stays at the home of another family member or member of the community, but the CAS is involved in their supervision.
- Interim Society Order means the child is housed in a foster home for a limited time
- Extended Society Care– means the child is placed in the permanent custody of the CAS and may even be put up for adoption
- A Custody Order– means that a parent, relative, or community member is given custody of the child.
Conclusion
When it comes to child welfare, the Government only works on making policies, issuing licenses, and providing funding to foster homes or group homes. Therefore, Children’s aid societies play a fundamental role in filling the gap.
CSAs are focused mainly on protecting children and providing them with a safe environment to thrive. They will try to make it their top priority to keep the child with their parents. If the circumstances do not allow it, they will take the necessary steps to ensure the child’s safety.
This uncompromising attitude has made the CSA in Canada the leading advocate for children.
