Child Protection Case

Before deciding if your child is in need of protection, the judge must determine:

1. your child’s name and age;
2. If you or your child identify or belong to a First Nations, Métis or Inuit, the child’s bands and communities must also be identified.
3. If your child was brought to a place of safety, the judge must also determine the location of the place from which your child was removed.

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:

1. Supervision Order
2. Interim Society Care
3. Extended Society Care
4. Custody Order 

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.

When 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:

• vary or terminate the original order;
• order that the original order be terminated on a specific date; 
• make another order under s.101 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act; or
• make a custody order under s.102 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act.

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.

There are different procedures for child protection applications and status review applications.

In protection applications, the judge must decide whether a child is in need of protection. In status review application, the decision about whether your child is in need of protection has already been decided. The judge no longer needs to find your child in need of protection in a status review application. However, the judge must find that a child protection order is necessary to continue to protect the child.

At the status review hearing, the judge will hear what orders will need to continue to be made to protect your child.

At any time, the protection application or a status review application can be resolved through a Statement of Agreed Facts. The Children’s Aid Society may ask you to sign Form 33C: Statement of Agreed Facts (Child Protection). This form may be used for those facts that both you and the Children’s Aid Society agree on. It includes information about:

• your child;
• any previous involvement with the Children’s Aid Society;
• why your child was brought to a place of safety;
• agreement that your child should be found in need of protection;
• important events that have happened since the Children’s Aid Society started their application that are in the best interests of your child; and
• an order that would be in the best interests of your child.

You can agree to some, all or none of Form 33C but your lawyer should advise you before you sign this form.

Information about child protection cases:

Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) provides useful information about child protection cases. You may find them here: Going to court - Steps to Justice and What happens if CAS takes me to court? - Steps to Justice

Another resource to assist you is the Family Law Information Centres (FLIC) that are available in the courthouses. The FLIC will be able to give you information about family law issues and family court processes, including child protection cases. This is a free service. You can find more information about FLICs here: Family Law Information Centres | Ontario.ca.

Filing your documents with the court:

You must file your completed documents with the court.

Documents may be filed in different ways:

1. electronically using Family Submissions Online; or
2. in-person at the courthouse.

You may contact the courthouse for other ways to file your documents.

Family Submissions Online:

The Family Submissions Online portal provides a simple method to electronically submit court documents, at every step in a case, in any new or existing child protection proceeding in the Ontario Court of Justice. Note, however, that there are limitations to documents that may be filed at this time. Please check Filing Online to ensure that your documents may be filed using the portal.

If the court clerk accepts the document for filing or issuance, they are considered filed as per the date on the document.

Counsel and parties must keep any document that was originally signed, certified, or commissioned in paper format until the court finally disposes of the matter or the time for serving a notice of appeal has expired.

When a document has been filed electronically, it is not necessary to file a paper copy.

In-person filing:

If you are unable to file documents in a family court matter by using the Family Submissions Online portal, contact your local courthouse to determine the other options that are available or attend your local courthouse. Contact information for all courts in Ontario is available on the Ministry of the Attorney General website: Court Locations

Important information regarding electronic filing

Naming protocol for documents:

When documents are filed with the court using the Family Submissions Online portal, the document name must indicate the following information in the following order:

1. Document type, including the form number (For example, Application, Form 8)
2. Type of party submitting the document (For example, Applicant, Respondent or Third Party)
3. Name of the party submitting the document, including initials if the name is not unique to the case (For example: P. Smith and B. Smith – initials must be used if the parties share a last name; Smith and Thomas – initials are not required if the parties do not share a last name), and
4. Date on which the document was created or signed, in the format DD-MMM-YYYY (For example: 12-JAN-2021).

Below are sample document names:

Answer and Plan of Care – Respondent – P. Smith – 12-JAN-2021

Notice of Motion Form 14 – Respondent – J. Brown – 21-DEC-2021

Affidavit General Form 14A – OCL – 01-JUL-2021

Document names shall not include firm-specific naming conventions or court file numbers.

Abbreviations may only be used as follows:

APP for Applicant
RESP for Respondent
O for Other

You must serve your documents on the Children’s Aid Society and any other party or person involved in the case. To do this, you must follow Rule 6 (Service of Documents) of the Family Law Rules.

If you are responding to a case that was started by a Children’s Aid Society, you must serve them, and any other party or person involved in the case by special or regular service. Special Service is effective on the day that you leave a copy with the Children’s Aid Society or if you leave a copy after 4:00 p.m., the effective day is the next day. If you are serving using a regular service method (for example by mail, courier, fax or email), make sure that you understand the timelines associated with that method. 

You must serve all your documents to the other parties within a certain time. Do not wait to serve your documents or you may be out of time. The Ministry of the Attorney General has a guide that can help you with the time periods for serving your documents. It also shows you how to count days: Guide to procedures in family court: Timelines for serving and filing documents | Ontario.ca

The Ministry of the Attorney General prepared a guide that includes information on serving documents on other parties. You may find it here: Guide to procedures in family court: Serving your documents | Ontario.ca

Each party or person involved in the case must file the Affidavit of Service Form 6B with the court. The Affidavit of Service Form tells the court that you successfully served the other parties with your documents.

You will need to swear or affirm that the information in your Affidavit of Service is true and sign it in front of a commissioner for taking affidavits. There are commissioners at all family court offices who will commission the form for free.

If the Children’s Aid Society has started a child protection case, they are required to complete a Child Protection Continuing Record that will include all the forms that you and the Children’s Aid Society and any other party have completed. Rule 9 of the Family Law Rules explains how to prepare and maintain your child protection continuing record.

If you are filing your documents online, court staff will create and maintain the continuing record for any proceeding that was started using the Justice Services Online Portal.

If you are filing your documents in-person at the courthouse, you will be supervised by court staff. Remember to bring government issued photo identification to show court staff. The names on the identification must match the names that are on the court documents filed in the continuing record.

Information regarding the requirements for the continuing record can be found here: Family Law Rules Continuing Record and Formal Requirements for the Child Protection Continuing Record

The Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) website includes information on the continuing record. You may find it here: What is a continuing record and how do I prepare one? - Steps to Justice.