New Ontario child protection law will give kids a say

“Groundbreaking” changes to legislation affecting children’s aid societies will be introduced Thursday, Children and Youth Services Minister Michael Coteau told the Star.

Thestar.com
Dec. 7, 2016
By Sandro Contenta

Sweeping changes to Ontario’s child protection law will give children a say over decisions related to their welfare, allow the government to grab control of children’s aid societies and increase the age of protection from 16 to 18.

“The proposed legislation is going to be groundbreaking,” Children and Youth Services Minister Michael Coteau told the Star’s Robert Benzie on Wednesday.

“I believe that it’s going to be reflective of what people in Ontario expect in regards to the delivery of child welfare in the province,” he added.

The minister will unveil changes to the Child and Family Services Act on Thursday at Toronto’s Covenant House homeless youth shelter.

Sources told the Star the proposed legislation will emphasize the rights of children and youth to participate in all decisions about practice, policy and legislation that affect them.

The inspiration comes from a coroner’s inquest into the death of 7-year-old Katelynn Sampson, who was killed by her legal guardians in 2008. The inquest jury recommended what has come to be called “Katelynn’s Principle,” which states that children must be listened to and respected when decisions are being made about their welfare.

The principle, which was the focus of a private member’s bill introduced earlier this fall by NDP children’s critic Monique Taylor, also ensures that children’s aid societies consider a child’s cultural heritage when investigating families where maltreatment or abuse is suspected.

“As a province, we have arrived at this point because of the young people who spoke out about their lives and the challenges they face under the current child welfare system,” Irwin Elman, Ontario’s advocate for children and youth, said in a statement Wednesday.

Significantly, the changes will make the legislation the first in Ontario history to acknowledge there is systemic racism in the child welfare system. It confirms Coteau’s promise in September to require children’s aid societies to collect race-based statistics.

Studies show that children from black and aboriginal families are hugely over-represented in foster homes and group homes. The amendments are also expected to use language more respectful of First Nations, Métis and Inuit people.

In 2014-15, an average of 15,625 children were in foster or group-home care because of abuse or neglect from parents, and thousands more were investigated for possible protection. Ontario’s 47 privately run children’s aid societies received about $1.5 billion in government funding last year.

Youth can decide to leave care at age 16, but the legislative changes will raise that threshold to 18. Children’s aid societies have been concerned about 16-year-olds leaving care with few supports to finish school, get jobs or find housing. The age increase brings Ontario in line with other provinces.

The ministry has not said whether the changes will be supported by more funding.

The legislative changes come on the heels of an ongoing Toronto Star investigation, which revealed an unaccountable child protection system and high numbers of youth being physically restrained in group homes.

The changes were also driven by Elman’s office, which held provincewide hearings focused on the experiences of youth in care, and by a government-funded report that called for a major overhaul to fight “anti-black racism.”

A separate report in May written by three government-appointed experts described a muddled system where the government loses track of children taken into care, has no minimum qualifications for group home caregivers and allows a growing number of kids “with complex special needs” to be placed in unlicensed programs.

The legislative changes grant the minister powers to seize control of - or even merge - poorly performing or mismanaged children’s aid societies to better protect youth in care.

A ministry blueprint revealed in September by the Star stated that the minister could also appoint people to a society’s board of directors, including the board’s chair.

The blueprint included new ministry powers to amalgamate children’s aid societies. That left smaller societies fearing they’ll be force-fed to bigger ones. Religion-based societies, including Toronto’s Catholic Children’s Aid Society and Jewish Family & Child Service, also feared they’ll be made to disappear.