Ontario’s Children’s Aid Societies (CAS’s) are not-for-profit agencies that protect children from physical, sexual and emotional abuse and neglect. For more than 100 years in Ontario, these Societies have been keeping children safe, helping parents build healthy families and providing safe and nurturingLink to Strategic Plan videoenvironments for young people.
Each CAS is locally based in order to understand and respond to the specific needs of children and families in each community. Many CAS’s, like ours, are known as Family and Children’s Services.
The Government of Ontario funds each CAS for child protection services we’re required to provide by law. Some CAS’s, like ours, have fundraising programs to raise and distribute money for services that the province doesn’t fund. These may include parent education programs, enrichment programs to promote healthy development and educational opportunities for children in care.
Child protection is our mandate. We investigate any situation where a child under 16 has been, or is threatened with, physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or neglect by a caregiver or a person in a position of authority. Our goal is to keep families together. Removing a child from their home is the last option and only used when there is a clear and immediate danger to the child.
We have a lot of responsibility, but who are we responsible to? Here is how we are accountable:
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