In a status review application, the court determined the long-term placement of a five-year-old child who had been in the continuous care of a kin caregiver since 2021.
The mother, who struggled with substance misuse, and the kin caregiver sought joint custody, while a paternal cousin in another province sought sole custody.
Applying the best interests of the child test under the CYFSA, the court found that remaining with the current kin caregiver provided necessary continuity of care and maintained the child's primary attachment.
The court granted sole custody to the kin caregiver, with supervised access for the mother and specified in-person and virtual access for the paternal family to ensure the child maintained connections to her deceased father's relatives.
