Jeffrey Hustins

The applicant Society brought a temporary care hearing regarding three children after the respondent stepfather was charged with sexually assaulting his stepdaughter.

The stepfather sought shared care of his two biological children, arguing they were in his charge prior to intervention and were not at risk.

The court found the children were in the mother's sole charge when the Society intervened, as police had already removed the stepfather.

The court held there were reasonable grounds to believe the younger children were at risk of harm, ordering that they remain with the mother and that the stepfather have only supervised access.

A restraining order against the stepfather was also continued.

The Society brought a motion for summary judgment seeking a final order placing the child in the deemed custody of the respondent father, with parenting time for the respondent mother.

The mother opposed the motion, seeking the child's return to her care, and objected to the admissibility of unsworn reports from the child's treating psychologist.

The court held that the psychologist was a participant expert whose unsworn reports were admissible on a summary judgment motion.

Finding no genuine issue requiring a trial, the court granted the motion, placing the child in the father's custody with decision-making responsibility, and ordered parenting time for the mother.

A children’s aid society brought a summary judgment motion seeking findings that three children were in need of protection and requesting Crown wardship without access.

The evidence included parental drug use, repeated domestic violence, criminal involvement, neglect of medical and dental needs, inappropriate discipline, lack of supervision, unstable housing, and failure to cooperate with services.

The parents filed no responding material and failed to meaningfully participate in the proceedings.

Applying Rule 16 of the Family Law Rules, the court found there was no genuine issue requiring a trial and concluded the children were in need of protection under multiple provisions of the Child and Family Services Act.

Crown wardship without access was ordered to permit permanency planning.