Louis Alexiou

The Children's Aid Society sought an order for Crown wardship with no access for a 6.5-year-old child with severe behavioural and mental health needs, arguing he was adoptable.

The grandmother sought the child's return or, alternatively, access.

The court found the child could not safely be returned to the grandmother and ordered Crown wardship.

However, the court rejected the Society's plan for adoption, finding the child required long-term residential treatment and was not currently adoptable.

The court granted access to the grandmother and sister, finding the relationship was meaningful and beneficial, and that access would not impair foreseeable opportunities for adoption.

The parents in a child protection proceeding requested an adjournment of a scheduled nine-day trial because a parenting capacity assessment, ordered on consent, had not been completed.

The society opposed the adjournment, citing the length of time the child had already been in temporary care.

The court denied the adjournment, finding that the assessment was not necessary for a fair trial and that further delay in permanency planning was not in the child's best interests pursuant to section 70 of the Child and Family Services Act.