TT v. Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, 2019 CFSRB 57

CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES REVIEW BOARD

BETWEEN:

TT

Applicant

-and-

Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto

Respondent

DECISION

Adjudicator: Daniel McSweeney

Date: September 30, 2019

Citation: 2019 CFSRB 57

Indexed As: TT v Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto (CYFSA s.120)

INTRODUCTION

1On September 18, 2019, the Applicant filed this Application with the Child and Family Services Review Board (“CFSRB”) pursuant to section 120 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017, SO 2017, c.14, Sched.1, (the “Act”).

BACKGROUND

2The Applicant and her mother participated in a home assessment performed by the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto (the Society). The home assessment was arranged by American Child Services in relation to proceedings in the Brooklyn, New York Family Court. The Applicant was concerned that she and her mother were not provided with a copy of the home assessment as per the assessor. The Applicant was also concerned with the contents of the assessment which referred to her alleged history of drug use and mental health challenges.

THE LAW

3Section 120 of the Act provides that, if a person has “a complaint in respect of a service sought or received from a society [and the complaint] relates to a matter described in subsection (4), the person who sought or received the service may decide” to make a complaint to either the society or the CFSRB.

4Subsection 120 (8) of the Act states that:

The Board shall not conduct a review of a complaint under this section if the

subject of the complaint,

a) is an issue that has been decided by the court or is before the court; or

b) is subject to another decision-making process under this Act or the Labour Relations Act, 1995.

ANALYSIS

5For a complaint to be eligible for review under section 120 of the Act, an applicant must be seeking or receiving services or have received services from a society and the complaint must relate to those services. As someone who participated in a home assessment, I find that the Applicant has received services by the Society.

6Based on Section 120(8) of the Act As outlined in paragraph 4 (above), the CFSRB cannot deal with any part of the Application which is exclusively within the jurisdiction of the court. I carefully reviewed the Application and supporting documents and found that they deal with matters that are currently before the court. In fact, the Application states that the Applicant’s involvement with the Society was: “in the context of an international investigation and court application”. The Application deals with the contents of a home assessment which was requested by the American Child Services and which was intended for use in Court proceedings. Any issues that the Applicant has related to access to the home assessment need to be addressed through the Court’s disclosure processes.

7The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in Children’s Aid Society of Waterloo v. DD, 2011 ONCA 441, that the mere existence of a child protection proceeding does not automatically bar the CFSRB from reviewing a complaint about the services an individual has received from a children’s aid society. In DD the Court found that complaints about how the children’s aid society had handled the temporary placement of the applicant’s children could proceed before the CFSRB. Those complaints “were separate and different from the substantive issues before the court” (para 35).

8Based on this decision, I then considered whether there were any other service issues in the Application that were separate or distinct from matters that are before the Courts. I could not find any.

9Given that the home assessment was requested and performed in relation to court proceedings and given that no additional service issues with the Society were identified in the Application, I find that the Application is ineligible for review by the CFSRB.

ORDER

10The Application is dismissed.

CONFIDENTIALITY ORDER

11Pursuant to Rules 9.3 and 9.4 of the CFSRB’s Rules of Procedure parties and their representatives must not use, share, discuss or disclose any CFSRB documents or decisions or any other documents or information provided or used in this application with anyone including through the media or on-line. The CFSRB prohibits the use of any of this information for any purpose outside of the CFSRB’s proceedings, except with an order of the Court or the CFSRB, as appropriate.