GP and KP v. Simcoe Muskoka Child, Youth, and Family Services, 2021 CFSRB 38

CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES REVIEW BOARD

BETWEEN:

GP and KP Applicant

-and-

Simcoe Muskoka Child, Youth, and Family Services Respondent

DECISION

Adjudicator: Daniel McSweeney Date: May 28, 2021 Citation: 2021 CFSRB 38 Indexed As: GP and KP v Simcoe Muskoka Child, Youth, and Family Services (CYFSA s.120)

INTRODUCTION

1This is an Application filed 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”).

2The Application consists of the following complaints:

• The Applicants were concerned that the Society changed its position on returning their grandchildren to their mother subsequent to completing an “in-house program”.
• The Applicants were concerned that their requests to the Society for information regarding the worker who visited their daughter the day before she passed were not heard by the Society;
• The Applicants were concerned that their request to learn the contents of the meeting between their daughter and Society staff shortly before she passed were not heard by the Society;
• The Applicants were concerned that they were informed that they would need a lawyer to access their daughter’s records from the Society.

BACKGROUND

3The Applicants are the grandparents of two children who were in the custody of the Simcoe Muskoka Child, Youth, and Family Services. They wanted to know about the interactions between Society workers and their daughter shortly before her passing. They did not indicate in their Application that they were in receipt of any services from the Society.

THE LAW

4Section 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.

5The right to be heard, as set out in sections 120(4)4 and 15(2) applies to “children and young persons and their parents”.

ANALYSIS

6For 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.

7Unfortunately, the Applicants’ complaints are not about services that they sought or received. Rather, they are about the Respondent’s decisions and interaction with their daughter.

8In addition, as grandparents, the Applicants do not fall within section 15(2) which applies only to children, young persons and parents.

9Finally, the Applicants seek to obtain personal information or access to records regarding the interaction between their daughter and the Society. Disclosure requests are covered by Part X of the Act. The appropriate body to address any concerns regarding access to Society records is the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC). More information regarding the IPC’s mandate and services can be obtained at www.ipc.on.ca or by calling 416 326-3333 or 1-800-387-0073.

10While the CFSRB understands the Applicants’ desire to have their questions answered and to access their daughter’s records, it simply does not have the jurisdiction to review the request as the request comes from grandparents who were not in receipt of services from the Society.

ORDER

11The Application is dismissed.

CONFIDENTIALITY ORDER

12Pursuant 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.