RS and YS v Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, 2021 CFSRB 63

CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES REVIEW BOARD

BETWEEN:

RS and YS Applicants

-and-

Children’s Aid Society of Toronto Respondent

INTERIM DECISION

Adjudicator: Catherine Bickley Date: September 20, 2021 Citation: 2021 CFSRB 63 Indexed As: RS and YS v Children’s Aid Society of Toronto (CYFSA s.192)

WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS

RS and YS, Applicant Self-represented

Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, Respondent Karen Freed, Counsel

Introduction

1This is an Application filed with the Child and Family Services Review Board (“CFSRB”) under section 192 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017, SO 2017, c.14, Sched.1 (the “Act”).

2This decision deals with a request by a couple to be added as parties to the Application.

the law

3Subsection 192(9) of the Act identifies the parties to a section 192 application, as follows:

The following persons are parties to a hearing under this section:

1. The applicant.

2. The society or licensee.

3. In the case of a First Nations, Inuk or Métis child, the persons described in paragraphs 1 and 2 and a representative chosen by each of the child's bands and First Nations, Inuit or Métis communities.

4. Any person that the Board adds under subsection (10).

Subsection 192(10) states:

The Board may add a person as a party to a review if, in the Board’s opinion, it is necessary to do so to decide all the issues in the review.

background

4The couple with whom the Respondent proposes the child be placed for adoption have requested that they be added as parties to the Application. They submit that their “views and perspective about adopting this young child is (sic) necessary to decide the issues of this file as per s.192(10) of the CYFSA.”

5The Applicants have no objection to the addition of the proposed adoptive parents.

6In contrast, the Respondent opposes their addition and makes the following submissions:

• It is the Society’s position that the issue raised in the Application is a discrete issue that pertains only to the Society’s refusal of the Foster Parents’ application to adopt.
• It is the Society’s position that this issue is between two parties, the Society and the Foster Parents.
• It is the Society’s position that the Society’s refusal of the Foster Parents’ application to adopt does not involve the input of the prospective Adoptive Parents, therefore it is not necessary to add them as parties.

analysis

7The CFSRB often adds proposed adoptive parents as parties to a section 192 proceeding, e.g., VF v Simcoe Muskoka Child, Youth and Family Services, 2019 CFSRB 22; PD and DD v Children's Aid Society of the District of Thunder Bay, 2019 CFSRB 67.

8When hearing a section 192 application, the CFSRB must decide whether it is in the best interests of the child(ren) to confirm or rescind a respondent’s decision to refuse an applicant’s adoption application. When, as I this case, a respondent plans to place the child for adoption in a specific home other than the applicants’ home, the hearing will necessarily include a comparison of the two potential placements.

9The task of the CFSRB is to determine what is in the best interests of the child(ren) at the time of the hearing. The fact that the proposed adoptive parents were not involved in the Respondent’s decision making process is irrelevant to that issue.

10The interests of the Respondent and the proposed adoptive parents overlap but are not identical. The proposed adoptive parents have a significant personal interest in the outcome of the hearing. The central issue of which of the two potential placements is in the child’s best interests can best be decided with direct evidence from the Applicants and the proposed adoptive parents.

11I conclude that the participation of the proposed adoptive parents as parties is necessary to decide all the issues before the CFSRB in this Application.

12For these reasons, the proposed adoptive parents are added as parties.

order

13The proposed adoptive parents (SCG and TE) are added as parties to the Application. At the hearing, they shall present their evidence after the Respondent and the before the Applicants.

confidentiality order

14Pursuant 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 online. 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.