On Tuesday, April 30, the Ontario Child Advocate’s office released its final investigative reports before closing its office permanently. Most of the Child Advocate’s investigative powers have now been transferred to the Ontario Ombudsman. On behalf of its member Children’s Aid Societies, OACAS wishes to express gratitude
Read more →Archive for the Advocacy Category
The 2019 Ontario budget was announced today and contained both encouraging investments as well as reason for concern for vulnerable children, youth, and families. The government announced there will be investments of $174 million in 2019–20, focused on supporting community mental health and addictions services, mental health
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“What’s even worse than our white guilt is our shame” is the feedback I heard from white child welfare workers after I published my article “White Guilt: How to move into responsibility for white child welfare workers.” As child welfare workers, making mistakes in our practice can
Read more →This week there have been several reports in the media regarding statements made by a lawyer who formerly represented Kenora-Rainy River Districts Child and Family Services. The statements made in an affidavit suggested that a former youth-in-care should be considered “sexually mature” and not a child at
Read more →Jordan’s Story “Jordan River Anderson was a First Nations child from Norway Cree House Nation in Manitoba. Born in 1999 with complex medical needs that could not be treated on-reserve, he spent more than two years in a hospital in Winnipeg before doctors agreed that he could
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The Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies (OACAS) is pleased to announce Nicole Bonnie has started in her role as Chief Executive Officer. Ms. Bonnie is the first Black CEO in the history of OACAS and in the field of Ontario child welfare and brings with her
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The Dave Thomas Foundation, through its Wendy’s Wonderful Kids (WWK) program, provides grants to adoption agencies and Children’s Aid Societies to hire and train recruiters to find permanent homes for those children and youth in Canada’s foster care system. Tell us a little bit about yourself. My name is Jocelyne Raymond. I
Read more →Trauma informed practice has become popular within the social services and has recently entered Ontario child welfare. At One Vision One Voice (OVOV), we think trauma informed practice can be helpful in moving us away from a pathologizing, over- medicalizing and blaming lens upon people’s behavior; by asking
Read more →In reading current social work literature, it is clear that the Ontario child welfare system is recognized as systemically racist. There is a lot of discussion regarding the system’s gross over-representation of Indigenous and African Canadian people. The literature also points to the reality that it is white people
Read more →Canada established National Child Day twenty-five years ago in recognition of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. What does National Child Day mean to Children’s Aid Societies in Ontario? Child safety and well-being is the primary focus for Children’s Aid Societies, so National
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