John Dunn's Advocacy Blog

Social Worker and Foster Care Author on Life Story

2009-07-15T09:44:00.001-04:00

John Dunn created a CBC Outfront Radio documentary which takes you on a thirteen minute virtual ride through his life in foster care. An American child protection worker, supervisor, and author of books for kids in foster care and adoption recently contacted Dunn with the following letter of support for his documentary.

This letter is something which should be read by people who work in child welfare at all levels.

The letter follows:

John Dunn

As a former child of the American foster care system, my heart and passion will always be in this field. When I began my career in social work 13 years ago, I came in with the perspective that "parents need to work harder to get their children back!” This was a very naïve statement on my part and after a few years, I realized just how the child welfare system really struggles to meet the needs of children in care. The damage that can be caused is lifelong and … hey, I am preaching to the wrong person…you already know all of this.

I started doing a lot of research and searching for a better way to do things and I came across your website. I listened to your story and it was such a powerful way to describe your experience. At that time, I was supervising case managers and I pulled them together one day so that they could experience your story.

All though many of them were very good social workers, and cared deeply for the children they worked with, I knew that none of them really could understand what the journey is like for a child in care. Your virtual journey was the perfect way for them to visualize what it is like.

They all listened to your story and afterwards they just sat there. My first thought was; okay this didn’t work out the way I thought. It didn’t affect them at all.

But, their silence was because they were all absorbing your message. One of them began to cry because it really affected her in a meaningful way. We had a great conversation after listening to your story and we began the process of trying to change the way that we practiced social work with families.

We created a new mission statement for our work – throwing out the one that the state created for us. Because we worked for a private agency, we didn’t have to adhere to the same restrictions that state employees were held to. We were able to really look at and implement changes to our own practice.

Unfortunately, the resistance from the system to our new approach was strong. Team members looked at us like we were crazy and that we didn’t know what we were doing. People that had known me for years would come up to me and ask what happened to the old Adam. When I asked them to explain, they would say that I just was different and that I seemed to be really focused on parents instead of the children. My answer was; I see what we are doing to children in care and if you can stand here and tell me that every child that comes through our system is getting what they need then I will back down, but until you can do that, then we need to all change our approach. None of them could say that we were helping every child.

I started opening my eyes to the treatment that parents were receiving and it made me sick to my stomach. They powerless and helplessness that they felt poured from their souls and no one was listening to them. In meetings I began to notice that not many people would regard the parents as experts of their own children. They were seen as a necessity of the process versus a participant.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a strong believer that children need to be protected from abuse and neglect and that if parents can not protect their children, they should not be allowed to continue to abuse them. But, for heaven’s sake; WE can not be allowed to put children in a situation that is worse than the one they were in. And WE need to really include the parents in the process.

The way that you tell your story did impact the people I worked with! So, please keep telling your story!! When I heard your message, I did hear anger and frustration with your system in Canada, but I didn’t take it that you were against them, you just want them to do their jobs better! The people who say that you are against them are like the ones here who said that I was changing, they are too blind by their own beliefs that they can’t see beyond them!

I actually have written (along with my wife) five children’s books for children in foster care. Three of them just came back from the printer so they aren’t on our website yet. But, if you want to check them out you can at www.robbietherabbit.com.

I started writing books for adults years ago, but then I realized that I needed to find a way to help children in care communicate what they are feeling and to help their caregivers understand that the behaviors they are seeing are not always what they seem like on the surface. It has taken me four years to get these books out there, and hopefully they will start picking up. I am still going to finish those books for the adults, but they will take more time.

Thanks for emailing me back and I look forward to collaborating with you!

-Adam

Robbie the Rabbit

Source: www.robbietherabbit.com

Dunn seeking membership info with Ottawa CAS

2009-02-16T09:40:00.002-05:00

John Dunn's letter to Ottawa CAS's Executive Director regarding membership

Membership Inquiry‏

From: John Dunn (afterfostercare@hotmail.com)
Sent: February 13, 2009 12:02:55 PM
To: Barbara Mackinnon (barbara.mackinnon@casott.on.ca)
Cc: Irwin Elman (irwin.elman@provincialadvocate.on.ca); Horwath - QP, Andrea (ahorwath-qp@ndp.on.ca); jim.watson@ontario.ca (jim.watson@ontario.ca); Julia Munro (julia.munro@pc.ola.org)
Barbara MacKinnon

The last time I called and talked to the Society for the purpose of asking for a meeting with you so that I could learn what the reasons were for my individual membership application being denied, and to find out what I can do to improve my chances of having my membership application approved, I was told by your receptionist at the time that you had no further information to discuss regarding this at that time.

As you are aware, I have never been provided answers explaining why the Society thinks I have acted in ways which do not demonstrate a genuine interest in the objectives of the Society, other than for them to have written that it is their belief that I have.

Now, several years later, I would like to ask of you once again, and especially since you have met me several times in person and I have never demonstrated any reason for you to be fearful of me in any way, whether yourself, and any members of the Board of Directors, especially those on the Membership Committee such as Tracy Engleking, and Brian McKee would meet with me, for the purpose of discussing whether or not the Society would accept a membership application from me, and if not, for how long, and what the Society's reasons are for not accepting a membership application from me, so that I can then know what I can do to work toward being accepted as a member of the Society in the near future.

Currently, I meet all of the eligibility criteria for membership with the Society, as I am over the age of 18, I live in the Society's jurisdiction, and I have repeatedly, actively, and publicly demonstrated a genuine interest in the objectives of the Society which as I understand them to be are as follows:

1) protecting the children and youth of our community from all forms or abuse and neglect.

2) working to keep them safe and secure, both within their families and the communities in which they live

3) helping raise awareness of the important work undertaken by the Society

4) promoting the notion that the well-being of children and youth is the responsibility of the whole community

Please respond and let me know if I can meet to discuss this matter.

Sincerely
John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca

Submission to OACAS Newsletter

2009-02-12T11:43:00.000-05:00

The following is a letter by John Dunn, submitted to the OACAS for publication in their newsletter. Dunn is unsure of whether they will publish the article but awaits their response.

Jeanette Lewis
Executive Director
Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies
http://www.oacas.org

Attn: OACAS Journal, (Newsletter)

I would like to submit the following article to the OACAS journal for publication.

From:

John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca
613-220-1039
12-1160 Meadowlands Drive East,
Ottawa, ON, K2E 6J2

RE: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Health/Whose+child+this/1263401/story.html

I am a former foster child who spent sixteen years in foster care as a Crown Ward, and the Founder, and volunteer Executive Director of a non-profit organization made up of former child-welfare service clients and their supporters, which has as it's mission "Involving current and former child-welfare service clients in the process of improving the quality and accountability of child-welfare services through a strong, united voice"

When I read an article in the Ottawa Citizen titled "Whose Child is This? which spoke to the issue of parents having to give up their severely disabled children to Children's Aid Societies, it reminded me of just how important it is for people in the community to understand that the best way to advocate for improved quality and accountability of child-welfare services is through joining your local Children's Aid Society as a regular member. Only them can you be afforded the rights that regular members have to vote for members of the Board of Directors, to review the financial documents of the Societies which receive and spend millions of dollars a year in both Tax-payers hard earned dollars and in Donations.

The Ministry of Children and Youth Services, the Ministry of Government Services, the Child and Family Services Review Board who is supposed to have jurisdiction to review complaints regarding decisions and actions made by Societies, MPP's across the Province including Jim Watson, have all responded to letters of complaint regarding Societies stating that they have no jurisdiction over certain matters since Societies are non-profit corporations governed by what are thought to be community elected Board of Directors.

The problem with responses from official government officials who merely redirect people to attempt to resolve their issues directly and internally with a Society through corporate memberships is that those memberships are closely guarded, and not advertised to the public. For example, I learned recently that the Ottawa Children's Aid Society who serves a city of almost 1 million people has only 55 members. 17 of those are actually on the Board of Directors, leaving only 38 to "monitor" the decisions and actions of the Society.

During the most recent Annual General Meeting held at the City's Pine View Gold Club, any time calls for votes were made there was only ever a show of about five hands maximum in a room of what appeared to me to be over 100 people -- most of which were not even voting members. This is the type of apathy Children's Aid Societies enjoy across the province. Recently, MPP - Andrea Horwath, Child Welfare Critic with the Legislative Assembly of Ontario -- at the request of the Foster Care Council of Canada -- introduced Private Members Motion #41 which seeks support from the Legislative Assembly to have the Ministry of Children and Youth Services issue a Directive to have all Societies in Ontario make public information about the fact that they offer memberships to the public, that they hold monthly, publicly accessible Board of Directors meetings, and to make the By-Laws of the organizations available upon request.

If you are surprised to hear this is not the case already, a couple of Societies, including the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa have had charges pressed against them by citizens in their communities with provincial offences under section 307 (5) of Ontario's Corporations Act, for attempting block citizens from communicating with their existing members as allowed under the Act, in attempts to advocate for positive changes. Something Ottawa-West MPP Jim Watson refused to get involved in, stating that CAS's are autonomous bodies, governed by a "community elected" Board of Directors.

It also appears to me that the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies (OACAS) in their most recent Annual Report reveals that Ontario's Children's Aid Societies paid approximately 2.4 Million Dollars in Ministry Allocated Transfer Funds for membership fees to the OACAS, who has also retained the legal services of Swadron Associates law firm to intimidate me from creating an on-line, free yahoo support group for people who wish to learn more about obtaining a membership with their own local Children's Aid Society. This expenditure in the face of a recent submission by the OACAS which speaks about the "Administrative Burden" and costs associated with the Ministry's Transformation Agenda and Accountability measures.

I encourage anyone who is concerned about the welfare of Ontario's families and vulnerable children to contact their local Children's Aid Society and ask for a membership. If you have your membership application denied as others have experienced (myself included) call the Foster Care Council of Canada at 613-220-1039 or visit us on the web at http://www.afterfostercare.ca for free support.

Sincerely

John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca

OACAS Posturing for Legal Action

2009-02-06T11:41:00.001-05:00

It appears that the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies (OACAS) is still posturing to take legal action against John Dunn for starting a free on-line yahoo group titled "Ontario Association of Children's Aid Society Members" for people who have, or who intend to join their local Children's Aid Society as a regular voting member for the purposes of discussing how to advocate for changes in the way the Societies provide services through proper channels such as annual elections of Board members, attending monthly Society Board meetings and through the privileges available to them as members as stipulated in the Societies' By-Laws and under the Corporations Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. c-38.

On Friday February 06, 2009, at 5:09 pm, Dunn received a further email from Barry B. Swadron of Swadron Associates, externally retained counsel for the OACAS apparently seeking to confirm whether Mr. Dunn still intends to keep the name of his on-line yahoo group as is.

Dunn responded to Swadron seeking clarification from his client as to whether anyone has actually confused the two different entities and what harm was caused as a result of any alleged confusion to this point.

See the e-mail communications below:

Dear Mr. Dunn,

Further to my e-mail of January 16, 2009 herein, have you decided whether you are going to rename the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Society Members?

Barry B. Swadron, Q.C.
Swadron Associates
Barristers & Solicitors
115 Berkeley Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5A 2W8
Tel: (416) 362-1234
Fax: (416) 362-1232
Website: www.swadron.com

Dunn's Email Response

Thank-you for your letter,

Before I make a final determination, can you ask your client if anyone has actually confused the two different entities and what harm was caused to this point?

Sincerely
John Dunn

Peterborough Letter to Editor on on Ombudsman Oversight of CAS

2009-01-23T12:04:00.001-05:00

You can read a Letter to the Editor regarding Ombudsman Jurisdiction over Children's Aid Societies in Ontario at the following link. [here]

Durham CAS Keeping Mother from Plan of Care Meetings

2009-01-22T11:38:00.000-05:00

RE: Name Removed
From: John Dunn (johndunn@afterfostercare.ca)
Sent: January 22, 2009 8:26:47 PM
To: Name Removed (Mother); nigelee.burnett@durhamcas.ca; omah.levere@durhamcas.ca
Cc: mborden@bordengoddard.com; DurhamCAS Media (andrea.maenza@durhamcas.ca); TheresaDucey DurhamCASSupervisor (theresa.ducey@durhamcas.ca); WandaSecord ExecDirDurhamCAS (wanda.secord@durhamcas.ca); Susan McNeilDurhamCAS (susan.mcneil@durhamcas.ca); Lana PryceDurhamCASCounsel (lana.pryce@durhamcas.ca); Durham CAS (durhamcas@durhamcas.ca); DurhamNews News (newsroom@durhamregion.com); MinCentralEast RegionalOffice (debra.isnor@ontario.ca)

Note to the media: Please remember that you can not publish information which has the effect of identifying a child in foster care, his parents and foster parents, however nothing in law prevents you from publishing information which identifies staff, volunteers or others professionally involved in child-welfare proceedings.

(See section 45 (8) Child and Family Services Act)

Name Removed (Mother)

I am monitoring this situation with the Durham Children's Aid Society preventing you from attending the Plan of Care meetings with your son. I am also preparing a press release in relation to this matter and will distribute it to the local Durham media, Ministry Officials, Members of Parliament such as Child and Youth Services Critic Andrea Horwath, Julia Munro, the Ombudsman for submission to their child-welfare portfolio, the Ontario Auditor General's Office, Child and Youth Services Sector, and others within the wider area press, and ultimately on my blog.

As you are aware, I have offered the Durham CAS an opportunity to correct the content of our blog as archived so far and have not yet received any response, therefore verifying it's accuracy, and again, I extend the same offer to anyone at the Durham Children's Aid Society on a permanent basis.

For now, I will be posting a brief update in regard to this matter and hope that the Society acts in a professional manner and responds to you as soon as possible regarding your request.

Sincerely
John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca

2009 - A New Year

2009-01-16T16:34:00.003-05:00

During the Foster Care Council of Canada's November, 2008 board meeting it was decided that the advocacy efforts of individual members would be posted to their own personal blogs as opposed to the Council blog. Only official Council business will be posted to the Council blog. Therefore in 2009 you will see more advocacy related postings added to this blog accompanied by my general thoughts and experiences I wish to share with you.

Durham CAS Invited to Ensure Accuracy of Posts

2009-01-16T10:35:00.000-05:00

The following e-mail was sent to Wanda Secord (Executive Director Durham CAS) Susan Mcneil, Lana Pryce (Durham CAS Counsel), Theresa Ducey (Durham CAS Supervisor), and the Durham News.

Durham Children's Aid Society
Oshawa Ontario

Date: Thurs. January 16, 2009

Attention: Society Board members, staff, and counsel,

Invitation for Detailed Corrective Submission
In the interests of ensuring that all parties have an opportunity to have their voices heard and to ensure the information as posted on our News blog is accurate according to all parties, I would like to extend an invitation to the Society, their staff, and counsel to make any detailed corrective submission they wish to see added to our News blog.

Relevance of Society Submissions
In a similar fashion to the way an appeal court works, we will not post unrelated information. Otherwise, in the interests of fairness, we will accept and post any unrelated submission the Society makes and will make a determination as to its appropriateness for public consumption in relation to this matter.

Please be aware that similar to the way Societies allow their clients to make additional rather than destructive amendments to their own records all information submitted by the Society will be posted publicly to our News blog by way of additional as opposed to destructive amendment.

Reminder: Nothing in the Child and Family Services Act(the Act) prevents the Society from talking to the public about their operations or cases. The Act only prevents people from making public information which has the effect of identifying a child who is the subject of a proceeding under the Act, the child's parent, or foster parent. All Societies are also exempt from any other Privacy Legislation in Canada therefore they can not claim to be restricted by such when referring to their operations and cases. Our News blog does not contravene section 45 (8) of the Act since none of the information made public on it has the effect of identifying a child who is the subject of a child-welfare proceeding, the child's parent or foster parent.

Corrective Submission Deadline Date
The Society is required to send a corrective submission to johndunn@afterfostercare.ca by 4:30 pm, Friday, January 23, 2009 for publication to our News blog.

Confirmation of the Accuracy of Information Posted
In the alternative, if the Society believes the information posted to our News blog to be accurate as posted, there is no requirement for the Society to respond by the stated deadline date and the Society understands, agrees, and permits me to understand and truly believe that the information posted to our News blog is accurate as posted if they do not make a corrective submission to me as instructed.

Simple Denial not Acceptable
The Society is also to understand that a simple statement asserting the information posted on our News blog is not accurate -- without giving a corrective submission -- will not convince me to believe so.

Defining Corrective Submission
A "Corrective Submission" is to be understood in the context of this communication as having three distinct parts.

Part I - Assertion of Innacuracies
An assertion that a particular word, sentence, or paragraph contains inaccuracies

Part II - Reason for Belief of Inaccuracies
Reason(s) the Society believes the word, sentence or paragraph contains inaccuracies

Part III - Corrective Information
Corrective information which expresses the Society's version of the information which is to be clarified.

Having said this, the Society is encouraged to carefully review the information as posted to our News blog to ensure its accuracy and to enable it to appropriately respond by the stated deadline date if so required.

The News blog is located on the Internet at http://www.fostercarenews.blogspot.com

I am looking forward to hearing from the Society in relation to this matter.

Sincerely
John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca

Durham CAS Showing Signs of Cooperating with Client

2009-01-15T09:07:00.000-05:00

It has been reported to the Council that the Durham Children's Aid Society is showing signs of co-operating with their client recently in relation to the previously posted issues, in that they have met with her personally to discuss the issues of concern to her and appear to be making some progress however we are still monitoring the situation.

Durham CAS Lawyer Lana Pryce Refuses to Talk Despite Client Permission

2009-01-08T15:50:00.000-05:00

NOTE TO MEDIA: Nothing in the Child and Family Services Act prevents the Society from talking to the media about their operations. They are only prevented from making public information which has the effect of identifying a child who is the subject of a child-welfare proceeding, a parent, or a foster parent. See Section 45 (8) CFSA If they refuse to talk about this case based on "Privacy Legislation" contact John Dunn at 613-228-2178. All CAS's are exempt from any other Privacy Legislation

At their Annual General Meeting on September 11, 2008 the Durham Children's Aid Society and their Board of Directors officially launched their new Vision, Mission, and Strategic Priorities which they claim are important to ensuring that the Society works with the families they serve collaboratively to build on their strengths rather than to focus on their weaknesses, something child-welfare services have been known for over the years, but have been trying to move away from more recently.

Their claim asserts that their Vision, Mission, and Strategic Priorities were the result of the collaborative hard work of their Board members, staff and many other stakeholders, however, it appears a few of the Society's staff members and legal counsel may not have been involved in the collaborative process.

Despite the Durham Children's Aid Society receiving a written authorization from one of their clients which permits them to speak openly with the client's support person John Dunn of the Foster Care Council of Canada, the Society's legal counsel, Lana Pryce still refuses to contact Dunn, in essence, preventing the Society's client from being heard as is their right even if through a support person.

This client is not someone who has abused their child rather the client appropriately reached out to the agency for help during a time of temporary crisis, doing what the client thought was the right thing to do at the time in the best interests of the child.

Unfortunately, the client was not provided with counseling or information on what could be done as a temporary measure, and instead has been informed by the Agency that they are making a summary judgment motion in court to have the child adopted out without even the chance to defend it at a trial.

The client reports that the Society's Carmella Lanzillotti, (client's former worker) told the client 'We are the Children's Aid Society not the Parents Aid Society. We are here to help the children not the parents" A statement which does not appear to uphold the Society's Vision, Mission and Strategic Priorities.

Durham CAS Client Authorizes Communication Regarding Case

2009-01-07T13:19:00.000-05:00

The Durham Children's Aid Society client who has been seeking access to her files for several days has given written authorization to the Society, their Directors, Staff and Legal Counsel to openly communicate with John Dunn of the Foster Care Council of Canada to facilitate advocacy on her behalf in her attempts to get access to personal information the Society has in their care and control about her.

Prior to obtaining the written authorization from the Durham CAS client, Dunn contacted the Society's internal Legal Counsel, Lana Maria Patricia Pryce at 905-433-1551 x2318 to ask if she would explain why the Society is refusing to allow this one particular client to have access to her files in contravention of Society policy and common practice.

Policies and practices which have been previously confirmed by the Society's Supervisor, Theresa Ducey as being established. Upon receiving a return call from Pryce, and after starting to ask about the Society's practice regarding clients accessing their files, Dunn was met with an abrupt response from Pryce stating simply that she is not going to discuss the matter and referring me to the Society's media relations department staff.

Dunn then obtained the written authorization from the client enabling the Society to discuss the case with him and then left a message on Pryce's voice-mail asking her to respond. So far, there has been no response, although someone from the Society has visited this blog as confirmed by our stats counter.

Durham CAS Supervisor Theresa Ducey Denies Client Access to Files

2009-01-01T16:03:00.000-05:00

UPDATE Monday January 05, 2009

A Durham Children's Aid Society supervisor, Theresa Ducey is refusing to allow a client to review their own files, something clients have a right to do, and which is a fairly standard practice within most child-welfare agencies and departments across the Country.

John Dunn, the Executive Director of the Foster Care Council of Canada talked on the phone with Ducey approximately a week ago and Ducey informed him that file access is a fairly regular procedure where a worker will accompany the client while they review their files.

Dunn is also in the process of trying to obtain a copy of the Society's policy on client access to their own files so the client is aware of their rights.

"It is extremely frustrating to see that a Supervisor at the Durham Children's Aid Society is choosing to be contentious on such a simple matter, which will end up costing hundreds or thousands of tax-payer dollars for legal counsel as the Society is unnecessarily dragged through the complaints procedure of the Child and Family Services Review Board" Dunn said.

The Council is currently working on a press release regarding this matter and will make a report available to the provincial Auditor who now has jurisdiction over Children's Aid Societies, the Ombdusman of Ontario, child-welfare critics at the Legislative Assembly, the local Regional Office of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, the Minister of Children and Youth Services and to the media in the hopes of bringing the appropriate attention to this matter.

--30--

Contact
John Dunn
613-228-2178

Canadian Politicians Discussion Board

2008-12-31T15:43:00.000-05:00

Get and Give the scoop on your local MP's and MPP's at http://www.canadianpoliticians.ca

CBC Archive of Jeffrey Baldwin

2008-12-31T08:31:00.000-05:00

For those interested in the story of Jeffrey Baldwin, you can see the CBC archived stories and interviews at the following URL

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/failingjeffrey/

Foster Care Survivor on Post Tramatic Stress from Child Abuse

2008-12-18T12:18:00.000-05:00

Roch Longueepee, an institutional child abuse survivor who founded a Nationally Incorporated Non-Profit Organization named "Restoring Dignity" speaks on CTV's Canada AM.

View the video here:
[here]

CAS Membership Study Seeks Volunteers

2008-12-10T09:14:00.000-05:00

The Foster Care Council of Canada is currently seeking volunteers across Ontario to assist us in conducting a study related to Children's Aid Society Memberships.

You can learn more by visiting the Wiki site where the study progress and results will be published as shown below.

http://afterfostercare.wetpaint.com/page/CAS+Membership+Study

Council Seeks Application for Membership with Ottawa Society

2008-12-08T11:11:00.000-05:00

The Foster Care Council of Canada has applied to the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa for a membership application. The letter asking for an application from the Society and the Society's response will be posted below:

Barbara MacKinnon
Executive Director
The Children's Aid Society of Ottawa
1602 Telesat Court
Ottawa, ON
K1B 1B1

Date: December, 08, 2008

RE: Society Membership Application

Barbara MacKinnon,

The Foster Care Council of Canada (the Council) is an organization made up of of both current and former child-welfare service clients and their supporters which both carries on business and has its head office within the City of Ottawa.

It is the Council's understanding that in order for an organization to apply for a membership with the Society, the organization must conduct business within the City of Ottawa and it must uphold the Society's mission which reads as follows:

"The Children's Aid Society of Ottawa is committed to protecting the children and youth of our community from all forms or abuse and neglect. We work to keep them safe and secure, both within their families and the communities in which they live"

The Council's mission statement reads as follows:

"Involving current and former child-welfare service clients in the process of improving the quality and accountability of child-welfare services through a strong, united voice"

Since the quality and accountability of child-welfare services as provided by the Society to children and youth are essential to ensuring they are protected from all forms of abuse and neglect therefore keeping them safe and secure within their families and in the communities in which they live, communities which include foster homes, group homes, and other places of safety or custody as defined in the Child and Family Services Act, it is the genuine interest of the Council to support and become involved in ensuring that the Society meets its mission.

The Council also has a genuine interest in, and is dedicated to, helping raise awareness of the important work which is undertaken by the Society, in addition to promoting the notion that the well-being of children and youth is the responsibility of the whole community, a notion which is shared by the Society and which is central to the work the Council is engaged in.

Therefore, and in closing, I would like to request from the Society that a copy of the Society's most recent membership application be mailed to our head office, the address of which can be found in our letterhead.

Sincerely,

John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada

The Society's response still pending.

Ottawa CAS Members Oppose Youth Oversight

2008-12-06T14:28:00.000-05:00

The Ottawa Children's Aid Society, through their legal counsel, claims to only have 55 voting members overseeing their agency, 17 of which are on the Board of Directors leaving just 38 select members of the community who oversee the decisions, actions and inactions of the Board of Directors and the agency.

John Dunn, a local citizen and former foster child himself, attempted to communicate with the existing members of the Society as permitted under section 307 of Ontario's Corporations Act, to ask them to call a meeting and vote in favor of giving kids and youth in care a stronger voice and independent oversight of their Society through granting them the same rights regular members of the Society share, minus voting rights.

The Society refused to furnish the list of the members as required under the Act resulting in charges being laid against the Society.

After more than fifteen months of resolution discussions between Dunn and the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa a resolution was reached and his letter of advocacy was eventually sent to the members.

Of the 55 members, only 1 responded in favour of strengthening the voices and independent oversight of the Society by the children and youth who receive life altering services from them.

The purpose of this advocacy effort is to fill the oversight gap left by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services refusing to give Ontario's Ombudsman, Andre Marin oversight of CAS's across the province, something he has been very vocal and active on.

More information on the charges, including images of the charging documents can be found at the following URL.

http://www.afterfostercare.ca/enforcement.html

-- 30 --

John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
613-228-2178
johndunn@afterfostercare.ca
http://www.afterfostercare.ca
NEWS: http://www.fostercarenews.blogspot.com

Bill 103 - Public Hearings - Committee Transcript

2008-12-05T16:04:00.000-05:00

The following persons or organizations made appearances and spoke at the Social Policy Committee of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario regarding Bill 103 (links at end) which amended the Child and Family Services Act.

MINISTRY OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH SERVICES

OFFICE OF THE PROVINCIAL ADVOCATE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH

DAVID WITZEL

DEFENCE FOR CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL-CANADA

YOUTH SERVICES BUREAU OF OTTAWA

JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH

CHRIS MCCALLUM

CHRIS CARTER

FOSTER CARE COUNCIL OF CANADA

You can read the hansard at the following link

Original Copy of the Bill - As Introduced at First Reading
http://www.ontla.on.ca/bills/bills-files/39_Parliament/Session1/b103.pdf

Social Policy Committee amended version of the Bill as reported to Legislature for 3rd reading
http://www.ontla.on.ca/bills/bills-files/39_Parliament/Session1/b103rep.pdf

Ottawa CAS Notified of Offence

2008-12-05T14:58:00.000-05:00

The Ottawa Children's Aid Society and Canada Newswire Group have made public the photo of a youth in care in violation of section 45 (8) of the Child and Family Services Act. The Foster Care Council of Canada has given the Society and Canada Newswire Group a notice informing them of the fact that they have done so advising them of the fact that they should immediately remove it.

The letter to the Society is posted first below, followed by the letter to Canada Newswire Group, which in turn is followed by the original press release.

France Clost,
Communications
Children's Aid Society of Ottawa
1602 Telesat Court
Ottawa, Ontario
K2E 6J2

I read the enclosed press release and wanted to congratulate the Society on creating such a room in connection with Bank of America.

However, I must also remind the Society that the image which accompanies the press release is in violation of section 45 (8) of the Child and Family Services Act, which is an Offence according to 85 (3) of the Act which reads as follows:

"A person who contravenes subsection 45 (8) or 76 (11) (publication of identifying information) or an order prohibiting publication made under clause 45 (7) (c) or subsection 45 (9), and a director, officer or employee of a corporation who authorizes, permits or concurs in such a contravention by the corporation, is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of not more than $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than three years, or to both"

The image clearly identifies a youth in care (name removed for publication) and can be found at the following link: [here] (if this link fails the photo has been removed in accordance with the law)

The edited photo above has had identifying information removed to protect the identity of the youth in care

The photo is accompanied by the following text which has the effect of identifying a youth in care. This image was distributed by the Society and should be removed immediately in order to comply with the law.

"The (name removed), Youth in Care takes CAS Ottawa Board member and Champions For Children board member on a tour of the new youth room. (CNW Group/Children's Aid Society of Ottawa)"

Sincerely
John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca

Canada Newswire Group
Waterpark Place
20 Bay Street, Suite 1500
Toronto, Ontario
M5J 2N8

To whom it may concern,

The following letter which has been sent to the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa contains information that Canada Newswire Group should be aware of and respond immediately to, else face the possibility of legal action.

The relevant provisions of the Child and Family Services Act are section 45 (8) and 85 (3).

They read as follows:

45 (8)
No person shall publish or make public information that has the effect of identifying a child who is a witness at or a participant in a hearing or the subject of a proceeding, or the child’s parent or foster parent or a member of the child’s family.

85 (3)
A person who contravenes subsection 45 (8) or 76 (11) (publication of identifying information) or an order prohibiting publication made under clause 45 (7) (c) or subsection 45 (9), and a director, officer or employee of a corporation who authorizes, permits or concurs in such a contravention by the corporation, is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of not more than $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than three years, or to both

Sincerely
John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca

ORIGINAL PRESS RELEASE BELOW

Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 14:09:30 -0500
From: portfolio@newswire.ca
To: portfolio@newswire.ca
Subject: Ottawa youth in care get their space - and their voices heard

CNW Group Portfolio E-Mail

CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY OF OTTAWA

Transmitted by CNW Group on : December 5, 2008 14:09
Ottawa youth in care get their space - and their voices heard

OTTAWA, Dec. 5 /CNW Telbec/ - Today the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa
launched the opening of a new Youth Room for youth in care. What started out
as a small idea pitched by employees of Bank of America with large hearts, the
renovation project inspired the youth and everyone involved, and it quickly
became more than just a meeting room. It became the Youth Room called 'My
Place' and with clear direction provided by the youth, the room became the
venue for the following purposes:

<<
- A location where various professional development and life skills
seminars and courses will be offered for youth in care
- A gathering place to engage and empower youth in care, providing
workshops on employment, budgeting, and other important independence
supports.
- A gathering place for youth to learn from one another through
peer-support, and a place for youth in care to learn from helpful
adults such as community partners and organizations, volunteers, and
youth workers.
- A place for youth to receive & give support to each other.
- A place for the youth in care of the Society can call their own and
have a sense of belonging.
- A place where youth can share their in-care experiences and everyday
adolescent issues.
- A place to give youth a voice and encourage problem solving to effect
positive change for other children in care, youth and families not only
in our Society but possibly provincially, nationally and
internationally
- A place to socialize & have some fun
- A place to celebrate their individual & group accomplishments
- A location to complete their volunteer hours
>>

Of the 750 children currently in care, 492 are over the age of 13. The
'My Place' Youth Room is for them, but can also be accessed by alumni, or
those who have moved out of the system and onto their own. "I am so glad that
we are finally here today. It looks great, but what I'm really looking forward
to are the programs that will be offered. Usually, when people think of
helping kids in care they think of the younger kids. I feel really lucky that
the community thought about us today", says (name removed), an 18-year old youth in
care currently involved with the project.

The Children's Aid Society of Ottawa has been aggressively attending to
the youth agenda both locally and provincially, and this project is an example
of the Society's commitment to supporting youth engagement. "We are very
fortunate to have such a committed community organization in Bank of America
and generous support from the Champions For Children Foundation," says Barbara
MacKinnon, Executive Director of the Children's Aid Society. "It is everyone's
hope that the youth will feel supported through this initiative and will take
the opportunity to further participate in the youth agenda".

<<
/NOTE TO PHOTO EDITORS: A photo accompanying this release is available on
the CNW Photo Network and archived at http://photos.newswire.ca.
Additional archived images are also available on the CNW Photo Archive
website at http://photos.newswire.ca. Images are free to accredited
members of the media/

>>

-30-

/For further information: France Clost, Communications, The Children's
Aid Society of Ottawa, (613) 747-7800 ext. 2033, (613) 851-1584 (cell),
fclost@casott.on.ca; www.casott.on.ca/

Child Advocate Takes Government to Court

2008-12-01T21:38:00.000-05:00

Below is the Hansard from Monday December 1st, 2008 of the Ontario Legislature.

It will also be followed by a link to the Social Policy Committee hearings which listened to members of the public as they made presentations regarding Bill 103 - The Child and Family Services Statute Amendment Act, 2008

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Ms. Andrea Horwath: My question is to the Premier: Why was the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth forced to seek legal action against the McGuinty government to obtain documents involving a young person who asked for his help?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: To the Minister of Children and Youth Services.

Hon. Deborah Matthews: Let me begin by saying I have enormous respect for the advocate as an individual and for the office of the advocate. The commitment that this government has to children and youth is clearly evidenced by our record. In fact, we were the ones who established the independent office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, which provides advocacy and an independent voice to some of the most vulnerable kids in this province.

The confidentiality and privacy provisions of the legislation were crafted in consultation with the Information and Privacy Commissioner to protect the privacy and legal rights of the child. Given that the advocate is now independent, it represents a new relationship. We're working very closely with the advocate to develop the protocol for information sharing as we go forward. This protocol-

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Thank you. Supplementary?

Ms. Andrea Horwath: This is an unprecedented action that's happening here. The Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth was repeatedly stonewalled and had no choice but to go to the courts to seek information. This is an officer of this Legislature. He has a job to do. It took this government long enough to get him to be an independent officer, and now all this government is doing is stonewalling his work. Why is it taking so long for the ministry to provide the child advocate with the information he needs, and why won't this government facilitate his important job, instead of hamstringing him?

Hon. Deborah Matthews: We are absolutely facilitating the work. I think it's important that I can't speak to this particular case, but I can speak to the request for information. The request for this information was received on November 5, 2008, and the ministry has been working to compile the information requested while aligning the privacy requirements of the YCJA and FIPPA. The ministry will be contacting the office of the advocate today to inform him that that information will be forthcoming this week.

As I said earlier, we are working to develop the protocol. It is a new relationship. He is newly independent. We want him to have the information he needs, but we must also abide by the privacy requirements.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Mrs. Julia Munro: My question is to the Minister of Children and Youth Services. Last Thursday, the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth wrote to tell me that your ministry will not provide him information about a young person allegedly beaten while in custody. Your repeated refusals to provide the information he needs to protect young people have now led to his taking legal action against your ministry. Minister, why do you need to wait for the threat of legal action before you take action?

Hon. Deborah Matthews: Thank you for the question. I am glad to have a second opportunity to discuss this issue.

The Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, the independent officer, was something that was created for this government. We take great pride in having an independent advocate for children and youth. It's an important position, and I'm proud to be part of a government that made that priority.

Let's be really clear about what this issue is. It's about a request for information. As a government, we have a responsibility to balance the privacy interests of the child with the request for information from the advocate. The confidentiality and privacy provisions of the advocate's legislation was something that was negotiated-crafted in consultation with the Information and Privacy Commissioner. We are working on how to-

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Thank you. Supplementary?

Mrs. Julia Munro: Minister, your government created the advocate's office. You appointed the advocate as an officer of this Legislature. In the answer that you gave a moment ago, you indicated the fact that this was a problem that you had been working on, so my question to you is, why did you not create that balance that you refer to in the creation of this legislation? Either the legislation is flawed or you really don't want to protect children. Which is it?

Hon. Deborah Matthews: Let me completely reject the idea that we don't want to protect children. Let me tell you that we have-

Interjections. (this means everyone in the Assembly started yelling or heckling the Minister causing her to have to pause until it quiets down.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Minister?

Hon. Deborah Matthews: We are working very closely with the advocate. They met on October 31 and have continued to meet thereafter to establish the protocol for information-sharing. It is not simply a matter of xeroxing the reports and sending them over to the advocate. We have to be careful. We have to respect the FIPPA regulations; we have to get the permission of the youth. There is a protocol that is involved. We are working very closely with the advocate to make sure he has the tools he needs to do the job.

Ministry Attempts to Interfere with Solicitor Client Privilege

2008-11-20T11:52:00.000-05:00

Letter to Mario Marchese MPP regarding today's Legislative Assembly debate on Bill 103

For Mario Marchese,
My name is John Dunn and I am the Executive Director of the Foster Care Council of Canada, an organization made up primarily of people who have lived in foster care which advocates for improved quality of service and accountability in child-welfare services across the country.

I am deeply concerned about the proposed sub-section 8 (4)(c) of Bill 103 which if left as-is would be the first step in eroding Canada's well-established Solicitor-Client Privilege which exists in the legal community across the country by allowing communications between Solicitors and their youth clients to be opened at the whim of a service provider or a member of the service provider's staff in the young person's presence and may be inspected for articles prohibited by the service provider.

As this is worded it is extremely dangerous in that first it allows for the violation of Solicitor-Client Privilege and secondly it allows the persons authorized to determine by their own policy what is to be deemed "prohibited" including, quite possibly, legal advice.

If a youth in custody were to be reporting abuse, this communication could be intercepted including any response from the youth's solicitors.

I hope that Ontario does not become the first province to allow such a violation which would begin to erode any democratic society's cornerstone of freedom.

(END OF LETTER)

Deb Matthews, in her position as Minister of Children and Youth Services has introduced a Bill (Bill 103) which proposes to allow child-welfare and youth justice staff and officials to intercept, open and withhold mail between a youth's lawyer and the youth.

The Bill also proposes to allow these people to read and withhold mail sent by children and youth in care and in custody from being mailed out.

Here is a quote from Hansard (discussions at the Legislature) by MPP Andrea Horwath with respect to this issue:

We have found out that not only was he not consulted-this is Mr. Elman, our new child advocate-but in fact the staff of the advocacy office have no recollection of having been contacted or approached at all in regard to putting this bill together

and

But one of the things that the bill allows authorities to do which is new is to open up e-mail and mail from children. Children are sending an e-mail or writing a letter, and this act now allows authorities to open that mail or read that e-mail before it gets sent.

and

There's no mechanism at all to ensure that the child is aware that mail is being held. Not only is this broadening the opportunity to intercept mail and keep it, but also there's no obligation or no recognition or acknowledgment that needs to be provided to the young person that says that their mail has been intercepted and kept from them. So the child's right to send and receive mail is being replaced by the facility's right to intercept their mail. Previously, the law said mail "shall not be examined or read by the service provider or a member of the service provider's staff if it is to or from the child's solicitor." But the proposed law states that mail "shall not be examined or read under clause (b) if it is to or from the young person's solicitor, unless there are reasonable and probable grounds to believe that it contains material that is not privileged as a solicitor-client communication."

You can't tell by the outside of a letter whether what's inside it is going to be covered by solicitor-client privilege. I mean, how do you tell by the outside of a letter what's on the inside; right? So who determines whether or not correspondence or communication is privileged? What rationale exists to interfere with mail between a young person and their legal counsel? I don't know. I don't know what that rationale is, and that's another reason why we need to get to committee, to try to explore where the government's mind was-collective mind, I guess-when they came up with this, because I really don't understand it at all.

Please call her office and express your opinion on this matter contained within Bill 103.

I have contacted Clayton Ruby as well to inform him of this matter and he called me back to let me know he is aware of it and will be watching it.

Constituency Office
242 Piccadilly St.
London ON N6A 1S4
Tel 519-432-7339
Fax 519-432-0613
dmatthews.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org

Ministry Office
Ministry of Children and Youth Services
14th Flr, 56 Wellesley St W
Toronto ON M5S 2S3
Tel 416-212-2278
Fax 416-212-7431
dmatthews.mpp@liberal.ola.org

FIPPA Requests

2008-11-20T09:46:00.000-05:00

If you want to know how to obtain information from a Government body / agency / etc. (exept CAS who are exempt from FIPPA) you should read this.

A FIPPA request is nothing more than a letter seeking information from the government agency/ministry/body.

You also have to include a five dollar fee (Money Order / Cheque) made payable to THE ONTARIO MINISTER OF FINANCE in each request.

For example, a sample FIPPA Reqeust Letter would be as follows:

Ministry of ____________
Freedom of Information Officer
Address
Phone:

Date: _________

RE: _________

FIPPA Officer Name Here,

Example 1 - Communications between Ministry and a CAS regarding a matter
I would like to obtain any and all communications between the Eastern Regional Office of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services and the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa which pertain in any way to the Ministry's latest Accountability Framework

Example 2 - Directives from Ministry to CAS's
I would like to obtain a copy of any and all Directives which have been issued to the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services over the past two years.

Example 3 - Serious Occurance Reports
I would like to obtain a copy of all Serious Occurance Reports which have been filed with the Ministry of Children and Youth Services by the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa in the past twelve months. I understand that any information which could lead to identifying a child or youth in care shall be removed and do not have issue with this type of information being removed, however the names of any staff or Ministry staff are required to be left in as this does not in any way identify a child or youth in care.

Example 4 - Society By-Laws
I would like to obtain a copy of all of the By-Laws and any amendments thereto of the Children's Aid Society of (_________) which have been filed with the Ministry of Children and Youth Services in accordance with section 13 of the Child and Family Services Act which states the following:

Approved agency

13.(1)An approved agency shall file a certified copy of its by-laws and of any amendment to them with the Minister forthwith after they are made.

Idem

(2)The by-laws of an approved agency shall contain the prescribed provisions.

Sincerely,
Your Signature
Your name here

When there is a lot of information which results from a FIPPA request you can be informed that charges will apply for copying etc. It is at this point that you can contact the FIPPA Co-Ordinator you are dealing with and seek to "Narrow Down" your request to the most important parts of it in order to reduce or eliminate the fees.

OACAS threatens legal action against John Dunn

2008-11-10T19:08:00.001-05:00

INTRODUCTION
On Monday November 10, 2008, Ontario citizen, John Dunn received a letter in the mail from the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies (OACAS) who retained the services of Swadron Associates Barristers & Solicitors of Toronto, Ontario ( http://www.swadron.com ) for the purpose of requesting that Dunn "cease and desist from using the name Ontario Association of Children's Aid Society Members" for his online support and discussion group which he created to unite all citizens of Ontario who are, or who wish to become, or who would like to learn more about becoming a member of a Children's Aid Society in Ontario.

The reason given within the November 06th, 2008 cease and desist letter (Swadron Associates File Number: 89-1161) was that the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies (OACAS), an Association which represents, and advocates on behalf of Ontario's Children's Aid Societies advised their solicitors that the name of the support and discussion group is "deceiving" in relation to the OACAS, and is "likely to cause confusion in the minds of members of the public". The letter was signed by Swadron Associates' Solicitor Barry B. Swadron, Q.C.

Late that same evening, in response to the Swadron's cease and desist letter, Dunn wrote the following letter, and has since reported that he is looking forward to resolving this matter as soon as possible.

--RESPONSE LETTER TO OACAS COUNSEL--

November 11, 2008

Jeanette Lewis, Executive Director
Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies

care of;

Swadron Associates Barristers & Solicitors
115 Berkeley Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5A 2W8

Barry B. Swadron, Q.C.,

NOTE: Let it be known that all communication between myself and any person in relation to this matter will be made public and distributed to various individuals at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and several committees thereof, the Office of the Ontario Ombudsman, the Auditor General's Office, the Provincial Child and Youth Advocates Office, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, the Cabinet of the Ontario Government, select members of the media and via various internet based news wires and resources. This is done strictly as a measure of accountability in relation to the expenditure of public funds.

Cease and Desist Letter:
As of the evening of Monday, November 10, 2008, I am in receipt of your cease and desist letter dated November 06, 2008 (Swadron Associates Barristers & Solicitors File Number 89-1161) requesting that I cease and desist from using the name "Ontario Association of Children's Aid Society Members" as the name of the support and discussion group which was created for people who have, or who wish to become members of a Children's Aid Society in Ontario.

Purpose of Group:

The purpose of the support and discussion group is to enable those who join it to communicate with other like-minded individuals regarding matters related to Children's Aid Society memberships, including, but not limited to, what they can do with a Children's Aid Society membership, and what to do should their application for a membership to a Children's Aid Society in Ontario be denied for any reason.

OACAS Sources of Funding:

It is my understanding from reading the "About OACAS" ( http://www.oacas.org/about/index.htm ) page of the OACAS's website, and from reading the Income Statement dated March 31, 2007 located within the OACAS's 2007-08 Annual Report ( http://www.oacas.org/pubs/oacas/annual/08annual_web.pdf ) that Children's Aid Societies in Ontario and/or their representatives paid over 2.4 million dollars in annual membership fees to the OACAS in 2008, and that the Government of Ontario transfered over 6.4 million dollars to the OACAS in 2008.

Therefore, my calculations lead me to understand that in 2008 alone the Ontario Government has paid a total of at least 6.6 million dollars of Ontario tax-payer's hard-earned dollars to the OACAS directly through Ministry allocated transfer-payments, and indirectly through the membership fees which have been paid to the OACAS by Ministry funded OACAS member Children's Aid Societies.

OACAS use of Charitable Donations and Government Funds:

The OACAS, with what I assume to be approval from members of their Board of Directors, has apparently chosen to divert important charitable funds which have been entrusted to the OACAS for the delivery of charitable purposes on expensive, unnecessary, legal services which have resulted in legal action being threatened against me, without the OACAS even attempting to first contact me in any attempt to discuss the matter decently and to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution.

OACAS's Abuse of Power
Unfortunately, now that the OACAS has made the choice to lead this matter in a legally threatening manner, a manner in which I believe would be seen by any other reasonable person as being an unnecessary, and aggressive abuse of power and resources over a person who is greatly disadvantaged, I therefore feel compelled to respond in a way which I believe will afford me some legal protection while simultaneously working co-operatively with the OACAS, through their legal counsel, to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution to this matter.

Mutually Satisfactory Resolution
I am now undertaking to attempt in good faith to resolve this matter to our mutual satisfaction by first asking you to provide me with the relevant Statutes, Regulations and provisions thereof that you are relying on in your threat of legal action against me so that we can discuss them and my obligations under them so that I may base my decision on how to proceed in this matter on our discussions and on the law.

I am looking forward to your immediate response so that we can hopefully resolve this matter to our mutual satisfaction.

Sincerely,

John Dunn

===

November 13, 2009

1st Response to OACAS legal threat letter‏

From: John Dunn (afterfostercare@hotmail.com)
Sent: November 13, 2008 8:01:12 PM
To: info@oacas.org; jlewis@oacas.org

Jeanette Lewis,It appears that you have authorized a law firm to make a legal threat against me regarding the name of a support group I created on the internet and I just wanted to keep you informed of the response I gave to your Counsell, Barry B. Swadron by forwarding a copy of my response to you.If you do not wish to be kept informed of our communications please just let me know

Sincerely

John Dunn

===

Monday December 08, 2008

RE: Swadron File Number: 89-1161

I am awaiting a response from Barry Swadron in connection with my November 13th letter which was emailed to email@swadron.com

If I do not hear from Barry, or anyone else in connection with his client the OACAS, by the end of today, I will understand from the lack of response that the issue is moot and that I have permission to carry on using the name "Ontario Association of Children's Aid Society Members" for our non-profit support / advocacy group.

Sincerely,

John Dunn

===========

From: Barry Swadron (bbs@swadron.com)
Sent: December 8, 2008 2:21:04 PM
To: afterfostercare@hotmail.com

John Dunn,

Your e-mail dated December 8, 2008, although incorrectly addressed, has been brought to my attention. In the future, kindly note that my e-mail address is bbs@swadron.com.

Not only do your not have permission to use the name “Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Society Members”, you are prohibited from using that name.

Govern yourself accordingly.

Barry B. Swadron, Q.C.

Swadron Associates
Barristers & Solicitors
115 Berkeley Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5A 2W8
Tel: (416) 362-1234
Fax: (416) 362-1232
Email: bbs@swadron.com
Website: www.swadron.com

===

RE: OACAS‏
From: John Dunn (afterfostercare@hotmail.com)
Sent: December 8, 2008 5:42:34 PM
To: bbs@swadron.com

Can you let me know when you first became aware of my correspondence and when you think you will be formulating a written response to it so we can proceed to discuss the matter and come to a resolution.

Sincerely
John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca

--OACAS STEALTH VISIT--

After receiving this email, on the 14th of November someone from the OACAS attempted to visit our site while using a "Proxy Server" which is used to attempt to hide who you are when you visit a website so that the person you visit can not track you.

Our logs showed the "Proxy Server" used was called "hidemyass.com". (Click on the image below to get a larger version" for closer examination.

In order to check that source of the visit was actually from the OACAS, an IP Resolution service located at Arin.net confirmed that the IP number of the computer operator who visited us using the "Proxy Server" was definitely from the OACAS as shown below.

Cogeco Data Services Inc. CDSI (NET-66-241-128-0-1)
66.241.128.0 - 66.241.143.255

Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies THTI-OACAS (NET-66-241-132-224-1)
66.241.132.224 - 66.241.132.255

# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2008-11-13 19:10
# Enter ? for additional hints on searching ARIN's WHOIS database.

===

From: John Dunn [mailto:afterfostercare@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 5:46 PM
To: Barry Swadron; info@oacas.org; Jeanette Lewisoacas
Subject: RE: Website Names

Barry Swadron, Jeanette Lewis, et al,

I have informed the Foster Care Council of Canada to change the link on their web site so that it now clarifies that the Support Group (OACASM) is not the OACAS and instead gives a link to the OACAS website in addition to the support group site to avoid any confusion. You can see the links at http://www.afterfostercare.ca

I have taken this action voluntarily to attempt to resolve this issue since it appears you are not willing to discuss it any further from the latest correspondence I have received from you (enclosed)

It is my sincere hope that this resolves the issue with the OACAS, the client you represent. If I do not hear from anyone regarding this, and if I do not hear any attempt to discuss it with me I will understand that we have resolved this issue with my latest effort to alleviate any confusion in the names.

Sincerely

John Dunn
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: RE: Website Names
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:40:50 -0500
From: bbs@swadron.comTo: afterfostercare@hotmail.com

Dear Mr. Dunn,

Your e-mail of December 29, 2008 has been received.

I will obtain instructions from my client and will, after I have them, write to you again.

Barry B. Swadron, Q.C.
Swadron Associates
Barristers & Solicitors
115 Berkeley Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5A 2W8
Tel: (416) 362-1234
Fax: (416) 362-1232
Email: bbs@swadron.com
Website: www.swadron.com

===
From: afterfostercare@hotmail.com
To: bbs@swadron.com
Subject: RE: Website Names
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:32:25 -0500

Thank-you I look forward to your response.

Sincerely
John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca

===
From: John Dunn [mailto:afterfostercare@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2009 8:01 AM
To: Barry Swadron
Cc: Jeanette Lewisoacas

Subject: RE: Website Names

Barry,

I wanted to know if you have obtained instructions from your client (OACAS) in relation to the updated disclaimer on the http://www.afterfostercare.ca web site which clarifies the alleged possible confusion between the name of the on-line support group for people who wish to learn more about Children's Aid Society memberships and that of the multi-million dollar funded Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies.

Sincerely

John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca

===

Subject: Website Names

Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:01:55 -0500
From: bbs@swadron.com
To: afterfostercare@hotmail.com
CC: jlewis@oacas.org

Dear Mr. Dunn,

Unfortunately, I have been extremely busy and unable to obtain instructions. Hopefully I will get them soon. I should tell you I will be out of the country and not be available until late this month.

Barry B. Swadron, Q.C.
Swadron Associates
Barristers & Solicitors
115 Berkeley Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5A 2W8

Tel: (416) 362-1234
Fax: (416) 362-1232
Website: www.swadron.com

===
RE: Website Names
‏From: John Dunn (afterfostercare@hotmail.com)
Sent: January 16, 2009 10:41:28 AM
To: Barry Swadron (bbs@swadron.com)
Cc: Jeanette Lewisoacas (jlewis@oacas.org)

Barry et al,

Thank-you for this update, until you return I will continue to leave the information as posted.
Have a safe journey and hopefully it is somewhere warm! SincerelyJohn Dunn Executive DirectorThe Foster Care Council of Canada http://www.afterfostercare.ca

===
Website names
‏From: Barry Swadron (bbs@swadron.com)
Sent: January 16, 2009 4:39:29 PM
To: 'John Dunn' (afterfostercare@hotmail.com)

Dear Mr. Dunn,

I now have instructions from my client.

While it is recognized that you have taken a step in an attempt to clarify the situation, unfortunately the concern and confusion remain.

The Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies is an organization that has existed for many years. It is composed of “member” agencies. The use of the term Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Society Members will, in the eyes of the public, be equated or at least confused with my client, the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies.

It seems to me that you could easily rename the organization that you represent to avoid any mixup. While it would be presumptuous of me to suggest a substitute name, now that you are aware of my client’s concern, I urge you to take the appropriate action.

Barry B. Swadron, Q.C.
Swadron Associates
Barristers & Solicitors
115 Berkeley Street
Toronto, OntarioM5A 2W8
Tel: (416) 362-1234
Fax: (416) 362-1232
Website: www.swadron.com

Delegates from Beijing meet Council

2008-11-07T18:51:00.000-05:00

A group of Delegates from Beijing is meeting with the Council's John Dunn and Gary Curtis in Ottawa on Monday November, 10, 2008 to discuss our work as a means of informing them of the ways we work at the grassroots level to bring positive changes to child-welfare services.

The Letter to Council is posted below accompanied by a list of the Delegates from Beijing.

Hello John:

It was very nice talking to you on the phone just now. I am very glad that I am able to get in touch with you and learn about your work for child-welfare service in Canada. It's even more encouraging that you are also concerned about international adoption and particularly these
children (to be) adopted from China. I wish I personally am able to be of help in the future.

As far as the Beijing guests are concerned, here I'd like to give you their names and some relevant information about the group.

The group consists of 20 members from Office of Letters and Calls of Beijing Municipal People's Government (OLCB). The OLCB is a special office that was established to take complaints from the grassroots people and organizations in Beijing City and help to resolve the issues and disputes.

It'll be really wonderful if you can give them an overview of your work at FCCC, the efforts that the grassroots people/organization have made, the challenges that they have faced and the hope and expectation that they are in pursuing from the government.

As far as the new issues about the adoption in China go, I would suggest that you also bring up the issues at the meeting for discussion. It's an interesting topic that the group would love to exchange the views with you.

Since there are 20 people, I am thinking to invite you to meet with them at a hotel conference room if your office can hardly hold all of them.

We are trying to acquire a conference room now and will let you know the updates later today. I wish that we can make the meeting happen on Nov.10 at 9:00AM either at your place or in a hotel. Please do not hesitate to contact me either via this email or at ###-###-#### or my mobile ###-###-#### if you have any concerns. I deeply appreciate your time and really enjoy our conversation just now.

With all my best regards,

The list of Delegates is as follows:

Liu,Zhihong Mr. Deputy Director Office of Letters and Calls of Beijing Municipal People's Government

Sun,Shaowu Mr. Division Director Office of Letters and Calls of Beijing Municipal People's Government

Guan,Liben Mr. Division Director Office of Letters and Calls of Beijing Municipal People's Government

Lv,Ruili Ms. Director Office of Letters and Calls of Dongcheng District, Beijing Municipal People's Government

Zhao,Hongwei Mr. Director Office of Letters and Calls of Chaoyang District,Beijing Municipal People's Government

Di,Dongxu Mr. Deputy Division Director Office of Letters and Calls of Beijing Municipal People's Government

Shang,Shuhuai Mr. Office of Letters and Calls of Beijing Municipal People's Government

Sun,Tong Ms. Deputy Director Office of Letters and Calls of Chongwen District,Beijing Municipal People's Government

Chen,Hongyu Ms. Deputy Director Office of Letters and Calls of Shunyi District, Beijing Municipal People's Government

Sun,Zhongguo Mr. Deputy Director Office of Letters and Calls of Changping District, Beijing Municipal People's Government

Mao,Yanlin Mr. Deputy Director Office of Letters and Calls of Fangshan District, Beijing Municipal People's Government

Wang,Chunye Ms. Deputy Director Office of Letters and Calls of Huairou District, Beijing Municipal People's Government

Mao,Lifu Mr. Deputy Director of General Office Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning

Zhou,Jie Ms. Deputy Division Director Beijing Municipal Bureau of Personnel

Wang,Haitao Mr. Deputy Director of General Office Beijing Municipal Administration of Re-Education Through Labor

Zong,Wenli Mr. Deputy Director Tanzhesi People's Government of Mentougou District of Beijing Municipality

Pan,Jianhui Mr. Principal Staff Member Office of Letters and Calls of Xuanwu District, Beijing Municipal People's Government

Liu,Weifang Ms. Principal Staff Member Beijing Municipal Commission of Construction

Jiang,Xi Ms. Director Fangshan District Industry Corporation of Beijing

Guo,Li Ms. Staff Member Office of Letters and Calls of Beijing Municipal People's Government

Toronto CAS Website - Comments

2008-11-05T12:01:00.000-05:00

The Toronto CAS website has sections which accept comments at this time. I have posted a couple of comments on their website in response to a couple of their postings.

Hopefully these comments will not be removed. If they are, the media will definitely be contacted in response to such removals.

Below are some screen shots of the posts which I made on the CAS Toronto's website.

Whole Page (Part I)

My Comment (Part II)

My Comment to Dr. Wilkes Award

Test link here

Ottawa CAS - Transparency in Governance Position Paper

2008-11-05T11:16:00.000-05:00

Today, Tuesday, October 15, 2008, The Foster Care Council of Canada's John Dunn attended the Ottawa CAS monthly Board meeting and learned from their agenda and subsequent discussion that they are now drafting a Position Paper on Transparency in CAS Governance.

Although the Board did not mention why they drafted the Position Paper it appears to have been done as a result of the Foster Care Council of Canada's advocacy efforts and the Private Member's Motion #41 which the Council advocated for through Andrea Horwath's (MPP) office at the Ontario Legislature to open and advertise CAS meetings/minutes and By-Laws had something if not everything to do with this sudden change in the Society.

The Ottawa CAS Board did not distribute publicly the draft position statement mentioned above, however they talked about it briefly and it appears that information about the Society's By-Laws, Meetings, Meeting Minutes and such are going to be more open to the public in some way and a publicly available leaflet will be made available regarding such matters. The Executive Director mentioned the need to "sanitize" the information before public consumption.

This is just the first step in the right direction toward improved quality of service and accountability in child-welfare which demonstrates that persistence, and patience alway pay off.

UPDATE:

On November 05, 2008, John Dunn sent the following letter to the Executive Director of the Ottawa CAS in relation to this matter.

Correspondence below:

Barbara MacKinnon
Executive Director
The Children's Aid Society of Ottawa
1602 Telesat Court
Ottawa, Ontario
K2E 6J2

Date: Nov 05, 2008
RE: Position Paper on Transparency in CAS Governance

Barbara MacKinnon,

During the October 2008 meeting of the Society's Board of Directors discussion was held regarding a Draft being made of a Position Paper on Transparency in CAS Governance which from what I was able to understand pertains to the public having access to Society Board and or Committee minutes, Agenda's, By-Laws and other items of importance to the Society's local constituents.

I would like to ask if you could please answer the following questions for me.

1. What can you say generally about the status of the Draft Position Paper on CAS Governance and what is it's official title?

2. When do you expect the Draft to be complete and reviewed by the Board for approval?

3. If it is approved by the Board will it be available for review by the public and if not, why not?

Sincerely
John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca

Barbara MacKinnon's response:

Re: [QUARANTINE] Position Paper on Transparency in CAS Governance‏
From: barbara.mackinnon@casott.on.ca
Sent: November 10, 2008 4:51:08 PM
To: John Dunn (afterfostercare@hotmail.com)
Cc: mparisien@casott.on.ca

Hello John,

Thank you for your interest in our work. We are in the process of developing a communication leaflet that reflects the intent of the paper.

It should be ready in the near future and I would be happy to provide the leaflet to you.

Rick is happy to have you present in December to the Board but was not sure we will have quorum as December is generally a very busy month for members.

You may be more interested in the New Year--January or February.

Let me know.

Barbara MacKinnon
Executive Director
Children's Aid Society of Ottawa
1602 Telesat Court,
Ottawa K1B 1B1
747-7800 ext 2600

Child Advocate Report Evidence in Class Action Legal Action by Foster Kids

2008-10-24T18:13:00.000-04:00

The controversy engulfing Alberta's child welfare system has unearthed valuable ammunition for a lawyer spearheading a class-action suit on behalf of foster kids.

Robert Lee told Sun Media that the provincial child advocate's internal quarterly reports, which detail a litany of complaints against the foster-care system, are "evidence" in his lawsuit involving 400 former foster kids.

"I didn't know they existed," Lee told Sun Media.

"They're going to be very helpful for me, but whether they create enough pressure for the government to fix the system remains to be seen."

The reports were released to the public this week by NDP MLA Rachel Notley after she acquired several years' worth of them through an access to information request.

They reveal complaints of illegal restraint techniques used on kids in care, kids sexually assaulting other kids, and children being placed in inappropriate or even dangerous homes because nothing better was available.

If you were a foster child in Alberta and suffered abuse or neglect while in foster care, please contact Lawyer - Robert P. Lee 780-438-4972 (ext. 306) to join the Class Action lawsuit. Don't be afraid, just call.

Read more here:

From Edmonton Sun

Child and Family Services Review Board Speaks of it's own Redundancy

2008-10-15T02:56:00.000-04:00

Start reading this publicly available case law from Lines 138 to the end and all of the foot notes to see how the Board discusses how redundant the complaint procedure and the Board itself is in relation to complaints brought to the Board about CAS issues.

Remember, move down to line 138 to start reading

Here

Children's Aid Society of Sudbury Manitoulin Charged

2008-10-12T22:53:00.000-04:00

The Children's Aid Society of the Districts of Sudbury and Manitoulin and its Executive Director have been charged by a local area resident with failing to furnish a list of their members as required by law.

The Catholic Children's Aid Society of Toronto also committed the same Offence but no charges were laid due to ongoing litigation with the Ottawa CAS.

The Charges against the Ottawa CAS for the same Offence were resolved by the person charging them as shown in the post after this one. (below)

and

CAS Charges Resolved

2008-10-07T07:36:00.000-04:00

NOTE: Documents linked at end (.doc and .pdf formats)
NOTE 2: THIS MATTER HAS BEEN RESOLVED AS OF OCTOBER 8, 2008 AS STATED BELOW

EARLY NOTICE OF RESOLUTION
The charges against the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa and their Executive Director are set to go to Trial on WED OCT 08, 2008. However, after fifteen months of resolution discussions between Dunn and the Society's legal Counsel an agreement appears to have been reached which when finalized will result in the charge against Barbara MacKinnon as Executive Director of the Society being withdrawn (dropped) and the charge against Ontario Corporation 37637 (The Children's Aid Society of Ottawa) being "stayed" only to be reinstated at the Crown's discretion should any party breach the terms of the agreement within the 12 month period following the stay of the charges.

BACKGROUND
Approximately three years ago, John Dunn attempted to obtain a membership with the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa and was redirected to the Society's externally retained legal Counsel who has informed Dunn that the Society never intends to accept an application for membership from him.

Therefore, since Dunn was unable to advocate for changes to the Society from within as a member, Dunn was forced to use Section 307 of the Corporations Act to request a list of and contact the existing members of the Society to ask them if they support his advocacy efforts, and if so for them to call a meeting of the members as allowed in section 13 of the Society's By-Law and 295 of the Corporations Act.

On February 05, 2007 Dunn filed a request with the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa for a list of their members so that he could contact them to advocate for changes to the agency's By-Laws which if successfull would give children in foster care a stronger voice in, and improved oversight of the agency they receive services from.

The letter to the members will be asking them to call a members meeting to advocate for a new class of non-voting members which would afford all Society and Crown Wards equal rights as other members of the Society less voting rights therefore strengthening and protecting their voices in relation to the services they receive from the agency and giving them the ability -- among other privileges -- to review corporate documents, meeting minutes and financial records of the Society if requested.

The Society, through its Board of Directors and with the support of its Executive Director, Barbara MacKinnon failed to furnish the list of members as required by statute. Dunn, after almost six months of attempting alternate means of bringing them into compliance with the law was forced to press private charges against them on August 08, 2007 under section 307 (5) of the Corporations Act.

After the charges were laid, the Society, through legal Counsel requested to enter into resolution discussions. Dunn agreed to enter into resolution discussions because his intent was to get his "letter of advocacy" to the Society's members so that they could call a members meeting if they support the proposed By-Law amendment.

The Crown offered to mediate the discussions and after approximately fifteen months of tense moments and communications a resolution has finally been reached. The Society was not comfortable releasing the list of their members to Dunn and subsequently agreed to supply the mediating Crown with postage-paid envelopes addressed with the members personal addresses so that Dunn would then provide the Crown with his "letter to the members" who would then mail the letter to each member at their place of residence.

The members who support calling a meeting would mail the enclosed response form to the Crown who, once the deadline date of November 16, 2008 has passed will count the responses and forward them to the Society.

If 1/10th of the members respond in support of calling a meeting for the purpose of dealing with the matter, the Society shall call a members meeting for that purpose. It is then up to the members to vote on the issue at the meeting if they want it to pass. Doing so would make the Ottawa Children's Aid Society the first in Canada to allow the children and youth in their care to be truly involved in monitoring and participating in the direction of the agency which controls their lives.

Letter to the Society's Members
Click MS Word or PDF formats

CAS Causes Mother to Commit Suicide

2008-08-28T10:58:00.001-04:00

More on this story will come but for now, here is the mother's suicide note who has been getting harassed aggressively by CAS.

The full story will folllow:

Instead of being supported in her situation, she was aggressively pursued to the point where workers lied in affidavits.

Mothers Suicide Note:

My mind just doesn’t make sence no more
Its like I’m hurting deep to the core
Please dear god make these thoughts go away
Please dear god I don’t want to live today
I look into my little boys eyes
Is our world built on lies
I feel like I can’t love him as much as I loved my little girl
It just hurts to much to think, I lost the fight for this world
Please dear god make these thoughts go away
Please dear god I don’t want to live today
I just can’t love you the same way, I can’t love the way I did
So long ago before I lost my baby girl to SIDS.
Please baby Michael don’t feel my hurt and anger
Just lay back my little baby in a manger
I’m sorry for bringing you into this horrible place
I’m sorry for the tears running down my face
My dear Michael I am sorry I can’t be the best mom like before
My baby boy I am so sorry I am so sore
My little boy I am just an addict I’m no good for you
That’s what they say and I’m thinking it’s true
Please my little boy if I have to go don’t be sad
Please understand these people think I’m bad
And I think I am too, all I think about is drugs
When I should be giving you kisses and hugs
Please my little boy don’t you ever miss me
Please just remember I love you please don’t cry for me
Little one I’ll always love you
Forever and for always that’s the truth

Please give this song a listen. It was written about a former client of the Ottawa CAS who recently committed Suicide.

Former CAS Ottawa Client - "Dee" Laura Lee Doupe
http://www.archive.org/details/DeesSong (The Song)

Her 2006 Ottawa Municipal Election Campaign Site
http://voteforlauralee.tripod.com/id5.html

In memory of a former CAS client

More to come as the story develops

Peace to you Dee.

Recent News

2008-08-27T14:49:00.000-04:00

* Meeting Agenda's and Minutes and more [ More ]
* Listen to a foster care life story from CBC Radio [ Documentary ]
* Watch the Child Abuse Inquiry daily at 9:15am (EST) [here]
* The Children's Aid Society of Ottawa and its Executive Director Barbara MacKinnon plead to charges and go on trial on Wednesday, October 08, 2008. For details call John Dunn at 613-228-2178

Letter to Editor (The National Newspaper)

2008-08-15T23:57:00.000-04:00

Letter to Editor:

Any time the media contact a Children's Aid Society to ask questions about a child they hide behind section 45 (8) of the Child and Family Services Act which prevents any person from publishing any information which has the effect of identifying a child who is the subject of a child protection proceeding, the child's foster parents or family members. This was put in place for the protection of the child, not for the protection of a child-protection agency.

As tragic as this situation is, the child in question is no longer with us in her physical and legal sense, therefore the child and family services act no longer applies to her case.

Regardless of whether these particular agencies were involved with her or not, does not give these agencies the legal right to refuse to confirm or to deny their involvement. Tax payers put 1.3 Billion dollars a year into child protection in Ontario and deserve to have certain questions answered.

When Jeffrey Baldwin starved to death after being emotionally and physically abused and neglected for years while under the "watch" of the Catholic Children's Aid Society of Toronto, the judge became frustrated by the agency not co-operating with the court in connection with their disclosure of records.

Thousands of foster children in care have records which are still unable to be obtained by them because the agencies refuse to allow them to have copies of their own lives. Does this sound like the practice of an agency who is looking out for the interests of the children who are ordered to live under their authority?

What about the Millions of Serious Occurrence reports in the custody of these agencies and the Ministry of Children and Youth Services? These are reports which provide evidence of abuse and neglect of children under their care. They won't even allow current or former foster kids to access them. They claim it is to protect them from emotional harm since they might read something about themselves which might upset them -- something that these victims remember all too well.

John Dunn
Former Crown Ward
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca

Ombudsman Act

2008-08-10T00:09:00.000-04:00

According to section 14(5) of the Ombudsman Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. O.6, the Ombudsman, if he has any question as to whether he/his office has jurisdiction over any case or class of cases (CAS cases or the entire MUSH SECTOR) he can apply to Divisional Court for a declaratory order to determine the question.

If the Ombudsman were to hire lawyers, the main issue for the lawyers to keep in mind is that under "Administrative Law", no governmental body can absolve itself of responsibility 100% by sub-delegating its duty to someone else. Ultimately the Government is still responsible.

IE: The Ministry of Children and Youth Services is responsible for the decisions of a CAS because the Ministry can not wash its hands of its own responsibility or duty by sub-delegating its work to another body.

The principal I am talking about is evidenced or demonstrated in the Terms of Reference of the Legislative Assembly's Standing Committee on Social Policy. The Terms of Reference clearly state that it "is empowered to study and report on all matters relating to the mandate, management, organization or operation of the ministries and offices which are assigned to it as well as the agencies, boards and commissions reporting to such ministries and offices. These studies are conducted according to either Standing Order 110 or 125"

Those two standing orders -- 110 and 125 read as follows:

Standing Order 110:

Under Standing Order 110, the policy field committees may conduct relatively unlimited studies. The only restriction is that the study must relate to a ministry assigned to that committee. The subject-matter and duration of the study are left to the committee to decide. This Standing Order is usually used when the committee agrees on what it wishes to study.

Standing Order 125:

Once in each Session, each member (including the Chair), of the Standing Committee on General Government, the Standing Committee on Justice Policy and the Standing Committee on Social Policy is entitled to propose a matter to be considered by their particular committee. The matter must relate to the mandate, management, organization or operation of the ministries and offices assigned to the committee as well as the agencies, boards and commissions reporting to such ministries and offices (this list is found as an appendix to the Standing Orders).

The proposal of a member under this Standing Order must be adopted by at least two-thirds of the members of the committee, excluding the Chair.

A study by the committee under the terms of this Standing Order cannot take precedence over consideration of a government public bill.

The committee may present a substantive report to the House and may adopt the text of a draft bill on the subject matter.

At least one Sessional day, or three hours, of debate, will be allowed on the bill in the House at a time decided upon by the House Leaders of the recognized Parties.

CFSRB Affirms Decision - CAS Memberships Not a Child - Welfare Service

2008-08-08T14:57:00.000-04:00

The Child and Family Services Review Board has affirmed its decision that memberships within a Children's Aid Society are not a "service" or a "child welfare service" under the Child and Family Services Act and therefore are not elligible for review by the Board. Yet another level of accountability thwarted.

Original Appeal letter to CFSRB:
here

CAS Executive Director says youth should protest in a Gymnasium

2008-08-08T14:22:00.000-04:00

Youth in the community protested outside of the Children's Aid Society because of their concern about a freind of theirs.

The Executive Director of the Sudbury Manatoulin Children's Aid Society, Colette Provost, said she would have preferred to see the demonstration held in a venue such as a school gymnasium. "My concern is that this process really flirts with the danger of children being exploited by other people for their own purposes," she said. "I would have preferred to see this take place in a more child-friendly forum."

So much for our Rights to public protest. Imagine that, an Executive Director of a Children's Aid Society saying that youth should protest in a venue where their voices will not be heard and where they will not be seen. Very disturbing.

Article from http://www.manitoulin.ca

Peaceful protestors ask for change

in demonstration at Island CAS_office

by Michael Erskine

LITTLE CURRENT-Mason Dugas and his young friends picked up placards and marched chanting back and forth outside the Manitoulin offices of the Children's Aid Society (CAS) in Little Current for about an hour last Friday.

Mr. Dugas and his friends were joined by around 30 fellow protestors of all ages, although some admitted to being there to support the young man's right to express his concerns in a peaceful and democratic way. Others clearly had their own agendas with the Children's Aid Society, although for the most part Mr. Dugas's message remained coherently his.

The protest proceeded despite a meeting held between the children and CAS executive director Colette PrŽvost on Tuesday. Perspectives on how that meeting went were decidedly different.

Ms. PrŽvost said that while she met with the young protestor, it was difficult to answer many of his questions because they were very specific to one particular case-thereby being interdicted by the requirements of protecting the privacy rights of a ward of the CAS.

Mr. Dugas, in turn, was adamant that from his perspective the meeting was a complete wash. "They couldn't answer any of my questions," he said. He said that he could not recall receiving answers to his questions even in general terms. "I asked the questions expecting answers," he said. "They said, 'We can't tell you that.'"

Mr. Dugas said that the CAS had sent out a letter (a copy of which was provided to the Expositor) warning foster parents that the demonstration might be an inappropriate place to bring children. "They said they were afraid bad people might come by," said Mr. Dugas. When asked if he had seen any 'bad people' at the protest, Mr. Dugas shook his head in the negative.

Mr. Dugas maintains that his primary concern is ensuring that the Children's Aid Society investigates where they place children thoroughly to ensure they are not putting the child at risk. His particular concern was about a young friend of his who was placed in a home where he understands there were drugs and alcohol being used. He maintains that the CAS did not act in a timely enough fashion to protect his friend and to remove the friend from that environment.

"I asked them why they won't ever admit they were wrong," said Mr. Dugas. "Their answer was 'I know I do, but I can't speak for other people.'"

In her interview with the Expositor, Ms. PrŽvost said that the decision processes under which the CAS operates are very complex, and difficult even for more experienced adults to understand. "There are very many levels of sophistication in our system," she said. "Even adults have a difficult time."

Ms. PrŽvost noted that the requirements of protecting and respecting the privacy of children can make communication in situations like these very frustrating for all parties involved. But she stressed that, contrary to the impression being given by the protesting children and their supporters, there does exist a very stringent system of accountability for the CAS.

While claims have been made that the CAS does not have a system of independent oversight, Ms. PrŽvost said that nothing could be further from the truth. The CAS internal complaint process provides a first level in an attempt to deal with a complainant's concerns. When that process does not solve the issue, Child and Family Services will review the matter in a provincially-mandated legal process.

"There is a third-party review whereby an agency with no connection to the CAS will come and hear the matter," said Ms. PrŽvost.

In addition, every year a number of cases of the CAS receive a random audit to ensure that legal standards are being met by the CAS. "We have no control over which cases are reviewed," noted Ms. PrŽvost.

Ms. PrŽvost clarified that the CAS concerns with the demonstration were more to do with the appropriateness of the venue as a means of communication. "The information picket, as I understand it to be, is about kids having something to say," she said. "I am not sure they have said it in a way that they feel confident they have been heard."

Ms. PrŽvost said she would have preferred to see the demonstration held in a venue such as a school gymnasium. "My concern is that this process really flirts with the danger of children being exploited by other people for their own purposes," she said. "I would have preferred to see this take place in a more child-friendly forum."

Larry Killens, a Providence Bay resident and Rainbow School Board trustee, joined the children on the picket line.

"I support these kids," he said. "I am proud of these kids, not only just our Island kids, for standing up and speaking out about things that concern them in a peaceful way."

Mr. Killens went on to say that he is in support of an initiative to have the CAS placed under the purview of the Ontario Ombudsman's Office. "Basically, every province in Canada has a process of oversight for child and family services," he said. Ontario, he claims, does not.

Ms. PrŽvost was adamant that that point of view is not reflective of reality. The CAS, she maintained, is very closely monitored and reviewed. "We are looking after the welfare of children," she said. "That is how it must and should be."

Mr. Killens, in his capacity as school trustee, is currently working on a protocol for interaction between the CAS and the Rainbow board. He said he had been concerned over liability issues as there was no formal policy in place. He praised the school board administration for their diligence in getting the policy in place. "My compliments to the director of education for confronting this huge concern," he said. "Without this commitment by the board we would not now have it."

Mr. Killens expressed his disappointment at Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Mike Brown and the premier of Ontario, suggesting that the region's member of the Ontario legislature should have been at the protest and that the province needs to step in to ensure proper care is being given to the province's youth.

Off-Island media attended the event. With television cameras whirring, a TV journalist interviewed the young protestor and others on the scene.

Although a police cruiser drove past the demonstration twice during the hour, there was no overt police presence at the demonstration. Occupants of other offices at the building complex which houses the CAS were requested by the agency to park their cars at the far end of the parking lot to help ensure the children's safety.

Another group of young people was holding a demonstration at the corner of Highway 6 and Meredith Street-where they continued to wave their placards long after the central picket had closed down and everyone had gone home.

Mr. Dugas said he was pleased with the turnout for the demonstration he had organized. He expressed some confusion over the online petition to have the CAS overseen by the Ontario Ombudsman. "I just want them to be more careful about where they are putting kids," he said. "I don't want anymore kids being put in places that aren't safe."

He also wanted to share the credit for the demonstration's success. "I want to thank my friend Zack," he said. "He has been with me every step of the way-and my brother."

Many of the cars passing in front of the demonstration slowed to a crawl, their drivers craning to see what the signs were saying, and then honking support before driving away. Other vehicles simply honked in support as they drove past.

Lennox and Addington Family and Children's Services places child in abusive home

2008-08-04T05:46:00.000-04:00

Child made Crown Ward abused in care by adoptive parents

http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onscdc/doc/2007/2007canlii38120/2007canlii38120.html

Former CAS Workers Speaks Out

2008-08-04T04:11:00.000-04:00

A former CAS worker is in the process of starting an online discussion forum to expose information about CAS's and promote better understanding of the system. The discussion forum can be found online at http://talkcas.forumotion.net/forum.htm

A Case for Ombudsman Jurisdiction over Children's Aid Societies

2008-08-02T22:50:00.000-04:00

DRAFTING NOTES

Lack of Accountability:
Jeffrey Baldwin - Judge ordered CCAS to disclose information - Frustrated with CCAS - was worker who supposedly supervised child held accountable?

CFSRB - quotes from decisions on Canlii - CAS's always fight jurisdiction

Board meeting of CASOTT discussing too many levels of accountability

OACAS Letter to me by Merv Bernstein (now child advocate in alberta) - discussing too many levels of accountability

Social Workers sworn to secrecy under oath not to discuss anything to do with the Societies during or after they leave / fired / quit

Introduction
This document has been written to impress upon Ontario's Legislators the extreme importance of voting in favour of providing Ontario's Ombudsman the ability to oversee Children's Aid Societies.

Regardless of which political party introduces such legislation, voting in favour of it is ultimately in the best interests of Ontario's children and youth who deserve your vote for the protection of their rights and well-being.

Keeping this in mind, it is more important than ever to put partisanship aside when considering such legislation because of the fact that approximately 30,000 children and youth under the authority of the province's Children's Aid Societies are legally -- and without choice -- the Government of the day's children.

Having said that, depending on which party you are a member of -- these children and youth may be your children today, or they will become your children tomorrow.

BACKGROUND

Internal Oversight Mechanisms of Children's Aid Societies
In Ontario, there are 53 non-profit corporations which have been granted licences under the Child and Family Services Act and approved as "Children's Aid Societies" by the Ministry of Children and Youth Services -- a subdelegate of the Ontario Government -- to provide child-welfare services to Ontario's children and youth and their families.

The governing By-Laws of Ontario's 53 Children's Aid Societies have been drafted by the founding Directors of each of the Societies between 75 and 130 years ago. The By-Laws allow members of the local community to apply for and become "Regular Members" of the Societies so that they can provide oversight of the Board of Directors of each Society, vote on the decisions which have been made by the Directors during the Annual General Meeting of the Regular Members each year, and generally hold the Directors accountable for their actions and decisions or lack thereof.

The By-Laws of a Society afford the Regular Members certain rights and priviliges that non-members are not privy to such as the ability to review certain books of the corporation, meeting minutes, and financial records, and according to the By-Laws of the Socities if any of the Regular Members have a concern about an issue connected with the Corporation they can request from their Society a list of their fellow members so that they can contact them by mail and explain the issue of concern to the general membership in the hope of drumming up enough support among them -- usually 1/10th of the Regular Members -- to call a meeting of the members for the purpose of dealing with the matter by discussing and voting on a By-Law change or some other resolution to the satisfaction of the membership.

In order for the Regular Members to call a meeting of the members, 1/10th (10%) of the members are required to file with the Society at their head office a requisition letter stating thier desire to call a meeting regarding the issue of concern to them. Once 10% of the Regular Members have submitted such a requisition, the Board of Directors are required by law to call a meeting of the Regular Members so that they may deal with the matter however the Regular Members see fit.

External Oversight

Modernization of the By-Laws

In keeping with the spirit and intent of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, John Dunn, a former foster child who now advocates for increased quality and accountability of child-welfare services attempted on February 05, 2007 to advocate for children and youth in foster care to have

a) stronger voices concerning; and
b) oversight of;

the services they receive from their respective Children's Aid Societies across Ontario.

The By-Laws and the Corporations Act require
the Board of Directors of each Children's Aid Society could add a section to the "Membership" articles of its By-Laws creating a special class of "members" defining all Society Wards or Crown Wards

Beginning with the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa, Dunn filed a request for a list of people who vote for changes in a Children's Aid Society called "Regular Members".

Ministry Directives - Letter to Minister CYS

2008-07-24T00:25:00.000-04:00

Hon. Minister Deb Matthews,

I have noticed that the Ministry of Community and Social Services posts their Policy Directives on their website for the public to review as it is in their interests to do so and since they are paid for by the public as well.

See here: [ link ]

My question to you as Minister of Children and Youth Services is will you ensure that the Ministry of Children and Youth Services Policy Directives and Directives issued to Children's Aid Societies are posted on the Ministry of Children and Youth Services Web Site?

If so, when do you think that would be possible?

If not, why not and could members of the public have physical access to review them at or through the regional Offices of the Ministry?

Sincerely
John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca

Kawartha-Haliburton CAS leads Public Accountability

2008-07-18T09:48:00.000-04:00

The Kawartha-Haliburton Children's Aid Society appears to be leading the way in ensuring they are accountable to the Public they serve by making many of their Governing Policies and Documents available to the public.

See more at http://www.khcas.on.ca/board_business.html

The Council will be sending a letter of recognition to the KHCAS for their dedication to community and stakeholder transparency and accountability.

Ontario Appoints Expert Panel On Infertility And Adoption

2008-07-18T09:08:00.000-04:00

There appears to be a lack of children who grew up as adoptees on the board of all opinions

Ontario has appointed an expert panel on fertility treatment and adoption to help find solutions for people who are trying to start or expand a family. The panel will recommend ways to help make both fertility treatment and adoption more accessible and affordable.

The 12-member panel will provide advice to the government on:

Improving access to infertility treatment and making fertility monitoring available to women so they know if they are likely to have problems conceiving a child.
Improving Ontario's adoption system so that more children can become part of families more quickly.

Panel members include adoptive parents, people who have had personal experience with infertility, and representatives from the medical and adoption communities. The panel is expected to report back to the Minister of Children and Youth Services with its recommendations within a year....

[Read more]

Ottawa's Kindness

2008-07-17T16:27:00.000-04:00

We recently posted a request for a file cabinet on a resource for exchanging free items known as http://ottawa.fullcircles.org/ and we have been fortunate to receive already, one two drawer file cabinet and two offers for two other file cabinets.

We will make delivery arrangements and soon will have file cabinets to organize our work.

A special thanks to Ottawa's residents for their generousity and support of our mission.

Sincerely,

John Dunn

July 9 & 10 Ottawa Parliament Hill Rally - CAS

2008-07-07T23:35:00.000-04:00

NOTE: IMAGE IS LIVE - NO LONGER OF THE PROTEST (LINK WAS TIME LIMITED BUT YOU CAN SEE PARLIAMENT REGARDLESS LIVE FOR FUN)

Child Welfare Rally: On July 09, & 10, 2008 a Rally on Children's Aid Society abuses will begin at 11:00am. Feel free to view the event through the Parliament Webcam below. Refresh your browser for the latest image (about each minute) by hitting the F5 key on your keyboard! Also visit the related Facebook site [ here ]

Council Request's Meeting with Minister of CYS

2008-07-04T12:10:00.000-04:00

The Foster Care Council of Canada has requested an opportunity to meet with the Minister of Children and Youth Services to discuss several issues in and around mid August, 2008.

The issues to be discussed pertain to unproclaimed portions of the Child and Family Services Act which deal with disclosure of foster care records to those they relate to, public disclosure of CAS board meetings, minutes and By-Laws, a Ministry document/initiative to give kids a voice, the privitization of foster parenting to private organizations, expanding the child-welfare stakeholder list for Ministry related Directives and consultations to include the Council, and increasing visibility and access to the Provincial Child and Youth Avocate on the Ministry web site.

The request letter and response can be found below:

Request Letter (MS Word .doc) (Sent Friday, July 4, 2008)
Request Letter (Adobe PDF .pdf) (Sent Friday, July 4, 2008)

Ministry Response
Minister's response (Pending)

Dunn v. CAS Ottawa Resolution Discussions Break Down

2008-06-30T23:11:00.000-04:00

After almost a year of attempting to resolve the charges between Dunn and the Ottawa Children's Aid Society, the talks have come to an end.

Dunn says "the entire time we have attempted to resolve this matter as requested by the CAS, their legal Counsel has been threatening me with unwarranted charges of 'unauthorized practice of law' and 'abuse of process' and telling me that I should not inform Society's members of the procedures they have a right to know about in order to change the By-Laws if they so desire. In the end, when I offered as part of the resolution agreement to stay the charges rather than drop them their Counsel said that he would be advising his clients that this is not acceptable. Their behaviour throughout this entire procedure has been nothing but abusive and authoritarian when it is them who have committed the Offence and them asked to enter into the resolution discussions in the first place. Unless there is a significant change I do not intend to continue with the resolution discussion procedure."

Trial is set for October 08, 2008 at the court house near Algonquin College (Baseline Station) in court room 102 at 1:30pm on October 08, 2008, 100 Constellation Crescent, Ottawa, Ontario.

Provincial Child Advocate

2008-06-19T20:41:00.000-04:00

Ontario's Child Advocate
If you are a child or youth in care or a family member, contact the Advocate [here]

5 Year Legislative Review of CFSA (the Act)

2008-06-19T20:39:00.000-04:00

The Child and Family Services Act will be under review in 2010. We'll hold online meetings regarding this review so get involved!

Ottawa CAS Board Vetos Recommendation for Whistleblower Policy

2008-06-19T20:26:00.000-04:00

During a regular Board meeting of the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa on June 10, 2008 the Board voted down repeated recomendations from their auditors to create a whistle blower policy to protect staff who report alleged wrongdoing

Parent Finders New Website

2008-06-19T20:25:00.000-04:00

Parent Finders has a newly renovated web site if you are interested in visiting it at this here

CAS Board Meeting Presentations

2008-04-18T08:52:00.000-04:00

Public Presentations - Monthly Board Meetings‏
From: lcarriere@casott.on.ca
Sent: April 17, 2008 9:28:37 AM
To: afterfostercare@hotmail.com
Cc: Tracy EngleKingCASOtt (tengelking@casott.on.ca); Kathy (CSS) Neff (kathy.neff@ontario.ca); mparisien@casott.on.ca

Mr. Dunn,

This is response to your query of April 15th, 2008.

The following is the process for public delegation. The request is sent to President Rick O'Connor through the secretary to the Board,

Mary Parisien
1602 Telesat Court
Ottawa, K1B 1B1

Becoming a delegation

Anyone wishing to become a delegation to the Board gives notice at least ten days prior to the date of a regular Board meeting, with a written statement as to the subject matter of the presentation and those who will be in attendance. It is desirable that a written summary of the presentation be provided for distribution to the members of the Board before the meeting.

Delegations from without the jurisdiction of the Society are required to notify the Society of same and to specify, in their written statement, how the proposed subject matter is relevant to this community and to the Society.

Time allotment

Generally, delegations are given five minutes to make the presentation, however the time may be extended by the Chair of the meeting, but not beyond ten minutes in total. It is expected that the speakers will be limited to two persons as representatives on behalf of the delegation.

Relevance of the subject matter of a presentation

The subject must have some relevance to the mandate of the Society.

However, the Board will not hear matters that are:

the subject of labour negotiations;
the subject of contractual negotiations or service agreements with
service providers;
in relation to a specific client, employee or volunteer of the Society.

Generally, matters that are subject to the requirement to be heard in camera will not be heard by the Board. However, there may be circumstances where the Chair believes that the Board should receive representations on such an issue and accordingly such representations shall be heard in camera, subject to the same limitations of time.

Questions

Following a delegation's presentation, a question period of a maximum of five minutes will be allowed for the purpose of seeking clarification from the delegation.

Similar matters

The chair may limit the number of delegations that are to appear respecting
the same issue.

A delegation that has been heard on an issue may not appear again on that same issue within the twelve months following the presentation, except that it may be given an opportunity to comment should the issue raised come back to the Board for a report following consideration of the initial representations.

General

Matters not otherwise covered by the above rules and guidelines are within the jurisdiction of the Chair, subject to any decision of the Board.

Louise Carrière
Executive Administrative Assistant
Children's Aid Society of Ottawa/La Société de l'aide à l'enfance d'Ottawa
1602 Telesat Court
Gloucester ON K1B 1B1

Tel: (613) 747-7800 ext. 2074
Fax: (613) 747-4540
email: lcarriere@casott.on.ca

CAS Board Meetings Minutes Public

2008-02-06T08:12:00.000-05:00

On 2/5/08, John Dunn wrote:

Tracy Engelking,
Senior Counsel
Children's Aid Society of Ottawa

In response to your email of Tuesday February 05, 2008 where you wrote:

"you will be contacted to schedule an appointment in order for you to do so when our resources allow for your request to be reasonably accommodated"

Thank-you very much, it is greatly appreciated. To assist both yourself and any other Society staff in determining the resources the Society would have to allocate toward reasonably accommodating my review of the Board minutes, I will list what I feel would be reasonable in the circumstances.

1. One Table

2. One Chair

3. The Corporate Minute Book

If it is of any assistance to yourself and to the Society, so as to not cause too much of a drain on the Society's resources, I do not even require a special room or anything as I can simply read the minutes in the lobby which already contains the resources requested.

Once again, I appreciate the response and I am looking forward to reviewing the material.

Sincerely,

John Dunn

Children's Aid Society and Board Minutes

2008-02-01T13:51:00.000-05:00

The following is a letter to Tracy Engelking, Senior Counsel for the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa, which was cc'd to the following people for accountability purposes. (It worked because I finally heard a response from them which is included at the bottom of this posting)

Tracy Engelking - CAS Senior Legal Counsel

Kathy Neff - Eastern Regional Program Director - Min. CYS

roconnor@casott.on.ca (Possible address of Society President Rick O'Connor)

rmorrow@burkerobertson.com - Society's externally retained lawyer, Robert C. Morrow of Burke-Robertson Baristers & Solicitors

Maggy Ombudsman (mdidomizio@ombudsman.on.ca); OntarioOmbudsman (amarin@ombudsman.on.ca) - Two Ontario Ombudsman addresses.

I will also be forwarding this to the Auditor General for their information

============Letter Begins==========

Tracy Engelking,

Note: Those who have been included in the email addresses above are being included simply as an acountabilty measures since I have not been receiving any responses from the Society regarding this matter.

The Executive Assistant informed me that she spoke with you today asking about my opportunity to review the Board minutes. As you are aware, as a member of the public, I have been requesting an opportunity to come in and review the minutes of the Board meetings of the Society in accordance with Children's Aid Society of Ottawa By-Law #1, section 7.05 (included below).

Public access to the Society's Board meetings is not something that the Society should be required to consult with legal counsel on. It is my hope that you would not partake in any wrongdoing with regard to the Society's minutes and/or corporate documents.

It clearly states in the By-Laws the following:

"The Board shall maintain minutes of all meetings of the Board. The minutes of any Board meeting shall be available for review by members of the public, provided that the minutes of any in camera meeting shall be restricted to those who attended or were entitled to attend such a meeting.

The Board shall keep a record of all resolutions to hold Board meetings or parts thereof in camera pursuant to this section, which record shall include the resolution and the reasons therefor"

Please respond by telephone at 613-228-2178 or by email to afterfostercare@hotmail.com as soon as possible regarding this matter, as so far it appears as though the publics attempts to access minutes of Board meetings is being hampered.

==================
FOLLOW UP RESPONSE
==================

On 2/5/08, John Dunn wrote:

Tracy Engelking,
Senior Counsel
Children's Aid Society of Ottawa

In response to your email of Tuesday February 05, 2008 where you wrote:

"you will be contacted to schedule an appointment in order for you to do so when our resources allow for your request to be reasonably accommodated"

Thank-you very much, it is greatly appreciated. To assist both yourself and any other Society staff in determining the resources the Society would have to allocate toward reasonably accommodating my review of the Board minutes, I will list what I feel would be reasonable in the circumstances.

1. One Table

2. One Chair

3. The Corporate Minute Book

If it is of any assistance to yourself and to the Society, so as to not cause too much of a drain on the Society's resources, I do not even require a special room or anything as I can simply read the minutes in the lobby which already contains the resources requested.

Once again, I appreciate the response and I am looking forward to reviewing the material.

Sincerely,

John Dunn

Fourth Adjournment

2008-01-24T16:48:00.000-05:00

Today, we adjourned the case until the second Thursday in May (3 months) to give us time to discuss possible resolutions. They wanted to adjourn indefinitely (sine die) but I did not accept that. I gave us three months.

We agreed to 2nd thursday (8th of May, 2008) to be spoken to as well.

Here is their offer before Court. Not much of an offer as far as I am concerned since it appears that they will write a letter of their own to their membership, and since I have no way of literally confirming the letter is or has been sent out.

Also their proposal attempts to prevent me from taking any further actions of any kind related to this matter or to my getting a membership with the Society.

Here is their response letter:

Mr. Dunn,

Re: Without Prejudice Settlement Proposal

1. The Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa, on the conditions specified, is prepared to circulate a letter to all of its members in accordance with the terms, and for the purposes, cited by you in your letter to The Honourable Deb Mathews of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, dated January 21, 2008 page 6 paragraph 3; and to ensure that you be advised of the responses of the members (or alternatively, that no response was received).

That Word Formatted letter is able to be read at this link or in PDF at this link

2. You would agree not to write further letters to any of the members; the charge against Ms. MacKinnon would be withdrawn with an undertaking that they would not be relayed against her or the Children’s Aid Society; and there would be no application made to the Superior Court of Ontario contesting the refusal of your membership application.

3. Mr. Morrow will seek instructions from our client once you indicate your agreement to resolve all these matters in the manner described above.

4. This communication is provided to you on a without prejudice basis, with the participation of the Provincial prosecutor, Ms. Yvonne Goebel.

5. The hearing today will be adjourned sine die; the Society waives any Section 11(b) Charter application.

Yours truly,

As it is not in the public interest for this matter to be tied up in a court of Civil Procedure, I will not settle for anything less than the following:

A copy of the list as required by law (307 (1) Corporations Act:

A membership with the Society so I can advocate from within using proper methods

Letter to Minister of Children and Youth Services

2008-01-20T03:41:00.000-05:00

The following letter was sent to the Minister of Children and Youth Services regarding the Ottawa Children's Aid Society contravening section 307 (5) of the Corporations Act and spending Ministry funds on illegal purposes.

PDF Version Here
MS Word Version Here

Jan 29 - 2PM - Live Discussion on Foster Care

2008-01-09T12:19:00.000-05:00

Come join the online, live, voice and text discussion using the free program called SKYPE downloadable at http://www.skype.com

Once you have downloaded and installed the program and created an account, you can then visit HERE and join the conversation on the correct date.

See you there!

Adoptee Fighting For Open Records

2008-01-03T08:53:00.000-05:00

Please visit the web site of Marie Marchand, a lawyer who has been fighting for open adoption records using her own time, money, blood sweat and tears I am sure.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/bigbear3

Freedom of Information Request - Ottawa

2008-01-02T09:47:00.000-05:00

Rick O'Connor is both the President of the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa and a Lawyer employed by the City of Ottawa as their City Solicitor.

Between Februrary, 2007 and today, Rick has used City resources (e-mail) to communicate between himself and the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa for what appears to be the purpose of committing an Offence under section 307 (5) of the Corporations Act.

As a result, I had initiated a Municipal Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act Request (MFIPPA) in order to obtain all communications between Rick O'Connor, and the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa and certain members of the Societies staff.

The City responded by refusing my MFIPPA request based on the fact that he created the emails in question while acting in his role as the member of the CAS board instead of in his role as City Solicitor, therefore they claim the communications are not in the City's "custody and control".

I have since appealed this decision and await the outcome. The Freedom of Information and Privacy Office has confirmed the have received my appeal applcation and 25.00 fee.

You can see the related, numerically ordered documents and follow this issue's progress at

http://www.afterfostercare.ca/pdf/membership/MFIPPA

Windsor A-Channel Contravenes CFSA

2007-12-23T03:08:00.000-05:00

Attention A-Channel News Windsor et al,

It has been brought to the attention of the Enforcement Branch of the Foster Care Council of Canada that A-Channel News Windsor has contravened section 45 (8) of the Child and Family Services Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C-11, (the Act) which prohibits any person or corporation from publishing or making public information that has the effect of identifying a child who is the subject of a Child and Family Services Act proceeding, or the child's foster parent.

In an A-Channel News Windsor news story dated December 19, 2007 titled "Order Of Ontario Recipients Named, Leamington couple fostered 65 children" located on the Internet at the following URL ( http://www.achannel.ca/windsor/news_51652.aspx ) a video clearly identifies by name and by visual medium the foster parents of a child who is the subject of a Child and Family Services Act proceeding, and which also clearly identifies the name and visual identity of a child who has recently been placed by the Society in the home of the afore mentioned foster parents.

The publication of this video is clearly a contravention of section 45 (8) of the Act. A person who contravenes section 45 (8) of the Act or a Director, officer or employee of a corporation who authorizes, permits or concurs in such a contravention by the corporation, is guilty of an Offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of up to $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than three years, or to both.

I strongly suggest to A-Channel News Windsor that this story be removed from your website and that any further references or coverage of this story be done in a way that does not visually or in any other way identify these foster parents or any of the children under their care who have been subjects of a proceeding under the Act.

The relevant provisions of the Act are included as follows:

45.—(8) No person shall publish or make public information that has the effect of identifying a child who is a witness at or a participant in a hearing or the subject of a proceeding, or the child's parent or foster parent or a member of the child's family.

85.—(3) A person who contravenes subsection 45(8) (publication of identifying information) or an order prohibiting publication made under clause 45(7)(c) or subsection 45(9), and a director, officer or employee of a corporation who authorizes, permits or concurs in such a contravention by the corporation, is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of not more than $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than three years, or to both.

John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
12-1160 Meadowlands Drive East
Ottawa, ON
K2E 6J2

Phone: (613) 228-2178
E-mail: legal@afterfostercare.ca

News Paper - Chatham-Kent CAS & Complaint Procedure

2007-12-22T02:07:00.000-05:00

Children's Aid website to have complaint info; Lack of details criticized by Foster Care director

Posted By ERICA BAJER

Posted 3 days ago

Chatham-Kent Children's Services is changing its website and the new one will include complete information about the complaint process.

Chief executive officer Mike Stephens said while the former website contained information about filing a complaint, there is an additional method that was enacted in 2006 that is not on the website.

The local children's aid society was recently criticized by John Dunn, the executive director of the Foster Care Council of Canada, about the lack of complete complaint information on its website.

"This is something that needs to be addressed immediately to meet the needs of children and youth in care from being harmed either physically, sexually or emotionally," Dunn said in an e-mail to the CKCS, which was forwarded to The Chatham Daily News.

Stephens said the agency responded to Dunn's concerns and explained that the agency is re-vamping its online presence. The website is currently under construction.

"There is no legal obligation for us to have it on our website," Stephens said.

He noted the information is given freely to people dealing with CKCS.

"All of our clients who would be in a position to make a complaint get a hard copy of our complaint process," he said.

Stephens said the information that was not on the website deals with taking a complaint to the Child and Family Service Review Board, an option clients are told about if a complaint is made.

He said CKCS gets a handful of complaints a year.

"Most complaints get resolved in the first phone call," he said.

Dunn, who works out of Ottawa as an advocate for children in care, said he noticed the full complaint information was missing while checking the website for membership details.

Private Prosecutions - Issue on Court Form 106 - Affidavit of Summons

2007-12-18T10:49:00.000-05:00

The following is a letter submitted through the web site of Ontario's Attorney General advocating for changes to the back of Summons Form 106.

While pursuing a private prosecution as a citizen of Ontario, under the Provincial Offences Act in Ottawa, I went through the normal procedures of swearing an information then receiving a summons (form 106).

Then I noticed a problem on the back of the Form 106 Summons which is where a person swears that they did in fact serve the summons to the corporation they charged with a provincial offence.

On that form it does not allow a person (Private Prosecutor) who is not a provincial offences officer to swear that they delivered the summons to the defendant.

The back of the form has a blank space for you to write your name but it states "I, a Provincial Offences Officer". If I were to sign this form, I would be swearing false information.

I would like to know if this form could be changed in the future or if there is a body of persons who specifically deal with the design of this and other forms for court use that I could contact to discuss the matter and advocate for this change.

Smoking in Cars

2007-12-12T13:56:00.000-05:00

I contacted the RCMP in Wolfville Nova Scotia today to ask if they have any protocol in place to contact a local child welfare authority when an individual is ticketed for smoking with a minor in the car. (person 18 or under in the by-law)

The Officer stated that they do not contact child and family services for these Offences. However, the Province of Nova Scotia and other provinces including Ontario are possibly going to pass provincial legislation regarding smoking in vehicles with children in them and this may become a child protection concern at that time.

We will keep monitoring this situation and update when we can.

Chatham-Kent Children's Services Update

2007-12-04T08:57:00.000-05:00

Letter to Chatham-Kent Children's Services

Chatham-Kent
Children's Services

Attention: Executive Director and Board of Directors

I contacted the Society previously to inquire as to why the Society has not updated it's web site regarding the new statutory complaint procedure as it was assented to in the Legislature on March 28, 2006 only to be informed that the website company and the Society are on a contract which only allows the company to update the site.

This is something which needs to be addressed immediately to meet the needs of children and youth in care today who may be at risk of physical or emotional harm while in care.

The Society has incredible powers and resources available to them to prevent children and youth in their care from being harmed either physically, sexually or emotionally.

I do not see how the Society can sit back for almost two years and not ensure that this important information is not updated on their website in order to ensure the safety and well-being of the children and youth in their care is ensured.

I am cc'ing the Chatham Daily News on this communication in the hope that action will soon be taken to ensure that the kids in care have access to the latest statutory complaint procedure via their legal guardian's web site.

Sincerely,

John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca

This is an update to the following original posting:

Foster Care News: Chatham CAS - Web Site Updates

Court Thursday Outcome

2007-11-22T15:31:00.000-05:00

Adjurned to Thursday, January 24, 2008
Why: Defence Counsel was unclear of date the charge was laid - they requested the Crown Attorney to step in and meet with all parties to determine dates (This Crown meeting will be on January 16, 2008)

The Story:

Today I went into court expecting to hear a plead from the Society. However, in the back of my mind, I knew something was probably going to surface. What did happen however surprised me. An expectation I had several months ago began to transpire.

I arrived at the court and was contacted by the Provincial Prosecutor at the Court house who informed me that Counsel for the defendants (their Exec. Dir) was concerned that I had not filed the information (the charge) within the legal six months from the time the Offence was committed.

I was, at first taken-aback but soon realized that I had already covered this issue from the beginning by ensuring that the charge was laid within legal limit of six months from the date the actual Offence was committed.

The request was filed with the Society on February 05, 2007. They had ten days to comply with the request before they would be in a position of having commited the Offence of contravening section 307 (5) of the Corporations Act. (Failing to provide the list of members of the Society as required by section 307 (1))

This means that they had to provide the list any time up to and including Thursday, February 15th, 2007 or, in other words prior to Friday, February 16th, 2007 in order to prevent themselves from committing the Offence.

Instead they intentionally retained a lawyer in order to assist them in committing the Offence by having Counsel write a letter to me dated February 14th, 2007 stating that they will not provide the list to me. (therefore demonstrating that they were going to commit the Offence). This letter was written just two days short of the date the Offence would officially have been deemed to have been commited. (Feb. 16th, 2007)

In this letter, three assumptions were made as "reasons" for not furnishing the list to me stating that I was not going to use the list for legal purposes and that they could not provide the list to me due to provisions of the Federal Privacy legislation (PIPEDA) which actually does only applies to commercial businesses or undertakings not exclusively legislated, non-profit organizations -- which is what the Society is.

I have since obtained a letter from the Federal Privacy Commission stating that the Act does not apply to the Society.

So anyhow, this is a strict liability Offence which only affords them the defences of Due Dilligence and Mistake of Fact. Neither of which apply in this case. Therefore there is a reasonable prospect of conviction and a public interest in this prosecution since the lives of children in foster care in Ontario are affected by decisions made by the Society and they are blocking the membership from being informed of important issues of interest to the members which will only be brought to their attention via concerned members of the community who have attempted to become a member but who have had their membership applications denied by the Board due to what can only be assumed to be political reasons.

Please contact me at 613-228-2178 for more information:

Relevant Legislation:

Cases which can be reviewed and which won on appeal are located at

First Related Case Law -- Unsuccessful on Trial but was successful on appeal
====================================================
Unsuccessful Trial
Lawrence v. Toronto Humane Society, 2005 CanLII 25634 (ON S.C.)
http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2005/2005canlii25634/2005canlii25634.html

Winning Appeal of same case
Lawrence v. Toronto Humane Society, 2006 CanLII 20224 (ON C.A.)
http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/doc/2006/2006canlii20224/2006canlii20224.html

Disposition of appeal case:

[106] Accordingly, I would allow the appeal, set aside paragraphs one and two of the application judge’s judgment and substitute in their stead an order that Lawrence is entitled to receive a copy of the Society’s membership list as at September 30, 2004, in the form set out in s. 307(1) of the Act, within ten days from the date of this decision.

[107] Lawrence is entitled to his costs of the application, in the amount of $18,000 as fixed by the application judge, if sought. He is also entitled to his costs of this appeal on a partial indemnity basis, fixed in the total amount of $8,500, also if sought.
RELEASED: “JMS” June 16, 2006

“E.A. Cronk J.A.”

“I agree. J.M. Simmons J.A.”

“I agree. P.S. Rouleau J.A
====================================================

Next Relevant Case Law

====================================================
Rodgers v. Calvert, 2004 CanLII 22082 (ON S.C.)
http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2004/2004canlii22082/2004canlii22082.html

Disposition:
[57] An order shall go directing the Association through its proper officers to produce and deliver forthwith to the applicant a list of the members of the Association in accordance with the provisions of s.307 of the Act.

Costs

[58] The motion raises a novel point of law. Both parties through their counsel have attempted to address the issues and have done so in a thorough manner. In the circumstances, I am of the view that each party should bear his/their own costs.
====================================================

Court Thursday - Setting a Trial Date

2007-11-19T09:40:00.000-05:00

Thursday, October 04, 2007, Society's counsel, through a student-at-law moved for an adjournment to November 22nd, at 1:30pm due to Counsel's back surgery.

Issueance of summons is no longer at issue, since they have already appeared before the court.

Next Court Date & Location:
Thursday November 22nd, 2007, @ 1:30pm, in court room 102 at 100 Constellation Cres. in Ottawa, Ontario

Chatham CAS - Web Site Updates

2007-11-08T09:21:00.000-05:00

The Chatham-Kent Children's Services (a Children's Aid Society) does not have its website updated to reflect the latest changes to the Child and Family Services Act. Upon speaking with a representative of the Society, the Foster Care Council of Canada learned that the Society is attempting to obtain control or ownership over the web site in order to make their own changes to it as required.

Regarding this matter, the Council has taken the initiative to inform the Society's website creator of the fact that kids in care are at risk without the latest information in the hopes of getting some action.

Hughes Advertising
c/o 2001008 Ontario Inc.
202-111 Heritage Rd.
CHATHAM, Ontario
N7M 5W7

Attention:
Andrew Tompsett & Mike Genge

I am writing to inform you of the fact that there have been recent legislative changes to the Child and Family Services Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.11 which concern the legal rights of children and youth who live in foster care.

The Foster Care Council of Canada is urging Hughes Advertising (2001008 Ontario Inc.) through Andrew Tompsett and Mike Genge as Web Co-ordinator and Owner respectively, to contact the Chatham-Kent Children's Services in order to either release control of the web site to the Society or to work with them to obtain the required information which would provide children in the community with the resources they are legally entitled to in order to prevent them from being harmed.

Sincerely

John Dunn
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca

See an update at Foster Care News: Chatham-Kent Children's Services Update

Study on Children's Aid Societies

2007-10-24T15:47:00.000-04:00

The Foster Care Council is about to conduct a study on Children's Aid Societies across the province. If you are interested please visit this link: Study Discussion

Cornwall Child Abuse Inquiry - Live Updates

2007-10-10T14:27:00.000-04:00

The Cornwall Public Inquiry was established by the Government of Ontario on April 14, 2005, under the Public Inquiries Act. The mandate of the Commission is to inquire into and report on the events surrounding allegations of abuse of young people in Cornwall by examining the response of the justice system and other public institutions to the allegations. The Commission will make recommendations to improve the response in similar circumstances. As well, the Commission will inquire into and report on processes, services and programs that will encourage community healing and reconciliation in Cornwall.

http://www.insinc.com/cornwallpublicinquiry/player.php

New Court Date - Nov 22nd 1:30

2007-10-05T15:25:00.000-04:00

1st Issue of the Crown Ward Newsletter Released

2007-09-19T03:11:00.000-04:00

The First Issue of the Crown Ward newsletter has finally been published and is ready for your reading pleasure! Just visit http://afterfostercare.ca/resources.html to download a PDF version, MS Publisher Version, or the easy to print version in MS Word)

The PDF and Publisher version are double sided and can be complicated to print properly.

Service of Summons

2007-09-17T20:26:00.000-04:00

Today I went back to the Provincial Offences Court on Constellation Crescent in Ottawa and obtained new summons from a Justice of the Peace. (JP) The JP told me that I had to get a Provincial Offences Officer to serve the summons' so I called the City of Ottawa police and asked for a police officer to serve them.

An officer showed up and took my summons' for service on the Society and on Barbara MacKinnon, the Executive Director. The next court date is Thursday October 04, 2007 at 1:30pm, court room 102, at 100 Constellation Cresent.

(Near Baseline Station or Algonquin College - The tall multi-storey building past the skater park with the logo on it to the right. (not the city building to the left)

The CAS's lawyer, sent a student last time simply to argue improper service and won on that technicality.

1st Appearance in Court - Adjourned

2007-09-13T16:38:00.000-04:00

Today was the date for the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa (Ont. Corp. 37637) and Barbara MacKinnon (Exec. Dir) to show up and plead "guilty" or "not guilty" to committing the Offence of "failing to furnish a list of the Society's members", contrary to section 307 (5) of the Corporations Act, RSO 1990, c. C-38, but their lawyer, Robert C. Morrow, caught me on a technicality regarding how I served the summons to them.

This appears to be done merely to delay the proceding, or to use it as a training opportunity for a new Student at Law in which the Society's solicitor was using today in court.

According to the Provincial Offences Act (POA), when serving summons on a corporation, you are to serve it to an executive, someone who appears to be in control of the corporation or a secretary.

Here is the relevant provision of the statute, the bolded part being the most relevant in this situation:

Service on corporation

26. (4) Service of a summons on a corporation may be effected by delivering the summons personally,

(a) in the case of a municipal corporation, to the mayor, warden, reeve or other chief officer of the corporation or to the clerk of the corporation; or

(b) in the case of any other corporation, to the manager, secretary or other executive officer of the corporation or person apparently in charge of a branch office thereof,

or by mailing the summons by registered mail to the corporation at an address held out by the corporation to be its address, in which case the summons shall be deemed to have been duly served seven days after the day of mailing.

I did however deliver the summons in person to the secretary, but she told me to bring it to the mail room. Not knowing any better at the time, I did so and got a stamp from the mailroom attendant stating the date the summons was received.

The other way to serve them is by registered mail. Once you have sent registered mail, they are deemed to have been served within seven days. Then you can proceed.

Just for your information, you could also request from the JP when requesting a summons, that an order for substituted service be issued where you think they might try to avoid service by redirecting to the mail room for example. You would tell the judge that you know this to be the practice, and you wish to have the JP order that the summons be accepted by the corporation via it's mail room attendant or what ever situation is relevant in your situation. Below is the relevant provision of the POA.

Substitutional service

26.(5) A justice, upon motion and upon being satisfied that service cannot be made effectively on a corporation in accordance with subsection (4), may by order authorize another method of service that has a reasonable likelihood of coming to the attention of the corporation.

Updated Press Release

2007-09-12T02:19:00.000-04:00

Contacts:
John Dunn, Executive Director & Gary Curtis, Board Member
The Foster Care Council of Canada
12-1160 Meadowlands Drive East
Ottawa, ON, K2E 6J2
Email: afterfostercare@gmail.com, garycur@gmail.com
Phone: John Dunn (613) 228-2178, Gary Curtis (613) 774-3000

Glossary:
Crown Ward or Ward = Foster Child
Society = A Children's Aid Society
The Act = Corporations Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C-38, as amended.
Board Members = Board of Directors Members
Members = People in the community who apply to a Society for membership and pay an annual fee

For Release On Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Please release one day prior to Thursday to give folks time to plan to attend the court date.

Event Date: Thursday, September 13, 2007, 1:30pm
Event Location: 100 Constellation Drive (Near Baseline Station – Provincial Court – Not Elgin Street Court)

FORMER FOSTER CHILD CHARGES CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY OF OTTAWA AND ITS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UNDER CORPORATIONS ACT.

At a time when the Ombudsman of Ontario has been fighting for jurisdiction over Children's Aid Societies across the province in order to increase accountability for the services they provide to children and families, John Dunn, a former foster child and child-welfare reform advocate, laid charges against the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa and its Executive Director, Barbara MacKinnon (August, 8th, 2007) for knowingly and willfully committing the Offence of contravening section 307 (5) of Ontario's Corporations Act. The Society and its Executive Director, Barbara MacKinnon, if convicted of the Offence could each face fines of up to one thousand dollars.

Dunn, wanting to advocate for positive changes to the way child-welfare services are provided to Ottawa's children and youth applied for a membership with the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa, only to have his application denied without a valid explanation.

After several failed attempts to meet with the Society to discuss the matter, Dunn was instructed by Pierre Viger, the Society's Director of Professional Services, to discuss the matter with Ottawa lawyer, Robert C. Morrow of Burke-Robertson Barristers & Solicitors.

Later, while in a meeting with Morrow, Dunn was advised that the Society was not prepared to discuss the matter any further, that the matter was “closed”, and that he should seek legal counsel if he wishes to pursue the membership matter any further.

Shocked at the treatment he received from the Society regarding his membership application, Dunn filed a complaint with the Ministry of Children and Youth Services only to be informed by them that Society memberships are a “corporate law” matter and as such can not be dealt with by the Ministry via the Ministry's review procedure.

On February 05, 2007, Dunn filed with the Society, a request for a list of its existing members in accordance with section 307 (1) of the Corporation's Act so that he could inform them of how membership applications are being dealt with by the Society's Board of Directors in the hope that he could convince them to vote for change to this practice during a members meeting.

Upon receiving Dunn's request the Society retained the legal services of Robert C. Morrow who then assisted the Society in committing the Offence of failing to furnish a list of the Society's members when so required, as outlined in section 307 (5) of the Act.

Background:

Normally a person would advocate for service improvements within a Society by applying for an annual membership and voting for, or making requisitions for change at member meetings. Unfortunately, the people who are the most concerned with how a Society operates -- its former wards -- are blocked from obtaining a membership with their originating Society, simply because of the fact that as adults, they now live outside the jurisdiction of the Society, or because they are currently involved in advocating for improvements to the services a Society delivers in the community.

The only option one has to advocate for change within a Society once their membership application has been denied is to communicate with the annual members who are members of the local community and who support the work a Society performs, by requesting a list of those members so that they can communicate with them on the subject as allowed under section 307 (1) of the Corporations Act.

It has been made apparent that the Ottawa Children's Aid Society, through its Board of Directors, and with the is even willing to commit an Offence in order to prevent anyone from communicating with the members for purposes connected with the Society.

Section 307 (5) of the Act makes it an Offence for the Society, its Officers or Directors to fail to furnish a list of the members to a person who properly requests it, exposing the Society, and its Board members to the risk of being charged and fined up to one thousand dollars each. This does not include public tax-payers dollars which are being spent on lawyers fees for committing and defending their illegal conduct.

John Dunn, is a former Crown Ward and child welfare reform activist who founded The Foster Care Council of Canada (the Council), an organization which seeks to involve current and former wards in the process of child welfare reform.

Gary Curtis, of Winchester, (just outside of Ottawa) a former Crown Ward of the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa, aged out of the system in 1961. He recently applied for a membership with the Society only to be informed that he could not be a member since he was no longer living in the Society's jurisdiction.

Approximately four years ago, Curtis applied for access to his own life records which are held by the Society and in doing so, had to put up quite a struggle in order to get anywhere, including having to launch a review of the Society's decision through a Ministry appointed Director. Curtis had a meeting with a representative of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, Eastern Regional Office who suggested that he file for a review under subsection 68 (3) of the Child and Family Services Act. The review took over a year to conclude producing a report to the Ministry which made the following conclusions:

There is no guiding legislation the Society can follow with regard to the disclosure of information to a former Crown Ward

The Board of Directors were satisfied that the Society's staff complied with all regulations and,

The Society believes their staff satisfied all the requests made by Curtis.

The review appears to have accomplished very little, as anything he did receive from the Society was only due to his own persistence. When Curtis eventually earned access to his records, he discovered something amazing. Gary learned after decades of thinking he was an only child, that he had a sister and two half brothers. His sister and one of his brothers live in the greater Ottawa area and the other brother lives in B.C. His sister was placed for adoption at birth, but his two half brothers remained out of care. Curtis has slowly become acquainted with them and they have welcomed him as a long lost family member. Curtis says “Being accepted as a new family member can be a long and slow process and must be done with a lot of caution and care.”

Curtis has since also applied for a list of the members of the Society in accordance with section 307 (1) of the Corporations Act so that he could communicate with them regarding the Society and its Boards practices, only to find the Society also committed the same Offence of failing to furnish a list of its members as they did with Dunn's request.

Dunn says “The Society sent the exact same response letter to Gary that their Lawyer Robert Morrow sent to me, only this time they copied the content of the Lawyer's letter and pasted it onto their own letterhead, then sent it to Gary”.
Curtis is now considering his own legal options.

For further information please visit The Foster Care Council of Canada at
http://www.afterfostercare.ca
--30--

Ministry Takes Over CAS in Nova Scotia

2007-08-20T15:46:00.000-04:00

In Ontario, where a Minister believes that a Society is not fulfilling its duties, the Ministry can take over a CAS. It has happened in Nova Scotia!

http://www.gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=20070816006
This could be a first and a good example for other provinces.

Former Foster Child Charges Ottawa CAS

2007-08-08T19:22:00.000-04:00

Contacts:
John Dunn, Executive Director & Gary Curtis, Board Member
The Foster Care Council of Canada
Ottawa, ON
Email: afterfostercare@gmail.com, garycur@gmail.com
Phone: John Dunn (613) 228-2178, Gary Curtis (613) 774-3000

Glossary:
Crown Ward or Ward = Foster Child
Society = A Children's Aid Society
The Act = Corporations Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C-38, as amended.
Board Members = Board of Directors Members
Members = People in the community who apply to a Society for membership and pay an annual fee

For Immediate Release

Date: Wednesday, August 08, 2007

FORMER FOSTER CHILD CHARGES CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY OF OTTAWA AND ITS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UNDER CORPORATIONS ACT.

At a time when the Ombudsman of Ontario has been fighting for jurisdiction over Children's Aid Societies across the province for the purpose of increasing accountability for the services they provide, John Dunn, a former foster child and child-welfare reform advocate, laid charges against the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa and its Executive Director on Wednesday, (August, 8th, 2007) for knowingly and willfully committing the Offence of contravening section 307 (5) of Ontario's Corporations Act.

The Society and its Executive Director, Barbara MacKinnon, if convicted, could face fines of up to one thousand dollars each.

Dunn, wanting to advocate for positive changes to the way child-welfare services are provided to Ottawa's children and youth applied for a membership with the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa, only to have his application denied without a valid explanation.

After several failed attempts to meet with the Society to discuss the matter, Dunn was instructed by Pierre Viger, the Society's Director of Professional Services, to discuss the matter with Ottawa lawyer, Robert C. Morrow of Burke-Robertson Barristers & Solicitors.

Later, while in a meeting with Morrow, Dunn was advised that the Society was not prepared to discuss the matter any further, that the matter was “closed” and that he should seek legal counsel if he wishes to pursue the membership matter any further.

Shocked at the treatment he received from the Society regarding his membership application, Dunn filed a complaint with the Ministry of Children and Youth Services only to be informed by them that Society memberships are a “corporate law” matter and as such, can not be dealt with by the Ministry.

On February 05, 2007, Dunn filed with the Society, a request for a list of its existing members in accordance with section 307 (1) of the Corporation's Act so that he could inform them of how membership applications are being dealt with by the Society's Board of Directors, hoping that he could convince them to vote for change to this practice during a members meeting.

Once again, the Society retained the legal services of Robert C. Morrow who then assisted the Society in committing the Offence of failing to furnish a list of the Society's members when so required, as outlined in section 307 (5) of the Act.

Background:

Normally a person would advocate for service improvements within a Society by applying for an annual membership and voting for, or making requisitions for change at members meetings. Unfortunately, the people who are the most concerned with how a Society operates -- its former wards -- are blocked from obtaining a membership with their originating Society, simply because as adults, they now live outside the jurisdiction of the Society, or because they are currently involved in advocating for improvements to the services a Society delivers in the community.

The only option a person has to advocate for change once their membership application has been denied by a Society is to communicate with the annual members who reside in the community and who support the work a Society performs, through requesting a list of those members in order to allow the person to communicate with them as is allowed under section 307 (1) of the Corporations Act.

It has been made apparent that the Ottawa Children's Aid Society through its Board of Directors, is even willing to commit an Offence in order to prevent anyone from communicating with the members for purposes connected with the Society.

Section 307 (5) of the Act makes it an Offence for the Society and its Directors not to furnish a list of the members to a person who properly requests it, exposing the Society, and its Board members to the risk of being charged and fined one thousand dollars each, not to mention the lawyers fees for defending their illegal conduct.

John Dunn, is a former Crown Ward and child welfare reform activist who founded The Foster Care Council of Canada (the Council), an organization which seeks to involve current and former wards in the process of child welfare reform.

Gary Curtis, of Winchester, (just outside of Ottawa) a former Crown Ward of the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa, aged out of the system in 1961. He recently applied for a membership with the Society only to be informed that he could not be a member since he was no longer living in the Society's jurisdiction.

Approximately four years ago, Curtis applied for access to his own life records which are held by the Society and in doing so, had to put up quite a struggle in order to get anywhere including a Ministry review by an appointed Director. Curtis had a meeting with a representative of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, Eastern Regional Office who suggested that he file for a review under subsection 68 (3) of the Child and Family Services Act. The review took over a year to conclude producing a report to the Ministry which made the following conclusions:

There is no guiding legislation the Society can follow with regard to the disclosure of information to a former Crown Ward

The Board of Directors were satisfied that the Society's staff complied with all regulations and,

The Society believes their staff satisfied all the requests made by Curtis.

The review appears to have accomplished very little, as anything he did receive from the Society was only due to his own persistence. When Curtis eventually earned access to his records, he discovered something amazing. Gary learned after years of thinking he was an only child, that he had a sister and two half brothers. His sister and one of his brothers live in the greater Ottawa area and the other brother lives in B.C. His sister was placed for adoption at birth, but his two half brothers remained out of care. Curtis has slowly become acquainted with them and they have welcomed him as a long lost family member. Curtis says “Being accepted as a new family member can be a long and slow process and must be done with a lot of caution and care.”

Curtis has since also applied for a list of the members of the Society in accordance with the Corporations Act so that he could communicate with them regarding the Society and its Boards practices and was also denied.

Dunn says “The Society sent the exact same response letter to Gary that their Lawyer sent to me, only this time they copied the content of the Lawyers letter and pasted it onto their own letterhead, then sent it to Gary”.

Curtis is now considering his own legal options.

For further information please visit The Foster Care Council of Canada at http://www.afterfostercare.ca

--30--

Summons Served

Thursday, August 16, 2007: John Dunn served summons' on the corporation of the Children's Aid Society and its Executive Director, Barbara MacKinnon for the following Offences:

1. On the corporation for failing to furnish a list of the Society's members as required under section 307 (1) of the Corporations Act

2. On Barbara MacKinnon for authorizing, permittng, or aquiescing to the Offence of failing to furnish a list of the members.

Relevant Legislation:
=====================
307. (1) Any person, upon payment of a reasonable charge therefor and upon filing with the corporation or its agent the affidavit referred to in subsection (2), may require a corporation, other than a private company, or its transfer agent to furnish within ten days from the filing of such affidavit a list setting out the names alphabetically arranged of all persons who are shareholders or members of the corporation, the number of shares owned by each such person and the address of each such person as shown on the books of the corporation made up to a date not more than ten days prior to the date of filing the affidavit.

307(5) Every corporation or transfer agent that fails to furnish a list in accordance with subsection (1) when so required is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a fine of not more than $1,000, and every director or officer of such corporation or transfer agent who authorized, permitted or acquiesced in such offence is also guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable to a like fine.

Ottawa Children's Aid Society Commits 2nd Count of Offence

2007-08-01T15:42:00.000-04:00

The Ottawa Children's Aid Society has committed the 2nd count of the Offence of contravening section 307 (5) of the Corporations Act after another citizen, Gary Curtis submitted a request for a copy of the Society's member list, putting both the Society and each of the individual Board of Directors members in the position of risking $2,000.00 in fines each.

Apparently the Society refused to furnish a list of the Society's members to Mr. Curtis using a form letter based on the letter written to Mr. Dunn refusing to furnish a list of the Society's members to him previously, by Ottawa Lawyer, Robert C. Morrow of Burke-Robertson Barristors & Solicitors.

More details available of the first Offence at this link.

Council Looks Into Malone Death

2007-07-31T11:45:00.000-04:00

The Foster Care Council of Canada is going to look into the death of Jim Malone by making a freedom of information request for the officers notes who attended the day Mr. Malone drove his truck into the building and died.

August 01, 2007: We have contacted the officer who was on scene the day of the incident and are attempting to obtain more information.

His first response to me was

"I was the officer in charge of the case , privacy laws prohibit me from releasing any information. You may be able to make a FOI request for the report .

Good Luck"

His second response was...

"The request would be made to the Windsor Police Servcie , and for a number of reasons , I will not discuss the case .."

I then wrote this to the Windsor Police Service

"I would like to make a FIPPA or MFIPPA request for officers notepads or any other documents or records of any officers who worked on the case of Jim Malone who drove his truck into the Children's Aid Society Building in October of 2004.

I am specifically seeking information pertaining to the Suicide note that Mr Malone wrote prior to his driving his truck into the Children's Aid Society building.

At the time, Windsor Police Officer Gerald Corriveau was in charge of the case.

Could you please inform me of how I would do this and what wording I would use?

For example, do I ask for Officers notepads or notes or notebooks?
What other reports or documents could I ask for by name which might refer to a suicide note which could have been found at the scene or at his home?"

I was responded to with the following instruction for making the request which anyone can do if they are interested

THE MUNICIPAL FREEDOM OF INFORMATION AND PROTECTION OF PRIVACY ACT

RE: NOTICE OF APPLICATION FEE

Be advised, you must make an application pursuant to the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act for the records you have requested.

Pursuant to section 17(1)(c) and section 5.3(1) of the Regulation 823 of the Act, an application fee of $5.00 is to be paid upon submission of each request. Please re-submit your written letter of request with the appropriate fee to my attention. Your cheque or money order should be made payable to the Windsor Police Service.

An additional fee may apply to the records requested. Notification of any further fees assessed will be sent upon review of the records. A receipt for all fees paid will be issued with the final response letter.

Pursuant to section 19 of the Act, this police service has 30 days to prepare the records for release and issue a decision letter. Please note that your name may be subject to release to any person who is affected by your request. All individuals other than yourself whose personal information may be contained in the relevant records may be contacted to seek consent to release their personal information to you. This information will not be released without the consent of the affected individual.

If a decision is made to contact other individuals, section 21(7) allows the institution an additional 30 days to make a final decision once the 3rd party individual has been contacted. In effect, you should know that your request could possibly take up to 60 days in total to process.

Any further questions regarding the access process or the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act in general may be directed to me at (519) 255-6700 extension 4145.

Yours truly,

Susan Gagnon, Co-ordinator,
Information and Privacy Unit.
Windsor Police Service

Catholic Children's Aid Society Commits Offence

2007-07-30T08:50:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday, June 24, 2007, the Catholic Children's Aid Society of Toronto (CCAS) received an in-person, hand delivered request from John Dunn for a list of the members of the Society in accordance with section 307 (1) of the Corporations Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C-38, as amended, so that he can communicate with them for purposes connected with the Society.

The executive Assistant, Andrea Mills accepted the delivery in person at the reception area of the CCAS and informed Dunn that the Executive Director was ill and would not be able to act immediately upon the request.

Dunn was later called by the Society stating that they have received the request and that McConville is now looking at the request and will get back to me.

The 10 Day expiry date has passed and the Society is currently in a position of contravening section 307 (5) of the Act but Dunn is giving them time to respond to his request.

More updates to follow.

Ottawa CAS Commits Count 1 of Offence

2007-07-29T19:21:00.000-04:00

The Children's Aid Society of Ottawa has committed the Offence of contravening section 307 (5) of the Corporations Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.38 by not furnishing a list of the Society's members upon application in accordance with section 307 (1) of the Act. (documents)

If convicted of the Offence, the corporation could be fined up to 1,000.00. The Society's Barbara MacKinnon (Executive Director) and Board of Directors members, Brian McKee (President), Rick O'Connor (Vice President), Merv Sabey (Treasurer / Secretary), Lucya Spencer (Past President), and Karen Green (Executive Board Member) have -- in the same transaction -- also committed the Offence of authorizing, permitting or acquiescing to the Offence of failing to furnish a list of the members of the Society, contrary to section 307 (5) of the Act and if convicted, can also be held liable to paying a fine of up to 1,000.00 each.

The Board members retained the legal services of Robert C. Morrow of Burke-Robertson Barristers & Solicitors of Ottawa -- using taxpayers dollars -- to assist them in committing these Offences.

Subsequently, a complaint has been filed under Rule 2.02 (5.1 & 5.2) of the Rules of Professional Conduct with the Law Society of Upper Canada against an externally retained Lawyer, Robert C. Morrow of Burke-Robertson Barristers & Solicitors of Ottawa.

Similar complaints are being considered for the Society's Rick O'Connor, (also a lawyer employed by the City of Ottawa) for his involvement in the committing of these Offences. It has not yet been decided if prosecution will follow.

It is still hoped that the matter will be resolved, dispite several failed attempts to meet and discuss the matter by the applicant. The deadline to take legal action is August 14, 2007.

MINISTRY OF GOVERNMENT SERVICES AVOIDS RESPONSIBILITY TO OVERSEE CORPORATIONS ACT

2007-07-29T19:20:00.000-04:00

Ottawa, ON, May 18, 2007:The Ministry of Government Services has the responsibility to oversee and enforce compliance with the Corporations Act, yet it failed to do so with regard to the Ottawa CAS contravening section 307 (5) of the Act. In response, a complaint was launched with the Ombudsman and the outcome is currently pending.

CHARTER CHALLENGE AGAINST OPEN RECORDS

2007-07-29T19:19:00.000-04:00

Toronto, ON, June - 25, 26, 27, 2007: Wendy Rowney from the Coalition for Open Records (COAR). Three adoptees and one natural father have launched a constitutional challenge against the Ontario (Canada) Goverment claiming privacy rights will be violated with the legislative passing of The Adoption Disclosure Act (2005), (aka Bill 183) set to unseal original birth registrations for adoptees and amended birth certificates for mothers beginning September 2007. The judge has reserved judgement until some time before August 30, 2007. ( listen )

STOLEN - A NEW, NON-FICTION BOOK ON CHILD WELFARE AND ADOPTION IN ONTARIO

2007-07-29T19:15:00.000-04:00

"STOLEN" - A NEW, NON-FICTION BOOK ON CHILD WELFARE AND ADOPTION IN ONTARIOOntario, 2007: Read about this recently published, non-fiction book on Child Welfare and Adoption in Ontario, by author 3rd Generation CAS Ward and Natural Mother, Erika Klein ( here )

CAS Spending Spree

2006-11-30T12:28:00.000-05:00

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2006/11/30/ont-childrensaid.html

Ontario's auditor general has found stunning evidence of improper spending at children's aid societies, CBC News has learned.

CBC News has obtained a final draft of the province's first value for money audit of children's aid societies. The report looks at four of Ontario's biggest agencies, those in Toronto, York, Peel and Thunder Bay.

Calls were made to agencies in Toronto and Thunder Bay as well as the Ontario Association of the Children's Aid Societies, but no one would comment on the report before its official release next week.

The audit details the lack of controls on more than $1 billion in taxpayers' money that Ontario's children's aid societies spend every year.

The auditor's report contains disturbing details of allegedly misspent money.

For example, several executives were apparently given luxury vehicles — including two SUVs worth more than $50,000.

An employee had a staff car, but was also allegedly given $600 per month for the use of their own vehicle.

Numerous meals for child welfare staff at high-end restaurants were expensed, with no explanation.

The auditor also questions expensive trips to the Caribbean, China and Buenos Aires.
Auditor questions funding

Other findings allege the societies aren't following the law to protect children.

In one-third of cases reviewed, initial visits to children at risk were late by an average of three weeks. Some children weren't seen at all.

In the report, the auditor asks why government funding for Ontario's children's aid societies has more than doubled over six years, while the number of families served increased by 40 per cent.

Retired homicide detective Michael Davis says the report makes him angry and disappointed. He's reviewed the deaths of hundreds of children who died while in the care of children's aid societies.

"I think the public is going to be outraged when they hear this," said Davis. "When they look at these perks being used by children's aid societies."

Foster Kids Turning 16

2006-04-11T21:29:00.000-04:00

Can apply for a status review under

Section 64(4) of the CFSA

(4) An application for review of a child’s status may be made on notice to the society by,

(a) the child, where the child is at least twelve years of age;

(b) any parent of the child, subject to subsection (5);

(c) the person with whom the child was placed under an order for society supervision; or

(d) where the child is an Indian or a native person, a representative chosen by the child’s band or native community.

Leave required in certain cases

(5) Where the child is a Crown ward and has lived with the same foster parent continuously during the two years immediately before the application, an application under subsection (4) shall not be made by any parent of the child without the court’s leave.

Notice

(6) A society making an application under subsection (2) or receiving notice of an application under subsection (4) shall give notice of the application to,

(a) the child, subject to subsections 39 (4) and (5) (notice to child);

(b) the child’s parent, unless the child is a Crown ward and is sixteen years of age or older;

(c) the person with whom the child was placed under an order for society supervision;

(d) a foster parent who has cared for the child continuously during the six months immediately before the application;

(e) where the child is an Indian or a native person, a representative chosen by the child’s band or native community; and

(f) a Director, if the child is a Crown ward.

Six-month period

(7) No application shall be made under subsection (4) within six months of,

(a) the making of the original order under subsection 57 (1);

(b) the disposition of a previous application by any person under subsection (4); or

(c) the final disposition or abandonment of an appeal from an order referred to in clause (a) or (b),

whichever is the latest. R.S.O. 1990, c. C.11, s. 64 (1-7).

Exception

(8) Subsection (7) does not apply where,

(a) the child is a society ward or the subject of an order for society supervision, or the child is a Crown ward and an order for access has been made under section 58; and

(b) the court is satisfied that a major element of the plan for the child’s care that the court applied in its decision is not being carried out. R.S.O. 1990, c. C.11, s. 64 (8); 1999, c. 2, s. 18.

No review where child placed for adoption

(9) No person or society shall make an application under this section where the child,

(a) is a Crown ward;

(b) has been placed in a person’s home by the society or by a Director for the purpose of adoption under Part VII; and

(c) still resides in that person’s home.

************
Also check out Section 47(3) of the CFSA
************

Where sixteenth birthday intervenes

(3) Despite anything else in this Part, where the child was under the age of sixteen years when the proceeding was commenced or when the child was apprehended, the court may hear and determine the matter and make an order under this Part as if the child were still under the age of sixteen years. R.S.O. 1990, c. C.11, s. 47.

Ombudsman Over CAS's

2006-04-07T21:48:00.000-04:00

When Bill 210 (the law which changed how child welfare is delivered in Ontario) was moving through the Legislative Assembly (Queens Park in Toronto) it went through all three stages before it became law. During those stages, the NDP's Andrea Horwath attempted to get the Ombudsman to have jurisdiction over CAS's decisions which are not made by the court. Unfortunately the Government of the Day, during committee hearings shot the attempt down (including the Ministry of Children and Youth Services). They did not want the Ombudsman to have power to review CAS decisions or omissions.

Now, in what appears to be a protest and a means of making the government accountable to the public for it's decision, Andrea Horwath (NDP MPP) has introduced to the Legislative Assembly, Bill 88, 2006. It is called

"Bill 88, 2006, Ombudsman Amendment Act (Children's Aid Societies), 2006."

By Introducing this to the Legislative Assembly, she is forcing the Government to publicly admit that they do not want any form of external accountability over CAS's.

The reason it will force the Government to have to publicly admit it is because of how a Bill becomes Law. The Bill gets "introduced" to the Legislative Assembly and is "read for the first time" of three times.

The first reading gives all of the members of the Provincial Parliament an opportunity to be made aware of the Bill and to hear its content and read to obtain a copy of it to read and become familiar with it over the next few days.

After a short period of time (48 hours I believe) the Bill is put on the Government's schedule to be read a Second time in the Legislative Assembly. After everyone has had time to read the Bill and prepare a response to it they get to discuss it publicly in the Legislative Assembly. (Aired on the ONTLA Channel) and will have their words permanently saved in the document or transcript called "Hansard".

After second reading, it can be referred to a committee who will invite the public to give their own input and feedback to the Bill. Basically an opportunity to share your experiences, and to offer your support or recomendations for amendments to the Bill.

This is your chance to have the Government hear your stories of how CAS did something or omitted doing something it should have done. Explain how the CAS abused its power and how it affected your family and your child(ren)'s lives.

If you were in foster care have your life heard and how the CAS's decisions affected you. Maybe even discuss your attempts to get your records without success and the like.

We have been given a second chance to bring the attention of CAS abuse and omissions to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and to the general public. Don't miss it. If you have ever filed a complaint with a CAS or with the Ministry which was not resolved or were intimidated from complaining through the use of your child as a barganing chip or pawn, or if your child is not getting mail from you, or anything at all, this is your chance to be heard.

The Bill written out below for you to read. Below that, Andrea Horwath's contact information is listed so you can call her and ask how you can help.

I of course will keep everyone informed.

Bill 88 2006

An Act to amend the Ombudsman Act with respect to children's aid societies

Note: This Act amends the Ombudsman Act. For the legislative history of the Act, see Public Statutes - Detailed Legislative History on www.e-Laws.gov.on.ca.

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

1. The Ombudsman Act is amended by adding the following section:

Ombudsman may investigate children's aid societies

14.1 (1) Anything that the Ombudsman may do under this Act in respect of a governmental organization, the Ombudsman may do in respect of a society as defined in subsection 3 (1) of the Child and Family Services Act.

Same

(2) If the Ombudsman does or proposes to do anything in respect of a society as defined in subsection 3 (1) of the Child and Family Services Act, any reference in this Act to a governmental organization is deemed to be a reference to the society.

Commencement

2. This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.

Short title

3. The short title of this Act is the Ombudsman Amendment Act (Children's Aid Societies), 2006.

______________

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Bill amends the Ombudsman Act to allow the Ombudsman to investigate any decision or recommendation made or any act done or omitted in the course of the administration of a children's aid society.

Ok, so that was it. Now here is how you contact Andrea Horwath and her office to share your encouragement, support and to ask how you can help her with Bill 88 2006.

http://olaap.ontla.on.ca/mpp/daMbr.do?locale=en&whr=Id=2170

Andrea Horwath
Hamilton East
New Democratic Party of Ontario

Member, Standing Committee on Estimates
Critic, Pensions
Chair, Standing Committee on Regulations and Private Bills
Deputy Third Party House Leader
Member, Standing Committee on General Government
Critic, Economic Development and Trade
Critic, Children's Issues

Contact Information

Queen's Park

Rm 159, Main Legislative Building
Toronto ON M7A 1A5

Tel : 416-325-2777
Fax : 416-325-2770
email : ahorwath-qp@ndp.on.ca

Constituency

720 Main St. E
Hamilton ON L8M 1K9

Tel : 905-544-9644
Fax : 905-544-5152
email : ahorwath-co@ndp.on.ca

Member's Parliamentary History
Parliament 38
October 02, 2003

Riding :
* Hamilton East

Parliamentary Roles :
* Vice-Chair, Standing Committee on Government Agencies
June 23, 2004 — December 13, 2005
* Member, Standing Committee on Estimates
June 17, 2004
* Member, Standing Committee on Government Agencies
June 17, 2004 — June 23, 2004
* Critic, Pensions
May 31, 2004
* Chair, Standing Committee on Regulations and Private Bills
December 14, 2005
* Deputy Third Party House Leader
May 31, 2004
* Member, Standing Committee on General Government
December 13, 2005
* Member, Standing Committee on Regulations and Private Bills
December 13, 2005 — December 14, 2005
* Critic, Economic Development and Trade
May 31, 2004
* Critic, Children's Issues
October 15, 2004

Party Affiliation(s) :
* New Democratic Party of Ontario
May 14, 2004

Residential School Survivor Story

2006-04-05T23:26:00.000-04:00

Listen to this short documentary of a native woman who brings her mother to a Residential School to confront her past and to try and improve her relationship with her mother.

http://www.cbc.ca/outfront/listen/2005/05-12-05.html

Foster Care Log

2006-04-02T15:46:00.000-04:00

Legal Aid Submission to the Social Policy Committee on Bill 210.

Incredible stats and information.
http://www.legalaid.on.ca/en/news/Dec22-2005a.asp

Kids in Care

2006-03-20T11:47:00.000-05:00

Here are some images of crown wards who are up for adoption. If you know any of them, and why they are in care, please comment publicly below or contact me at afterfostercare@hotmail.com

See them here
http://www.fosteradoptwinningkids.com/English/Adoption/Children_Youth.htm

Bill 183 - Adoption Disclosure Legislation Passed in 2005

2006-03-17T21:11:00.000-05:00

http://www.cfcs.gov.on.ca/CFCS/en/newsRoom/newsReleases/051101.htm

2009 CFSA Review

2006-03-15T11:49:00.000-05:00

I called the Ministry of Children and Youth Services to request information as to when the last CFSA review was initiated according to Section 224(2) of the Act and when the next review will be initiated. I spoke to someone within the Ministry and she is looking for information so she can have someone call me with the response of which I will post as soon as possible.

Relevant Section of the Act:
Section 224

Beginning of review

(2)The Minister shall inform the public when a review under this section begins and what provisions of this Act are included in the review.

(5)Each subsequent review shall be completed and the report made available to the public within five years after the day the report on the previous review has been made available to the public. 1999, c. 2, s. 34.

Letter to the Ombudsman - Ministry refusing to investigate complaints

2006-03-15T00:05:00.000-05:00

I am inquiring as to whether the following is an issue which can or should be looked into with regard to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services practice of avoiding it's delegated discretionary powers to look into individual cases upon notification of an issue.

I have recieved a letter from the Ministry of Children and Youth Services in the past which states that the Ministry does not get involved in "individual cases".

If this is a "policy" it goes against the discretionary power which has been delegated to it by the Legislature to consider a case and to make a discretionary decision to investigate or not based on the merits of the case or other criteria, and to provide an explanation to the complainant of the reason for the Ministry's refusal to investigate if it decided not to do so.

I am writing to inquire if this matter is worthy of putting a call out to the public asking them to come forward with complaints regarding this matter or not.

----
THIS SECTION ADDED LATER:
----
This is the section of the CFSA I was referring to. When people ask for the Ministry to investigate a CAS due to infractions of this Part of the Act.

(Link)
http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/DBLaws/Statutes/English/90c11_e.htm#BK28
(/Link)

Powers of Minister

22.?(1)?Where the Minister believes on reasonable grounds that,

(a) an approved agency is not providing services in accordance with this Act or the regulations or in accordance with any term or condition imposed on the approval under subsection 8 (1) or 9 (1) or, in the case of a society, on the designation under subsection 15 (2);

(b) a director, officer or employee of an approved agency has contravened or knowingly permitted any person under his or her control and direction to contravene any provision of this Act or the regulations or any term or condition imposed on the approval under subsection 8 (1) or 9 (1) or, in the case of a society, on the designation under subsection 15 (2);

(c) approval of the agency under subsection 8 (1) or of the premises under subsection 9 (1) would be refused if it were being applied for in the first instance; or

(d) in the case of a society, the society,

(i) is not able to or fails to perform any or all of its functions under section 15,

(ii) fails to perform any or all of its functions in any part of its territorial jurisdiction, or

(iii) fails to follow a directive issued under section 20.1,

the Minister may,

(e) revoke or suspend the approval; or

(f) in the case of a society,

(i) revoke or suspend the designation under subsection 15 (2),

(ii) remove any or all of the members of the board of directors and appoint others in their place, or

(iii) operate and manage the society in the place of the board of directors. R.S.O. 1990, c. C.11, s. 22 (1); 1999, c. 2, s. 7.

Notice of proposal

(2)?Where the Minister proposes to act under clause (1) (e) or (f), the Minister shall serve notice of the proposal and written reasons for it on the approved agency, unless the agency has requested that the Minister so act or has consented to the Minister’s proposal.

Request for hearing

(3)?A notice under subsection (2) shall inform the agency that it is entitled to a hearing under this section if the agency mails or delivers to the Minister, within sixty days after the notice under subsection (2) is served, a written request for a hearing.

Where agency does not request hearing

(4)?Where the agency does not require a hearing under subsection (3), the Minister may carry out the proposal stated in the Minister’s notice under subsection (2) without a hearing.

Hearing

(5)?Where the agency requires a hearing under subsection (3),

(a) if the Minister proposes to act under clause (1) (e) only, the Minister; and

(b) in all other cases, the Lieutenant Governor in Council,

shall appoint one or more persons not employed by the Ministry to hear the matter and recommend whether the Minister should carry out the proposal.

Procedure

(6)?Sections 17, 18, 19 and 20 of the Statutory Powers Procedure Act do not apply to a hearing under this section.

Report to Minister

(7)?The person or persons appointed under subsection (5) shall hold a hearing and make a report to the Minister setting out,

(a) recommendations as to the carrying out of the proposal; and

(b) the findings of fact, any information or knowledge used in making the recommendations and any conclusions of law arrived at that are relevant to the recommendations,

and shall provide a copy of the report to the agency.

Minister’s decision

(8)?After considering a report made under this section, the Minister may carry out the proposal and shall give notice of the Minister’s decision to the agency with reasons.

Provisional suspension

(9)?Despite subsection (2), the Minister, by notice to the agency and without a hearing, may provisionally exercise any of the powers set out in clauses (1) (e) and (f) where it is necessary to do so, in the Minister’s opinion, to avert an immediate threat to the public interest or to a person’s health, safety or welfare and the Minister so states in the notice, with reasons, and thereafter the Minister shall cause a hearing to be held and subsections (3) to (8) apply with necessary modifications. R.S.O. 1990, c. C.11, s. 22 (2-9).

Minister’s order to cease activity

23.?(1)?Where the Minister is of the opinion, upon reasonable grounds, that an activity carried on, or the manner of carrying on an activity, in the course of the provision of an approved service is causing or is likely to cause harm to a person’s health, safety or welfare, the Minister may by order require the service provider to suspend or cease the activity and may take such other action as the Minister deems to be in the best interests of the persons receiving the approved service.

Notice of proposal

(2)?Where the Minister proposes to make an order requiring the suspension or cessation of an activity under subsection (1), the Minister shall serve notice of the proposal and written reasons for it on the service provider, and subsections 22 (3) to (8), except clause (5) (b), apply with necessary modifications.

Where order may be made immediately

(3)?Despite subsection (2), the Minister, by notice to the service provider and without a hearing, may require that the service provider immediately suspend or cease the activity where the continuation of the activity is, in the Minister’s opinion, an immediate threat to the public interest or to a person’s health, safety or welfare and the Minister so states in the notice, with reasons, and thereafter the Minister shall cause a hearing to be held and subsections 22 (3) to (8), except clause (5) (b), apply with necessary modifications. R.S.O. 1990, c. C.11, s. 23.

Minister has powers of board

24.?(1)?Where the Minister operates and manages a society under subclause 22 (1) (f) (iii), the Minister has all the powers of its board of directors.

Idem

(2)?Without restricting the generality of subsection (1), where the Minister operates and manages a society under subclause 22 (1) (f) (iii), the Minister may,

(a) carry on the society’s business;

(b) enter into contracts on the society’s behalf;

(c) arrange for bank accounts to be opened in the society’s name, and authorize persons to sign cheques and other documents on the society’s behalf;

(d) appoint or dismiss employees of the society; and

(e) make by-laws. R.S.O. 1990, c. C.11, s. 24 (1, 2).

Occupation and operation of premises

(3)?Without restricting the generality of subsection (1), where the Minister operates and manages a society under subclause 22 (1) (f) (iii), the Minister may,

(a) despite sections 25 and 41 of the Expropriations Act, immediately occupy and operate, or arrange for the occupation and operation by a person or organization designated by the Minister, of any premises occupied or used by the society for the provision of approved services; or

(b) apply without notice to the Superior Court of Justice for an order directing the sheriff to assist the Minister as may be necessary in occupying the premises. R.S.O. 1990, c. C.11, s. 24 (3); 1999, c. 2, s. 35.

Maximum period

(4)?The Minister shall not occupy and operate premises under subsection (3) for a period exceeding one year without the society’s consent, but the Lieutenant Governor in Council may extend the period from time to time. R.S.O. 1990, c. C.11, s. 24 (4).

Offences

Offence

25.?A person who knowingly,

(a) fails to furnish a report required by the Minister under subsection 5 (5);

(b) contravenes subsection 6 (2) or (3) (obstructing program supervisor, etc.); or

(c) furnishes false information in an application under this Part or in a report or return required under this Part or the regulations,

and a director, officer or employee of a corporation who authorizes, permits or concurs in such a contravention or furnishing by the corporation, is guilty of an offence and is liable upon conviction to a fine of not more than $2,000. R.S.O. 1990, c. C.11, s. 25.

Letter To Minister - Regulations & Web Site

2006-03-13T21:08:00.000-05:00

Dear Hon. Mary Anne Chambers,
Minister of Children and Youth Services

I noticed that on February 06, 2006, you or your Ministry filed a new Regulation -- O. Reg. 21/06 -- amending O. Reg. 206/00, Procedures, Practices and Standards of Services for Child Protection Cases, online < http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/DBLaws/Source/Regs/English/2006/R06021_e.htm > as posted on Ontario's E-Laws web site.

I also noticed that there is no notice of the recent filing of O. Reg. 21/06 posted on the Ministry of Children and Youth Services web site.

I, on behalf of all child welfare stakeholders (which always includes children and youth in care) and the citizen's of Ontario, would like to request from you that either the Ministry and/or the Minister of Children and Youth Services make an extra effort, above and beyond the standard public notice of publishing filed Regulations on the Ontario E-Laws web site inform the public through a notice on the Ministry of Children and Youth Services' web site of the fact that child welfare related Regulations have been filed upon the official filing date or as soon after the official filing date as is practicable.

The reason I am making this request is because of the fact that the general public and child welfare stakeholders are mostly unaware of the E-Laws web site and often do not become aware of such regulations until they are actively involved in a child welfare matter, which is often too late to allow them to become familiar with these regulations. Although E-Laws is accessible to the general public who have internet access and who have been made aware of this resource, not everyone is aware of it.

Could you please respond to this letter by answering the two questions listed below.

1. Will you ensure that notices of all newly filed Regulations under the Child and Family Serices Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. 11 are published on the home page of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services web site in an obvious and easy to locate manner.

2. If you will not or can not do this, will you ensure that the home page of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services' web site contain a permanent link to the Ontario E-Laws web site with a short explanation of the relevance of the E-Laws web site to child welfare stakeholders in plain English or French accordingly.

Sincerely,

John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca
(613)228-2178
afterfostercare@hotmail.com

Ministry creates 1st Regulations for 2006 (Bill 210)

2006-03-12T09:17:00.000-05:00

An Act, such as the Child and Family Services Act can have "rules" attached to it which are created by the Minister responsible for that Act. In other words, a portion of the Child and Family Services Act may deal with the complaints procedure of a Children's Aid Society. That section of the Act may say "each Society must have a written complaint procedure as prescribed".

This means that the Ministry can then create a list of details as to exactly how that portion of the Act is to be put into practice. It allows for more detail and much easier changes to the legislation if the Ministry has the will to do so. The Ministry can create these detailed "rules" at any time without having to go through the legislative assembly. This can be either a curse or a blessing in disguise. It is up to us, the public and the press to use this "loophole" to our advantage.

For one thing, if the regulations are not being applied equally or are being applied inappropriately, they can be held up in court by an applicant (person taking the offender to court) since they hold as much weight, equal weight as the Act it is subservient to (the Child and Family Services Act in this case)

With that said, I will now make this latest announcement

The Ministry of Children and Youth Services has created its first amendment to the "Procedures, Practices and Standards of Service for Child Protection Cases" Regulation. These regulations were published before Bill 210 was given Royal Assent or Proclaimed. (Click title for a copy of the Regulation amendment)

Wards of the Crown - Documentary

2006-03-12T09:04:00.000-05:00

"Wards of the Crown"
A documentary created by former foster child, Andrée Cazabon - Filmmaker

Order a copy from the National Film Board at 1-800-267-7710.

Preview the documentary by clicking [ http://www.cbc.ca/thelens/program_070306.html ]

Send your feedback / reactions to CBC at [ http://www.cbc.ca/thelens/contact.html ]

Contact producer Andrée Cazabon:
(613) 230-8945 ext. 4

casabon@youthincare.ca

Letters To Minister

2006-03-04T11:16:00.000-05:00

The following letters were sent to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services on Friday March 3rd 2006 via her web site. A response was requested. I will post the response on this web site.

LETTER 1
--------

Dear Hon. Mary Anne Chambers,

I would like to request from you that I be added to the Ministry of Children and Youth Services stakeholder consultation list with regard to child welfare matters which require or involve public or stakeholder input or feedback. I am a child welfare stakeholder since I grew up in foster care for sixteen years, and currently work with people who are involved with, have been involved with and who are at risk of becoming involved with a Children's Aid Society.

If you have a list for this purpose, I would like to be added to that list. If you do not currently have such a list, I would like to request that you consult with me any time that you require public, or stakeholder input on child welfare matters such as during the drafting of regulations or Bills, (such as 210) and other matters of importance to anyone affected by the Child and Family Services Act.

Specifically could you answer the following two questions as clearly and directly as would be deemed a fair and reasonable response according to the standard of a judicial review proceeding.

1. Could you please inform me whether or not you will contact me in the same manner and at the same time that you or your Ministry solicits input or feedback from Children's Aid Societies and other child welfare related agencies? If not, please explain why not and what I would have to do in order to meet the criteria to be consulted for such matters.

2. Could you please inform me if you ever consult with members of the public or with child welfare stakeholders while drafting regulations and if so, by what process or criteria do you select whom you consult or inform?

Sincerely

John Dunn

LETTER 2
--------

Dear Hon. Mary Anne Chambers,

Does the Ministry of Children and Youth Services have a policy of not getting involved with individual child welfare related matters or cases?

If so, could you please provide me with a copy of the policy which states that the Ministry does not get involved with individual cases.

If not please clarify the Ministry's position and your own position on the question of whether the Ministry is able to get involved with individual cases.

Sincerely

John Dunn

Letter 3
--------
Date: March 13, 2006

Dear Hon. Mary Anne Chambers,
Minister of Children and Youth Services

I noticed that on February 06, 2006, you or your Ministry filed a new Regulation -- O. Reg. 21/06 -- amending O. Reg. 206/00, Procedures, Practices and Standards of Services for Child Protection Cases, online < http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/DBLaws/Source/Regs/English/2006/R06021_e.htm > as posted on Ontario's E-Laws web site.

I also noticed that there is no notice of the recent filing of O. Reg. 21/06 posted on the Ministry of Children and Youth Services web site.

I, on behalf of all child welfare stakeholders (which always includes children and youth in care) and the citizen's of Ontario, would like to request from you that either the Ministry and/or the Minister of Children and Youth Services make an extra effort, above and beyond the standard public notice of publishing filed Regulations on the Ontario E-Laws web site inform the public through a notice on the Ministry of Children and Youth Services' web site of the fact that child welfare related Regulations have been filed upon the official filing date or as soon after the official filing date as is practicable.

The reason I am making this request is because of the fact that the general public and child welfare stakeholders are mostly unaware of the E-Laws web site and often do not become aware of such regulations until they are actively involved in a child welfare matter, which is often too late to allow them to become familiar with these regulations. Although E-Laws is accessible to the general public who have internet access and who have been made aware of this resource, not everyone is aware of it.

Could you please respond to this letter by answering the two questions listed below.

1. Will you ensure that notices of all newly filed Regulations under the Child and Family Serices Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. 11 are published on the home page of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services web site in an obvious and easy to locate manner.

2. If you will not or can not do this, will you ensure that the home page of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services' web site contain a permanent link to the Ontario E-Laws web site with a short explanation of the relevance of the E-Laws web site to child welfare stakeholders in plain English or French accordingly.

Sincerely,

John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca
(613)228-2178
afterfostercare@hotmail.com

City of Ottawa - CAS Outcomes

2006-02-20T17:11:00.000-05:00

During the past year, John Dunn has been working with the City of Ottawa's Task Force on Homelessness and the Safe Streets Act in order to bring attention to the fact that far too many people who have lived in foster care are ending up on the streets, or under Ontario Works, Ontario Disability Support System and using the various shelter systems.

Thursday, February 16th, 2006 the Task Force presented it's report to the Health, Recreation and Social Services Committee which included a recomendation by the Foster Care Council of Canada to create a Task Force or sub-committee to look into the issue mentioned above, and a motion was tabled by Councillor Peggy Feltmate which reads as follows:

(will enter quote here)

City Council will vote on this issue March 8th 2006 which you can view live on the internet at (link here)

Supreme Court of Canada - False Allegation

2006-02-13T14:34:00.000-05:00

A Social Work student created a report and quoted the words of a person who admitted to thoughts of child abuse. The professors jumped the gun and thought that the student was saying that she herself had fantasies of harming children in a sexual way and called CAS on her.

She lost her schooling, etc, and fought all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, and won. This case holds information that would be used in your own cases if you have been falsely accused of harming a child.

False allegations by "leading expert on child abuse" ends in $800,000.00 + Law Suit
[CTV Story]

http://www.canlii.org/ca/cas/scc/2006/2006scc3.html