Children In Need Of Protection

The Children’s Aid Society (CAS) is the largest “parent” group in the province—there are over 18,000 children in care in Ontario. Across our eight counties, there are four CASs with a total of approximately 900 children in their care. Most of these children are attending school, and in such cases CAS is generally acting as the parent with respect to educational issues. At any given time, the four CASs in our area are also working with another 3,000 to 4,000 children living with their parents or extended family (kinship service). CAS is not acting as the parent in these cases.

CAS works with far more children living with family or kin than with children in care.

CASs have a continuum of relationships with families and children from an entirely voluntary service to a range of legally mandated interventions for children remaining in their own homes (Supervision Order) or varying levels of legal status if they are in CAS care. The following table summarizes these relationships.

Any of the 53 CASs across the province may have placed a child in a foster home or group home in this area. In addition to CAS group homes, there are hundreds of beds in privately operated or for-profit group homes (not CAS group homes) within our area that may have children and youth placed there. The local CAS will not have knowledge of or any decision-making responsibility for that child or youth. The parent CAS, which could be from the Greater Toronto Area or as far away as James Bay or even out of province, retains decision-making authority for these children. The parent society may or may not request that the local CAS formally supervise the youth in the group home. Supporting children in these circumstances requires cooperation and effective communication between the parent society, the local CAS, the school, and any other local agencies involved in their care.

Because of trauma and losses in their lives, children in care of CASs across the country have considerably higher rates of learning disabilities or behavioural issues than their cohorts who have lived continuously with their families. In addition, children in care experience far more school transfers, both before they come into care as a result of family mobility and after they come into care as a result of placement breakdowns.

By virtue of living in foster or group care, these children feel and face the stigma of being different from their classmates, and some feel a sense of being less than others as a result. To help them achieve, we need to understand the implications of their situation:

• Children come into CAS care from their natural home, within our community. They are the children of our community—they are our children.
• It is not the children’s fault that they are in care.
• Most have experienced some significant deprivation or trauma before coming into care.
• Some children are placed considerable distances away from their homes and families.
• Most were significantly impacted by the separation from their families, many by their loss of friends, their immediate neighbourhoods and home communities, and their schools. Many children in care feel lost, isolated, and alone.
• When they arrive at a new school, they are faced with many challenges—new teachers, new classmates, and new rules, all likely unknown to them until they first set foot in the classroom. They are also probably encountering curriculum and classroom/teaching styles that are new or differently paced from what they are used to.
• These children often suffer great anxiety, fear, and worry about the family they were forced to leave behind—the family to whom they probably feel they really belong. They may also feel unsafe and insecure about who really cares about them and what their future might hold.
• These children are victims of family and social circumstances, but they should still be held to the same high but fair expectations as any other child. Too often the stigma of being in care results in teachers and other significant adults expecting little from these children, essentially passively promoting underachievement.
• These children often require extra resources, extra time, and extra care to rebuild their depleted emotional reserves and academic building blocks so that they can trust the world again and believe in themselves—, the first steps to becoming talented, fulfilled, and contributing citizens in our community.

With a little support and encouragement, many children display remarkable RESILIENCE despite serious challenges. RESILIENCE is defined as “good outcomes in spite of serious threats to adaptation or development” (Masten, 2001)*

Bandura (2001)* writes that psychological theories “grossly overpredict psychopathology”. He then adds, “Our theories lead one to expect that most of the children living in … impoverished, risky environments, will be heavily involved in crime, addicted to drugs, or physically impaired for normal life. In fact, most of the children make it through the developmental hazards. As adults most support themselves through legitimate jobs, form partnerships, and stay clear of criminal activities.” RESILIENCE is about ordinary magic. It is about hope and a positive vision for the future. Here are some things to know about building RESILIENCE:

• One favourable experience may be a turning point in a child’s trajectory or development: multiplying opportunities
• A positive relationship, even short-lived—perhaps the influence of a sports coach, foster parent, or teacher—can be a turning point: multiplying people
• Chain of events: One good thing usually leads to another (much as one bad thing leads to another)
• Proximity: A good thing that happens today trumps a bad thing that happened yesterday—try to create and recognize a good thing every day.

Quoted in Raymond Lemay, “Why is RESILIENCE important?” (PowerPoint presentation, RESILIENCE Congress, Melbourne, Australia, August 2006) Available at:

http://www.cyf.vic.gov.au /__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/ 17161/raymond_lemay_why_ resilience_important.pdf

Teachers are key to the long-term success of children in care and can make a difference in a variety of ways:

• Remember that school is often a place of consistency and continuity for children in care, providing routine in an otherwise turbulent life.
• Look for opportunities to connect these students to the school and their peers by encouraging them to join clubs, teams, special projects, etc. Finding one place to feel successful can lead to increased self-confidence and self-esteem and then to successes in other areas.
• Teachers see these children every day. Research shows that teachers know them better than almost anyone else.
• Research on RESILIENCE shows that one key person who believes in a child can make a significant difference in that child’s life success. Teachers never know which students they will influence and when that influence will come to fruition, but they should never discount that every day, that magic can and does happen.

But it is important to remember that teachers are not alone. We have to work together to ensure that our “village” provides everything possible for the success of our children in care.

Each CAS has responsibilities for responding to concerns that any child may be in need of protection. A child could be in need of protection as a result of physical, sexual, emotional abuse (including witnessing family violence), neglect and risk of harm. Every person has a duty to report to the CAS any suspicion that a child may be in need of protection. The threshold for the duty to report is clearly defined in the Child and Family Services Act: professionals who have reasonable grounds for suspecting that a child may be in need of protection must report directly to the CAS. The professional must report directly and not rely on any other person to relay that information. Once the professional has passed the “reasonable grounds to suspect” threshold, it is important to avoid any further interviewing of the child as this can contaminate the investigative process required by the CAS and police under the CFSA and Criminal Code.