Post by litigator on Mar 12, 2007 10:48:59 GMT -5
First Court Appearance
(Parents' Counsel Perspective)
1.representing parents in CFSA matters prior to the first appearance at Court, when a child has been apprehended by a Children's Aid Society in Ontario.
2.With the apprehension of a child/children, a Children's Aid Society has 5 days, pursuant to the Child and Family Service Act (CFSA), to bring the matter before the Court for an initial adjudication of its apprehension.
3.An apprehension can either be brought by a Children's Aid Society as an initial Protection Application or Early Status Review of an ongoing Protection Application. It is important to recognize this distinction from the outset. An initial Protection Application is one in which the legal onus rests on the Society to prove that a child is "in need of protection". There is no "finding" that the child is in need of protection at this stage of a proceeding.
A Status Review Application presents a lawyer with a completely different evidentiary and historical profile of a case. An apprehension document that is entitled "Early Status Review", or "Status Review", means that there has been a finding of a child in need of protection and that a Society was monitoring the placement of the child, either with the parents, or a third party community placement that has been proposed by the parents. At the time of Status Review, the Society alleges that there has been a serious contravention of the conditions of supervision, causing them to re-apprehend or request that the child/children come into care. The legal test at the Early Status Review or at a Status Review is one of the child's "best interests". This is a shift on the legal onus that both the Society and the parents' counsel must meet.
5.When a lawyer is presented with a Status Review document, it will usually show the history of the initial Protection Application and how this was resolved either after a hearing or on consent. If it is on consent, a document is prepared called "Statement of Agreed Facts". In the Statement of Agreed Facts, factual evidence is presented to the Court, which, if accepted, supports the finding "in need of protection" and outlines the supervision conditions of the family. At this stage, it is important that a lawyer representing the family understands the evidentiary onus that the parents' counsel must recognize in beginning to prepare the Answer and Plan of Care on behalf of the parents.
It is the last sentence that most lawyers miss when dealing with child welfare issues, the difference in competent evidence that is admissible at the early stage. This is also where the CAS puts forth evidence relating to the best interests of the child when it should not if it is an initial protection application
(Parents' Counsel Perspective)
1.representing parents in CFSA matters prior to the first appearance at Court, when a child has been apprehended by a Children's Aid Society in Ontario.
2.With the apprehension of a child/children, a Children's Aid Society has 5 days, pursuant to the Child and Family Service Act (CFSA), to bring the matter before the Court for an initial adjudication of its apprehension.
3.An apprehension can either be brought by a Children's Aid Society as an initial Protection Application or Early Status Review of an ongoing Protection Application. It is important to recognize this distinction from the outset. An initial Protection Application is one in which the legal onus rests on the Society to prove that a child is "in need of protection". There is no "finding" that the child is in need of protection at this stage of a proceeding.
A Status Review Application presents a lawyer with a completely different evidentiary and historical profile of a case. An apprehension document that is entitled "Early Status Review", or "Status Review", means that there has been a finding of a child in need of protection and that a Society was monitoring the placement of the child, either with the parents, or a third party community placement that has been proposed by the parents. At the time of Status Review, the Society alleges that there has been a serious contravention of the conditions of supervision, causing them to re-apprehend or request that the child/children come into care. The legal test at the Early Status Review or at a Status Review is one of the child's "best interests". This is a shift on the legal onus that both the Society and the parents' counsel must meet.
5.When a lawyer is presented with a Status Review document, it will usually show the history of the initial Protection Application and how this was resolved either after a hearing or on consent. If it is on consent, a document is prepared called "Statement of Agreed Facts". In the Statement of Agreed Facts, factual evidence is presented to the Court, which, if accepted, supports the finding "in need of protection" and outlines the supervision conditions of the family. At this stage, it is important that a lawyer representing the family understands the evidentiary onus that the parents' counsel must recognize in beginning to prepare the Answer and Plan of Care on behalf of the parents.
It is the last sentence that most lawyers miss when dealing with child welfare issues, the difference in competent evidence that is admissible at the early stage. This is also where the CAS puts forth evidence relating to the best interests of the child when it should not if it is an initial protection application