Children's Aid Society Investigations

Being the subject of a report to the CAS in connection with your work can affect your employment and your professional status, if you work in a regulated profession; so it is important to understand the CAS investigation process and to get legal advice prior to participating in the CAS investigation.

In today’s employment landscape there are many jobs that involve working with children, either routinely or occasionally. Teachers, early childhood educators (ECE), educational assistants (EA), child and youth workers (CYW), school administrators, other school employees, nurses, doctors, midwives, social workers (SW and RSW), psychologists, applied behaviour analysts (ABA), counsellors, occupational therapists, physical therapists and other health professionals all find themselves working with children to carry out their job or from time to time in the course of their work.

Because of this working relationship with children, employees in these professions can find themselves interacting with a children’s aid society (CAS) for various reasons. Sometimes this contact is the result of reporting their own concerns about a child in need of protection, which arises from their statutory duty to report such concerns. Conversely, contact with the CAS can also result when an employee is the subject of a report made to the CAS about concerns with their conduct or alleged conduct vis-à-vis a child.

In this blog post we discuss some of the functions of the CAS and related laws, how a child protection investigation is initiated, and what such an investigation can look like. This blog post contains legal information only. Nothing in this blog post should be taken as legal advice.    

CAS agencies are created under the Child Youth and Family Services Act, 2017. The paramount purpose of the Act is to promote the best interests, protection and well-being of children.[1] The functions of the CAS are, among other things, to protect children where necessary and investigate allegations or evidence that children may be in need of protection.[2]

Typically, a CAS investigation is commenced when a report is made to the CAS alleging that a person has engaged in conduct with a child that put that child at risk of harm or did harm the child. The nature of alleged harm that the CAS investigates is broad. It includes, but is not limited to physical, emotional and sexual harm or a risk that any of those harms might occur, neglect, lack of supervision, failure to respond to a child’s physical or emotional needs, and capacity to care for a child.[3] There are further categories of conduct that the CAS can investigate. For additional information refer to the Ontario Child Welfare Eligibility Spectrum.[4]

Once a report is made that meets the CAS threshold for investigation, the CAS will commence an investigation. An investigation concerning a workplace, community organization or institution should be conducted by a child protection worker with knowledge about this kind of “community caregiver” investigation. The investigation can include interviews with the alleged victim and alleged perpetrator as well as adult and/or child witnesses, a site visit to the location of the alleged incident, and examination of relevant documentation.[5] If the report to the CAS includes information that could constitute a criminal offence against a child, a report will be made by the CAS to the local police as well, which could result in a police investigation and criminal charges being laid.

After the CAS conducts its investigation, the child protection worker will determine whether, based on all of the information gathered and reviewed, they believe the allegation to be more or less likely to be true. If they find that the allegation is more likely to be true, the child protection concern is said to be “verified”. If they find that the allegation is less likely to be true, the child protection concern is said to be “not verified”. A child protection concern can also be deemed “inconclusive” at the conclusion of an investigation.[6]

At the conclusion of a CAS community caregiver investigation, the CAS is required to report the outcome of the investigation to the child alleged to be in need of protection or their parent or caregiver, the individual responsible for oversight of the alleged perpetrator in their employment or community role, and the person against whom the allegation was made (the alleged perpetrator).[7] The CAS may make recommendations based on its findings.  It is also possible for the CAS to report a person to the Child Abuse Register where an allegation of abuse has been substantiated by the CAS.[8]

Following the conclusion of a CAS investigation and the reporting of the verification decision to those involved the CAS investigation will close. However, a record of all investigations is maintained by the CAS in an internal provincial database that can be accessed by CAS caseworkers across the province.[9] These records are maintained by the CAS regardless of the outcome of the investigation and are maintained indefinitely.

If you are the subject of a CAS investigation concerning you work, you may also need to address the allegation with your employer and determine any impact on your employment.

Being the subject of an investigation by a children’s aid society related to your work can be upsetting and intimidating.  If you are a community caregiver, the CAS investigation outcome can negatively impact on your employment and/or your professional status if you are a member of a regulated profession (for example, a teacher, ECE, nurse, etc.).  How you respond to the allegations during the CAS investigation can make a significant difference to the findings.  You are entitled to procedural fairness during the investigation, which includes proper notice of the allegations at issue and a full and fair opportunity to provide a response and to have that response considered by the CAS prior to any decision being made.  You are also entitled to obtain legal advice and representation before responding to the allegations if you wish to do so.

If you find yourself facing a CAS investigation into your conduct with children in the course of your employment, contact the experienced lawyers at Cavalluzzo LLP for legal assistance with the CAS investigation and with any resulting employment issues and/or professional misconduct allegations at your governing College.