Resolving Your Concerns
Concerns and Complaints:
At CCAS, we are committed to offering the best possible services to the children, youth and families we serve. If you have a concern about the services you have sought or received from CCAS, we want to work with you to resolve it. We encourage you to work with your service worker to resolve concerns at an early stage. If this process has been unsuccessful for you, the following procedure is available:
Informal Resolution Processes
Speak with your Worker’s Supervisor
If you are unable to resolve your concern with your worker, we recommend you discuss the issue with your worker’s supervisor, either over the telepone, in a virtual meeting or in person where possible.
Speak with the Child Protection Services Manager
If you are not satisfied that your concern has been resolved after discussion with the supervisor, you may request a meeting with the Service Manager. The manager will work with you and the staff to resolve your concerns, either by meeting with you personally or by speaking with you on the telephone. The worker and supervisor may also be present at the meeting at your request. If you wish, you may bring someone to support you during this or any future discussion of your concerns.
Formal Resolution Processes
Make a Formal Complaint Verbally or in Writing to CCAS
If you are not satisfied that your concerns have been resolved at the service level, you can make a formal complaint to CCAS. This can be done verbally or in writing. Your concerns can be directed to the Designated Service Complaints Supervisor. After you make a formal complaint, CCAS will respond to your complaint within seven (7) days. In our response to you, we will advise you whether your complaint can be reviewed by the Internal Complaint Review Panel. Please note CASs and Child and Family Services Review Board (CFSRB) review processes cannot consider matters currently before the courts or that the courts have already decided or matters that fall under the Child and Family Services Act or the Labour Relations Act.
Internal Complaint Review Panel
Under section 119 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act. 2017 (CYFSA), you have the right to complain to a Society relating to a service you have sought or received from that Society. If your complaint is eligible to be heard by the CCAS Internal Complaint Review Panel, we will arrange a date for a hearing with the Panel. This hearing must be held within 14 days after you have been notified that a Panel will be held, unless you need more time. You may have one support person present at the meeting. The Panel includes senior staff who have not been directly involved with you and your family, and a person who is not employed by CCAS. During the Panel hearing, you will discuss your complaint with the Panel. The goal of the Panel is to try to resolve the complaint with a solution that works for everyone. Within 14 days of meeting with the Panel, you and the Chief Executive Officer will receive the Panel’s decision or outcome in writing. If at any point in the complaint review process the complaint is resolved to your satisfaction, CCAS will send you confirmation of the resolution in writing.
Looking to make a Formal Complaint to a Children’s Aid Society’s Internal Complaints Review Panel (ICRP)? You can access the Ministry’s forms in English or French. Please download the form, fill it out, and email it to: ClientResolutions@torontoccas.org.
Another option is completing the form below and clicking Send. Your concern will be sent to a member of our team who will follow up with you.
Child and Family Services Review Board
You do not always need to go through the Society’s Internal Complaints Review Panel process before requesting a review by the CFSRB, an independent tribunal of the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services. In most situations, you can file a complaint with the CFSRB directly and follow their steps on how to proceed. You may submit an application to have your complaint heard by the CFSRB under section 119 and 120 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act.
CFSRB contact information:
655 Bay Street, 14th Floor, Toronto ON M7A 2A3
Telephone: 416-327-4673; Toll Free: 1-888-728-8823; TTY: 416-327-9247; Fax: 416-327-0558
We encourage you to contact your CCAS Service Team with any questions you might have about our complaints process. You can also reach our Designated Service Complaints Supervisor by email, phone, in writing, or complete the complaints form below:
Nickey Mina, Child Protection Supervisor – Corporate Services
2206 Eglinton Ave. E., Toronto, Ontario M1L 4S7
n.mina@torontoccas.org, Tel: 416-395-1450
Learn how to make a complaint to a children’s aid society, (including an Indigenous children’s aid society), the Child and Family Services Review Board or the Ontario Ombudsman
