GLOSSARY

Adoption: the legal process that gives children a new family when their birth families are unable to care for them.

CAS: Children’s Aid Society

Crown Wards: children whose parents are deemed by the Court to be unable to provide care for their children such that the Crown (Province of Ontario) assumes all responsibility as the legal guardian. Responsibility for the crown wards is then delegated to the local Children’s Aid Society, such as Native Child and Family Services of Toronto.

CYW: Child and Youth Worker. CYW’s are professionals who work directly with some children in care to assist them with emotional and behavioural issues. They can also help foster parents in dealing with challenging behaviour.

Customary Care: refers to keeping Aboriginal children in their communities to maintain the cultural practices and identity necessary for them to grow confidently as Aboriginal community members. For more information about Traditional Customary Care and Formal Customary Care, click here.

ECM: Extended Care and Maintenance. An arrangement whereby a CAS provides financial and other support to youth between the ages of 16 and 21

Family Group Conferencing: a decision-making forum that brings together service providers and the family group to plan for the safety and well being of a child designated as being at risk or in need of protection.

Kinship Care: the full-time care and nurturing of a child or youth by a relative, community member, or other adult with whom they have a significant relationship. In these cases a formal admission into care may be prevented.

Kinship Service: the full-time care and nurturing of a child or youth by a relative, community member, or other adult with whom they have a significant relationship. In these cases, there is no formal relationship with the CAS. For more information about Kinship Care and Kinship Service, click here.

Legal Custody Order: allows custody of children who have been found to be in need of protection, to be given permanency with a relative or community member or children who are crown wards that have been living continuously with a foster parent for a significant period of time, to be given permanency with a foster parent or other caregiver. The children would maintain their name, contact with family and rights of inheritance.

OnLac: Ontario Looking After Children. OnLac is a new collaborative method of planning, recording and measuring the progress and development at each age level of a child or youth in the care of child welfare.

Permanency Planning: a planning process and a philosophy directed toward ensuring each child’s right to a permanent home and stable relationships with one or more adults. At NCFST, we believe that to thrive and grow into healthy, capable adults, children need a sense of belonging to a family that provides an unconditional, lasting commitment to them.

PRIDE: Parent Resource for Information, Development and Education. PRIDE is a practice model and curriculum designed to strengthen the quality of family-based care by providing a competency based framework for training and supporting caregivers and adoptive parents.

SAFE: Structured Analysis Family Evaluation. SAFE is a comprehensive set of home study assessment tools, techniques and values for the analysis and evaluation of prospective foster or adoptive families.

Society Wards: children who temporarily come into the care of the society for a period of time specified by the Court. There is a 12 month limit to the length of time that a child between the age of 0-5 years may be in temporary care. Children over the age of five years may only be in temporary care for 24 months.

TCA: Temporary Care Agreement. These agreements involve children who are in care at the request of or with the co-operation of their parents. Guardianship remains with the parents and this agreement may be terminated at the parent’s request or at the determination of the agency.

Transformation: a government of Ontario initiative for child welfare. Its aim is to focus on intervention options that will better meet the increasingly complex needs of children and families being referred to child welfare agencies across the province. The options relate to three key stages 1) more flexible intake and assessment, 2) a court process strategy to reduce delays and encourage alternatives to court, and 3) a broader range of placement options to support more effective permanency planning.