Foster care is looking after a child in your home on a temporary basis. Foster children stay in a foster home for days, weeks, months and sometimes longer.
While there are many reasons why children and youth may need to come into the care of the Society, many have experienced neglect, various forms of abuse, or parental issues such as substance abuse, domestic violence or mental health issues. (more…)
Heroes come in all forms
We are proud of our long history of leadership in protecting children. Our commitment to the provision of quality service to protect children and strengthen families is paramount. Knowing that our dedication makes a real impact to so many makes it all worthwhile. We provide a lively and progressive work environment that enables you to pursue your professional goals. If you are looking to make a difference in the lives of children, read on….
Kinship is any living arrangement in which a relative or someone else who is emotionally close to the child takes primary responsibility for raising the child. This living arrangement can either be an “in CAS care” in a Kin foster home or “out of CAS care” through a court order or agreement.
Children can live with people who they know and trust and have some connection to their family of origin· The integrity of the family’s cultural and ethnic identity is supported· Children may be able to remain in their own community · A child’s sense of belonging to a family is often enhanced
· Searches actively for kith and/or kin for the purpose of a placement · Completes a child-specific home study with the focus of securing a placement for the child(ren)· Provides Child and Youth Work support to children and families during the child(ren)’s transition into their new home and later on when needed · Collaborates with the family and other service providers in the assessment process · Assigns a Resource Worker to provide support and consultation to the Kin Foster Parents while ensuring they follow the Society’s policies and the licensing requirements of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services
· Contact the child’s worker if you know his or her name. If you don’t know the name, call Intake at 416-924-4646.
· Participate in a strengths based assessment, focusing on the child’s needs ·Attend education training sessions · Complete the following checks: Criminal Record; Child Welfare History; Medical Report; Personal references
Child abuse…what are the different types of abuse?….read on.
Copies of the Society’s newspaper Communicate will be posted here.
Adoption is a legal and social process which establishes a parent-child relationship, providing permanence, safety and security for a child or children.
Adoption used to be considered appropriate only for babies, but now children from all age groups, including those with special needs, are being adopted. More than half of the children placed are aged 3 and under. It takes approximately one year to go through the adoption homestudy and education process. Some parents don’t wait very long for a child after they complete the homestudy because they represent the best match possible for that child.
We have broadened our hiring criteria to keep kids safe:
We have broadened our hiring qualifications for front line positions. In addition to people with Master’s (MSW) or Bachelor’s (BSW) degrees in social work, we now welcome applications from people who have a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in combination with practical experience in a variety of family focused, problem-solving professions. Examples include: (more…)
Reap the benefits
Our comprehensive benefits package includes: Dental 100% reimbursement to the current ODA rates; Extended Health 80% to 100% reimbursement; Life Insurance; AD&D; Vision care, Para Medical coverage, semi-private hospital coverage as well as combination short term and long term sick leave plans.
The Society helps you plan for retirement through enrollment in the OMERS Pension Plan. Your existing pension is portable from employers with OMERS or with other specified pension plans.
Break out the cigars…we provide generous leave provisions for pregnancy and parental leaves. An educational leave is available after 2 years of service and extended personal leaves are also an option.
Everybody needs a little R & R so we are happy to provide 20 days of vacation after one year of service; and an additional 3 special leave days and 42 hours for personal needs per year.
In addition to on-the-job-training, we offer competency training through the provincial Ontario Child Protection Training Program. The program is 22 days of classroom and e-learning on important basic knowledge for child protection practice, including: topics of child abuse assessment and investigation; legal matters; the provincial Risk Assessment tool; interviewing children; and separation and attachment. All staff are encouraged to continue their learning through participation in in-house training calendar offerings as well as external training and development courses.
For 23, 102 children and 10, 321 families, the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto is hope for a brighter future. We protect children from abuse including neglect, help parents build healthy families and provide a safe, nurturing place for children and young adults to grow up and realize their dreams.
CAS of Toronto offers services primarily to its clients but has a number of community based activities and broad reaching initiatives. Click on the sections to the left to find out more.
A snapshot of CAS of Toronto volunteers
We are proud to have over 600 volunteers who help us provide service to children, youth and their families each year. Their valuable contribution enables the Society to deliver enriched services. In addition, their presence and input provide us with a vital link to the community we serve. (more…)
How do I become a volunteer?
We ask volunteers to commit a minimum of one year. This will ensure a certain degree of consistency for our children. Of course we hope that you will choose to stay longer. If you are unable to commit one year, then please ask about other volunteer opportunities at your local Volunteer Centre. (more…)
1) Information Session:
All volunteer applicants are required to attend a 3 hour Information Session. This provides the applicant with an overview of the agency, the presenting difficulties of our client group, volunteer expectations and the variety of assignments available. This session also provides the applicant with the necessary information to decide whether the opportunities offered by CAS match those sought by the applicant. (more…)
The Holiday Season Program
The holiday season provides special challenges for children. Each year during November and December, the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto organizes the TOY ROOM to distribute toys, clothing, and gift certificates to children and families in need.
Special Friends and Tutors:
If you are?
Then you will make a terrific special friend or tutor volunteer to a child.
Our legal mandate is to intervene, where necessary, to protect children from abuse and neglect.
We make our services available 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week.
We make every effort to protect children without removing them from their homes. We strive to achieve this through professional expertise and relationship building, crisis-oriented intervention, counselling, other supportive services and referrals to community resources. For every one child we must bring into our care, we work with nine more in their own family.
When the potential risk to a child is significant and he or she must be brought into our care, the Society must take the matter to Family Court within 5 days, where a judge will decide what plan is in the best interests of the child.
Often what is required for a child to live and thrive in a community is a change to the social environment so that it supports the reductions of risks to the child. Our community work and prevention team engages in community building and mobilization to help residents strengthen their communities.
We have an active research program with dozens of research and evaluation activities ongoing. We focus our research efforts on providing evidenced based outcomes and evaluating emerging services. This enables us to build a solid foundation of knowledge from which to develop and refine our most beneficial programs.
Child welfare is a community responsibility. We educate the public about our services and their role by publishing promotional materials, appearing in media and staging events during October’s Child Abuse Prevention month. We have an active speakers bureau, which makes presentations about our work and the community’s role to a large variety of organizations, and groups. Topics include our agency’s work, child abuse, adoption, foster care, effective parenting techniques and other issues of social concern. To request a speaker click here.
We are fortunate to have hundreds of volunteers who come from varied cultures who give us thousands of hours of their time. They enrich the agency’s service to the community with their skills, energy and commitment to children. They also reap the benefits of orientation, ongoing education and supervision. To find out more about volunteering, click on the adoption button on the menu bar.
When should you contact us?
If you suspect, on reasonable grounds, that a child or youth under 16 is or may be in need of protection, the law requires you to report this to the Children’s Aid Society, even if you have made a similar report on a similar occasion. For the young person’s sake, you should do this right away. (more…)
The Children’s Aid Society of Toronto consists of four community branches (North York, Etobicoke, Scarborough and Toronto) working together on behalf of children in the community.
We often draw on the talents of other agencies and community organizations when required. (more…)
Our main focus is maintaining the family unit. To that end we make every effort to provide intensive assistance and support to children within their own family unit, or with care providers.
When children are in CAS care, we exert a calming influence as we strive to affect reunification with family as quickly as possible.
This is a voluntary pregnancy counseling service for women and their partners who request help. We provide information and referrals to resources to help in decision-making. Services can begin with early pregnancy and continue until the family stabilizes or is referred for protection services.
In order to make every effort to prevent admission to care we offer two-day treatment programs to children and their families. This combines individual counseling with group programs in an on-site classroom. The objective here is to promote successful reintegration to families and communities, and on averting breakdowns in foster care placements.
Children’s services workers specifically tend to children admitted to care on a short-term basis. Short-term care exists while reunification is planned between the child and family. The primary function is to soothe the emotional impact of separation from families by helping with adjusting to new households and care providers. The eventual objective, of course, is family reunification.