Client Rights
At the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto (CAST), our primary goal is to keep children and youth at home and within their own communities by providing services that support families and strengthen parents’ capacity to safely care for their children. As a parent working with our Agency, we encourage you review the information below or speak with your Worker to better understand your rights and how best we can work together.
As a parent working with CAST you have the right to:
- Be heard and represented when decisions affecting your interests are made
- Be given reasons for any decision that affects your interests
- Be heard when you have a concern about the services they are receiving and to be informed of complaint procedures
- In situations where consent is required, the right and opportunity to seek independent advice
- In most cases, to be informed of your child or youth’s rights. To be informed of our Agency’s obligation to take into account your child or youth’s identity characteristics and be given an opportunity to name a resource person(s) for their child to assist with/support this.
- Access your personal information and the information of children under 16 years of age their custody, with certain exceptions as set out in the Child Youth Family Service Act. You are entitled to have information in your record explained to you.
- Be informed how your information may be used or disclosed
- Request a record correction to your file
- Should a child/youth be placed in the care of our Agency, you may visit your child or youth in private, unless a judge decides that it’s not in the child/youth’s best interests. These visits may occur at a family home, in the community, or at the place where the child or youth is living. Parents, the CAST Worker, and the child/youth, will discuss when, where, and how often the visits should be.
Check out Our Responsibilities and Service Users’ Rights brochure here to learn more about our Agency’s responsibilities and how we can best work together to support your child, youth or family. Head here to learn more about our complaints process for those who have sought or received services from CAST.
