001 - The Parents CAS Survival Guide - 2009Dec15

A family’s survival guide for

dealing with child welfare protection agencies

Powerful tips and information child welfare protection agencies and their workers don’t want you to know about that will help you get the most out of the system and help make the system more accountable to you, your family and to all families who may be taken advantage of by the system after you.

Published by

Canadian Families Against Abuse by the Legal System Revised DRAFT: December 15, 2009. (Ontario Edition)

A family’s survival guide for dealing with child welfare protection agencies (Dec 15, 2009 updated) of 76

To beat the system and to do your part to help make it more accountable to the people, the first thing you need

to understand is what the whole family court/child welfare protection system is all about!

Don’t let this happen to YOU!

Learn how to beat the child welfare protection/family court racket by educating yourself and your children to

FIGHT BACK!


Table of Contents Part 1 Introduction

Part 2 Understanding what family law and the whole child protection system (CPS) is all about

Part 3 Get yourself educated, get the tools you need to protect you and your children and get ready to FIGHT BACK!

Part 4 Information and tips about child protection agencies (Children’s Aid Societies in Ontario)

Part 5 Tips about dealing with your child protection matter before the family court Part 6 Information children who are in temporary foster care or group home setting Part 7 Questions and answers

Appendix


Part 1

Introduction

Getting child protection services workers (CPS) off your back and out of your family’s business

Throughout Canada and much of North America, social workers employed by child welfare protection agencies are hopelessly overworked and mired down in paperwork and bureaucracy. In Canada every year, there are tens of thousands of reports of alleged child abuse and neglect. Although many of these allegations are found to be without foundation; each of the remainder has to be thoroughly investigated by an insufficient numbers of workers who have inadequate support and often have inadequate training. The stakes are high! Child CPS workers, many of whom are not even qualified social workers, are required to make judgments that seriously affect each family on their case load. When CPS workers take a child into protection, they often generate much animosity and family disruption. However, if they leave a child in a family where it is subsequently abused, then the CPS workers are severely criticized.

In recent years, to play it safe, child protection workers have taken an overly cautious approach and apprehending children at an alarming rate. Another alarming fact is that many governments, including the Province of Ontario, fund CAS agencies based on the number of files they have open. In other words, the more cases an agency opens, the more money they get paid by the government. This sort of funding structure clearly provides an incentive for CPS agencies to apprehend more children and to involve themselves in more families. Unfortunately, statistics show that children do much worse under the care of a child protection agency.

At the first sign of ANY possible involvement by a child protection agency If child protection workers have contacted you with concerns about your family but have not taken your child away from you as of yet, or if you have had previous dealings with them regarding your children it is important that you move quickly to minimize an possible future attempts by the child protection agency workers to apprehend your child or to interfere in your family’s affairs.

1) Educate yourself and your family about the child protection industry. Carefully study the materials in this document.

2) Don’t keep drugs in your home, don’t use drugs in your home and don’t ever be under the influence of drugs when children are in your care. These sorts of things are automatic reasons to have your children apprehended. Even if you are one of the few users who have permission to grow marijuana from the Canadian Government for medicinal purposes, do not grow, dry out or smoke the marijuana within your home as child protection agencies consider this as exposing children to the harmful effects of drugs and will remove your children. Having a license to smoke pot does not give one the permission to expose children to this illegal substance.

3) If possible, get pictures to support your ongoing relationship with your child to reduce the risk of apprehension. If you don’t have pictures, then take some immediately before your child


may be taken away. Have pictures of your child with you and other members of your family which show that your child is happy and healthy. Keep a photo album or keep pictures on a computer and have these pictures ready for use at any time. Videotapes are also helpful.

4) Be especially cautious of signing any voluntary service agreement if you are asked to sign one by child protection workers.

5) Get the tools you will need to fight the child protection workers. Tools such as recording devices and fax machines are very important and should be set up and ready for use as quickly as possible. IMMEDIATELY begin to secretly record all conversations with child protection workers and keep a detailed diary of every event which may have a bearing on the proceedings such as meetings, phone calls, visits to your child’s school, etc.

6) Take steps to review and to understand legislation that is applicable. Get to know your rights and get to know the responsibility of child protection workers.

7) Get the position of the agency in writing and what they propose as acceptable to remedy the situation.

8) If there are legitimate concerns that child protection workers have and you know about them, then fix them immediately.

9) Gather you support family group together. Get a list of people who you know would support you with a letter to show that you are a good parent in the event your child is apprehended.

10) Place your child into the care of capable family or friends if child protection workers have legitimate concerns and appear ready to take your child from you.

11) If you are feel that there is a risk of child protection workers taking your child because of alleged concerns about yourself or conditions in your home, then see if you can have someone live in your home or find a friend or relative where the children can be placed until such time as mattes with child protection workers are resolved.

12) If the child protection agency is a private organization (such as CAS agencies in Ontario) and you believe that you are a good parent with nothing to hide and that child protection workers have targeted you or your family for unfounded reasons, then join up to become a voting member of the organization to see about making changes. You should not attempt to become a voting member if you have legitimately failed in your duties as a parent and child protection workers are acting reasonably.

If your child has been recently taken into care by child protection services workers 1) Call workers at the first possible opportunity and ask them specifically what was their

concerns which caused them to take your child. Make this call and ideally, record the conversation. Before you are served court documents get it on record why they apprehended your child. They may not return your calls so be sure to make a detailed diary of your attempts to reach workers, including dates and times. Ideally, record these calls.

2) Call workers and tell them that you would like to resolve matters before going to court and ask them what they would consider as being an acceptable solution to resolve the situation. Try to reach settlement with the workers before you go to court. Matters will still go to court but can be quickly processed if the parties have a “consent agreement” to present to the court.

3) Be prepared for your first court appearance and try not to let child protection workers catch


you unprepared at the first court appearance. Move as quickly as possible and be prepared with a plan of care or proposal to present to the court before your first court appearance if possible. Remember the law says that preference must be given to family and friends for care of the child. In many cases, this may be difficult as CPS

4) Carefully analyze the documents given to you by child protection worker and critique the documents. Ideally, someone with the experience and skill to do this would be best. Identify what the issues are and try to find information that could show that workers have made errors or have abused their power and control.

5) Agencies will often serve documents upon parents just one or two days prior to going to court so that you will not have time to prepare a response by the court date.

6) If possible, have a home study done before you submit your plan of care and include the home study with your plan of care. Although it is not vital, a home study will add weight to your plan of care.

7) Present a plan of care that beats theirs. Remember, the law requires that the children be put into the care of family or friends in preference to care of the child protection agency, providing the family submits a plan for consideration.


Part 2 Understanding what family law and the whole child

welfare protection racket is all about The vast majority of lawyers, judges, social workers or child welfare protection workers will not like this document. However, some honest and principled lawyers and some retired child protection workers who believe that the family courts and child welfare protection agencies are out of control, willingly provided information used in the production of this document, so there still are a few good professionals out there. This document isn’t written for the benefit of those child protection workers and professionals who cause harm to children and families but if anything, will strike fear in those people knowing that the truth about the child welfare protection racket is starting to become known. This document was written for the average person and its purpose is to give people a better understanding about the child welfare protection system, the family court system and the lawyers and agencies associated with the court system. Although there is still much information that this document does not contain, this document will allow the average person to better understand how the child welfare protection racket works and to let the average person see how the whole system of justice has been perverted and our laws subverted by the actions of lawyers and many child welfare protection agencies and their workers.

In tribal times there were the medicine-men. In prehistoric times, their were medicine men and during the Middle Ages, there were the priests, witches and warlocks. Today there are the lawyers, judges, social workers and a whole host of so called “professionals” who together fuel the adversarial court system. For every age and generation of citizens, a group of persons, learned in their trade and jealous of their learning, who blend technical competence with plain and fancy hocus-pocus to make themselves masters over others.

It is the lawyers and judges who run our civilization for us – our governments, our business, our private lives. Most legislators are lawyers; they make our laws. Most presidents, Prime ministers, governors, commissioners, along with their advisers and closest supporters are lawyers; they administer our laws. All the judges are lawyers; they interpret and enforce our laws. There is no separation of powers where the lawyers are concerned. There is only a concentration of all government power – in the lawyers. In reality our government is a government of lawyers, not of the people.

There are several reasons for this mass submission, One is the average person’s fear of the unknown – and of the police who guard the judges, the lawyers, the social workers and professionals and all those who are part of the “system”. The law combines the threat of both and in many cases the threat of losing access to one’s children. A average person confronted by The Law can be compared to a person entering a pitch-dark room. Merciless judges lurk in that dark room, ready to jump out at those who enter. Remember that “Ignorance of the law is no defense” so the parent is expected to know how to apply and argue the law. Cowed and forced by circumstances, parents hire a lawyers, putting their faith in the lawyer to deal with the law. The average person is often fearful to display either skepticism or disrespect when he/she is told what to do by the lawyer as most people believe that the lawyer is backed by all the mighty and mysterious forces of law-and-order from the Supreme Court on down on the cop on the corner.


The whole of The Law – its concepts, its principles, its propositions – is made up of legal jargon and words that cannot possibly be pinned down to a precise meaning and that are, in the last analysis, no more than just words. In today’s time in Family Court the phrases, “The Best Interest of Children” and “child at risk of harm” are used all the time, yet the judges and the vast majority of child protection workers have no clear and concise definition of what this term means. Of course when a person is before a judge, it at the judge’s discretion to decide what is in the best interest of the child. As a matter of fact, the bulk of The Law is made up of words with far less apparent relation to reality. And when a person reads the law, criminal law, business law, government law, family law, it is difficult to find a single rule that makes as much simple sense to the layperson without having to read it over several times and to scratch one’s head trying to figure out what it means.

Everyone should understand the basic principles upon what the child protection system is based:

1) To get you into the system so that those in the system can make money off your child.

2) To take money from your family and transfer it to those in the system who charge fees for services (lawyers and other professionals). In essence, the system transfers wealth from working, middle class Canadians to the elitist group of those in the legal profession who we refer to as lawyers and those who are associated with them such as child protection workers, psychologists, access supervisors, etc..

3) To keep the machinery of the child protection system working so that those employed in this sector will continue to have work (social workers, judges, court workers, court reporters, security staff at courts, access supervision centers, etc.)

4) To wear you down physically and emotionally and generally direct you on a course that will hinder or delay your matter from getting to a trial.

5) To protect the system of lawyers, judges and social workers by hiding the gross violations of rights and freedoms that children and families are being subjected to in the family court system.

6) To keep the judges, lawyers and social workers unaccountable and above the law for the harm done to children and families.

7) To give judges the court system, the widest latitude as possible to make their own arbitrary decisions irregardless of the law.

Overall, the more work that they can create by making the system inefficient, the more lawyers are needed, the more judges are needed and in the end, the greater amount of wealth from hard working Canadian families is transferred to those in the elitist group of judges and lawyers who are in most cases supported by many of their fellow lawyer who are politicians who make the laws to protect the monopoly of the legal system.

How they wear you down and generally keep you from getting to trial These are some of the things that are used to wear you down:

• Put case conferences and settlement conferences (which are usually private) in the way of your court hearings and trials to delay things and pressure you into an out of court settlement. These case conferences and settlement conference cost lots of money and yet are not even proper court hearings. They are nothing more than meetings.


• Adjourn matters over and over and over.

• Call in other professionals such as children’s lawyers, psychologists and social workers to further complicate matters and to drag things out for weeks and often months.

• Attempt to intimidate you into signing consent agreement prior to trial, often telling you that if you don’t sign some document or agree to do something that this may result in you not seeing your children.

• Make the benchmark for appealing a judge’s decision almost impossible for the average person to obtain. Appeals cost thousands of dollars and in the vast majority of cases are not successful.

• Get you to a position where you are financially exhausted and financially unable to proceed with your case further. Money can buy a favourable court decision and with child welfare protection agencies having unlimited public money, everyone knows who is likely to win in court.

• Make rules and procedures so complicated and confusing as to make it almost impossible for one to proceed to trial on their own.

How they protect themselves and the system of lawyers and judges and make themselves unaccountable. Here are some of the tricks that those in the system use to keep themselves unaccountable:

• Court hearting involving the protection of children are considered “closed” so that general members of the public cannot attend. This keeps the public out and allows those in the system to be more unaccountable by keeping your matter a closely guarded secret. Having the public become aware of CAS injustices is one of their worst fears.

• Hire unlicensed workers who are not licensed to work as social workers. This way the worker is not accountable to any professional body.

• Make numerous levels of internal complaints at a child welfare protection agency to make it difficult for most average persons to be able to make it through the layers of bureaucracy at the child welfare protection agency. Child protection agencies want to wear you out before anyone outside the agency gets involved in your matter.

• Attempt to keep extended family members out of the courtroom so that family members cannot see what the court is doing.

• Create all kinds of rules and procedures to confuse ordinary people and to thwart real justice.

• Refuse to give you your child protection file or force you to go to court to be able to see it.

• Refuse to allow you to audio or video record meetings between yourself and your children.

• Routinely exclude support persons from case conferences and settlement conferences so that nobody will be a witness to what they are doing.

• Keep children who are the subject of court proceedings, out of the court so that the children cannot see for themselves what is being said about them in court.


• Do not submit children’s affidavits to the court so that the child’s input can be carefully controlled by child protection workers and lawyers.

• Get you to have a parenting assessment with an outside person who they refer you to. This person of course will do a parenting assessment which makes the parents look like bad parents and supports the position of the CAS.

Child welfare agencies get funding on a “per case” basis. Child welfare protection agencies in Ontario get paid from the government based on the number of active files they have open. In other words, the more files that a child welfare protection agency has “open”, the more money the agency gets from the government. Therefore, it is in the interest of the child protection agency and its workers to keep their case load up as high as possible so as to keep the funds from government flowing into their coffers. Child welfare workers also prefer with less complicated cases involving poor or disadvantaged families as these pose less risk or embarrassment to workers and to the agencies that employ them. Opening easy files is why child welfare workers push what they call “voluntary consent” agreements, where people sign up for services by admitting that they need help. Child welfare agencies get even more money when kids are on drugs When child protection workers put children on some sort of prescription medication, then there is an increase in the amount of money which is paid to them by the government. Therefore, there is an incentive for child protection agencies to get children on prescription drugs.

Child welfare protection agency lawyers need work too Many child welfare protection agencies have their own full time, in-house lawyers who get paid big salaries. In order to keep the lawyers busy who are on staff for child welfare protection agencies, legal paperwork and litigation is required. This is why many child welfare protection agencies are eager to serve court documents and get parents into court. As soon as papers are served upon parents it creates a significant amount of work for the lawyers.

The lawyer monopoly The lawyers and their law societies have created laws that dictate that only a lawyer can represent you in court. Those in the legal industry claim that they have to do this in order to protect the public by ensuring that only someone with the proper legal training is allowed to help people in court and represent them. Yet, in reality, there are countless lawyers who can’t even argue their way out of a wet paper bag let alone competently represent someone in court to protect them from a child protection agency. Many of these incompetent lawyers do not even know the law that well – many are losers and flunkies. The truth of the situation is that there are many non-lawyers who can do a better job in court than many so called lawyers yet these knowledgeable people are not allowed to help you with our court matters or represent you in the court. Why? It’s not because these knowledgeable persons can’t do a good job but simply because they are not lawyers and the lawyers do not want these people trampling on their exclusive domain of “practicing law.” Lousy lawyers have caused good families to lose their children and to go into bankruptcy because of their lousy, incompetent service. Unfortunately, the judges and the lawyers have the power of


the courts and the police behind them so they hold the power to force the citizens to follow the rules and procedures of a game that they have crafted for their own benefit. So while you may be forced to play their game, the best you can hope for is to improve your chances of winning even when you are forced to play with lawyer made rules. That is why it’s called “The Lawyer Monopoly”

Family law is more about procedures and rules – not about law! Most family law lawyers know nothing of the Constitution or International laws. Family law has evolved into nothing much more than a system made up of rules and procedures made by lawyers for the benefit of lawyers and judges. Perjury is rampant in family court and the lawyers and the judges know it and even worse than that, tolerate it.. They just don’t care because it keeps them in work and makes them lots of money. Family law is more about big business – not about justice for children and families. Even lawyers admit that the family court system is largely corrupt and not based on the rule of law.

Case Law is the system’s way of passing the buck to screw you and your children no matter how good your case is. A lot of the lawyers use what is called “Case Law” which are the decisions of judges in other cases. In purely legal terms case law it is referred to in Latin terms as “stare decisis” which means “to stand by decided cases; to uphold precedents, to maintain former adjudications.” Technically, the law is supposed to be applied the same to all people which is why one lawyer will use a previous case to argue why the judge should rule the same as the other case. The problem with case law is that there are so many cases where ruling contradict one another that lawyers can find case law on the books to reinforce any argument they want in court. Case law in some cases has become so perverted and so far from the intent of the constitution, that case law has become nothing more than a way that lawyers and judges can deliver injustice in the court and say that they were following “Case Law”. Case law has become nothing more than a way that judges and lawyers can use to pass the buck. For those who want to more about how case law subverts justice, read the article “How stare decisis subverts the law” by Jon Roland found the appendix of this document. Although it is written from an American perspective, the underlying principles remain the same for Canada as well.

If there is anything that you can be absolutely sure of in family court it is that ……….

There is no justice in Canada’s family courts!

So if you can, do everything you possibly can to avoid going to court before it’s too late!


PART 3

Get yourself educated, get the tools you need to protect you and your children and get ready to FIGHT BACK!

This information package contains some helpful tips intended to help you when you are about to get sucked into the family court system by a child protection agency. This may include the family courts, children’s aid agencies, police and health and legal professionals. If you want to avoid your family being destroyed by the system you must get educated and arm yourself with the tools you will need for battle. It is vital that you educate yourself BEFORE, not after you start spending your money on that group of legalized thugs who call themselves child protection workers and family law lawyers.

Many parents have lost their entire life savings fighting child protection agencies to get their children back out of care. Although many of the suggestions listed here have worked for many people, one thing that all readers must remember is that although the tips given here will help in a great number of cases, in many other cases the entire family law system is nothing but a crap shoot at best – anything goes. Get an incompetent or biased judge and you are going to lose no matter how good your case is. Remember, there is little justice and equality in Canadian family courts and most courts consider child protection agencies as friends of the court to be trusted more than parents and extended families.

Write down your story and organize your documents One of the most important things you must do is to organize any documents you have which may be relevant to your situation, especially any court documents. If you are going to get help from anyone, including any lawyer or advocate, it is important that you be able to get that person quickly up to speed on your case. It can cost you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, just to explain your case to a lawyer, money which should go to more important legal matters and in addition, frustrate attempts to get help because people may have difficulty in understanding your situation. To get your case organized you should prepare the following:

Prepare a short synopsis of your case You should have a synopsis prepared for your case, ideally compressed into one or two pages which very briefly summarizes your circumstances past and present. This is useful to give to lawyers and advocates who need to be quickly introduced to your matter.

Prepare a detailed written history of your case up to the present time in chronological order To back up your short synopsis, write the history of your case down from when it began to the present. Don’t get too involved with intimate details but keep things general in order to keep the document from getting too long. List dates and a brief summary of what happened on the date. Items you should indicate in your story should include court appearances and the outcomes, dates your spouse may have left home, meetings at schools with children, dates you were served documents and times when any major incident occurred in your family including police or any other official. If you want others to be able to get help from others then you need to be able to quickly tell them your story so that they will be able to quickly understand. Ideally, put your story on a


computer document so that you can print up multiple copies and distribute it by E mail to those who may be interested in helping you. Properly done, someone reading your history should be able to understand how you arrived at your circumstances with only a few questions. Your documented history will also make it much easier to have people support you as they can get a clearer picture of your circumstances without having to spend hours speaking to you in person. Have copies of all court documents and correspondence Court documents and correspondence related to your matter are of utmost importance. Get copies made of all court documents and get them in chronological order so that others can follow the history and development of your case. Have copies of all court Orders kept together If there are court Orders already issued, then you should keep these in a separate file in Chronological order so that a concise history of the court Orders can be clearly put into perspective.

***Note: Don’t write on your original documents. It is advisable that you keep at least one copy of all documents and letters free and clear of all writing and notes. You may find at some time that you may need to use some of these documents in your own court documents. Once documents are written on them, they are no longer considered to be true copies and cannot be certified as such. This could cause you a lot of additional time and expense. Should you also want documents critiqued by other professionals, quite often they will want an unmarked copy of your documents. If you want to mark up and make notes on your documents, then make a copy of the documents to be used as working copies and mark up your working copy.

A list of all the injustices that you or your children have encountered up to the present time Make a summarized list of all the injustices that you believe you and your family have been subjected to and by whom up to the present time. Summarize each incident separately. This will allow anyone who may be analyzing your case to quickly identify the wrongs in your case and to give their opinion of what you consider to be injustices.

A list of what you want to remedy the situation You should have a clear list of remedies for the problems facing you. If you go to court, you must be specific in what you want the court to do. Without clear direction on what you want, it is difficult for lawyers or other persons helping you to help you achieve your goals. Sometimes a good family court consultant or advocate can help you get your documents in order.

Get connected to the internet Just as connecting with local advocacy groups will help, get yourself connected to the Internet. One you are hooked up, locate parent support organizations and find out as much as you can about the legal system and the child welfare protection system. Search under “child welfare protection agencies” and do a search of the child welfare protection agency you are dealing with. Read about the many horror stories about the experiences of people involved with the court system and with child welfare protection agencies. The past experiences of others will give you some of the best


insight as to what to look out for once you once you involved with a child welfare protection agency. Join in with E mail discussion groups that are focused on family law and child welfare protection agencies to obtain helpful advice. Be sure to join those in Canada as those on Canadian E mail groups will be best versed on Canadian court and laws. Quite often you can obtain sample court documents, case law and tips galore as to how to keep the court system and the child welfare protection system from screwing you and your children. Also join up with the ICQ network or some similar type of computer program that allows you to see which of your friends are on the internet at the same time as you are. This allows you to conference chat with a number of users at one time. It also allows others to know when you are on line and to make contact with you when you come are on-line.

Get yourself a fax machine A fax machine will be one of your most important and valuable tools. It is used to build an inexpensive and convenient paper trail to those involved in your cases such as social workers or lawyers. Get a fax machine for your home and for whenever you send faxes. The most important part of faxing is the hard copy fax receipt. A fax with a fax receipt is usually considered proof of receipt by the other party. Having a fax machine is crucial. For those with computers, the newer fax, copy and scanning machines are very helpful because they serve as a scanner as well to scan documents.

Get yourself a computer scanner Another piece of equipment which can be helpful for those who possess a computer, is a scanner. A scanner will allow you to make high quality electronic copies of documents which can then be e mailed out to others over the internet much more quickly and without any long distance charges. Scanned documents can be filed and assembled on a computer disk which can be invaluable to lawyers or advocates who may be helping you in your case. With scanned documents, at the press of a button you can send out an unlimited number of pages, whereas with a fax machine you still have to send pages one at a time.

Get a long distance phone package or phone card There are people from many geographic areas who may be able to provide help to you free of charge. If you are in a location that offers unlimited long distance phone rates for a fixed maximum rate, then sign up. Many of phone companies in major cities offer plans that limit maximum phone charges when calls are made after 6 pm during the week and all weekend to $20 a month. This is a good deal when you think of the amount of money you can save and the advice you can get for free. Another excellent option are many of these low cost phone cards which offer rates as low as 1 cent per minute. Make personal contact over the phone with those that you become aware of over the internet. Join in with the movement to clean up Canada’s disgraceful and corrupt family courts.

Attend a support group for parents involved with child welfare protection agencies or family court Another good source of help is a local separated parent’s support or advocacy group that involves itself with the legal issues. Check around where you live and attend meetings held by the groups.


Usually the groups offer a different focus so try them all and go to the one that you find most helpful for your situation. Support groups generally do not provide as much help as do advocacy groups who more actively involve themselves in your case. If there is no support group in your area, then start one of your own up. Local support in invaluable so the more people you can gather in your community to support what you are doing, the better. Numbers represent a threat to the system, especially if they are organized in spreading the word in the community so help support such organizations by joining up as a member. One thing that you should be aware of is that groups such a Parents Without Partners are social groups usually consisting of members looking for new partners and should not be confused with groups that help with the legal and emotional support issues surrounding separation or divorce.

Join local advocacy groups to obtain assistance and to become a local advocate A number of groups and organizations exist in various communities. Many of these organization work to ensure accountability in the court system and with child protection agencies. Join up and become a member of these advocacy groups. Attending family court on a number of occasions will allow you to observe what goes on in court and allow you to better understand what you are up against. Being in the court will also help to ensure justice in someone else’s case. Some of these organizations may be involved in sending observers into the courts to watch the courts and to make sure that the judges are treating people with respect and equality. Many of those who go into court call themselves “Court Watchers.” Speak to other parents you meet in the court and ask them questions about their experience with the system. You can learn a lot from the experiences of others. . If you have a court matter before a particular court, you should remember to do your court watch activities in another court from the one you will be attending as a party to a court action. Even if some of their services or information they provide costs some money or if you are asked to make a donation to help in their cause, the costs of the advice you receive may far outweigh the benefits you receive and the money you save on lawyer’s fees. Remember lawyers have a vested interest in protecting their turf and making money off of people’s litigation, whereas independent citizen based organizations are usually trying to help parents minimize litigation to the benefit of families. Caution: If you are currently involved in an ongoing court matter or child better matter, do not advertise your involvement with these advocacy groups. Courts and child protection agencies in most cases will try to make you appear to be a bad person because you are a member of a group. Unless you are prepared to accept the risk of participation in an advocacy group, keep your involvement confidential and ask other members of the group to maintain your confidentiality.

Gather your family and friends into a support group If you have a good network of family and supporters, you should make a written list of whom you can rely on for help and support in court. A good family support group and be instrumental in helping ensure justice in your family law matter. The bigger your family support group, the more


difficult it is for the court and/or child protection agency to perpetrate injustice against you or your children.

Read books and gather information Another good way to get educated is to gather information on the subject of lawyers and the family justice system. Go the library or bookstore and check what publications are available. Many internet sites operated by support groups may provide a good source of books and information as well. Good information can also be obtained through other parents who have experience with the court system and from support or advocacy groups. Often it is not your ex you have to worry about the most but the lawyers and the system itself. Get to know the enemy you are going to be dealing with!

Seek out any free legal aid clinics In some court jurisdictions you may find that they offer free legal clinics to help people, especially those who are representing themselves. It’s a good idea to attend to see what information you can pick up. Be aware however, that the information you get at these clinics will be mild and sterilized by the system to convince you that justice prevails in court. Some of the materials will be helpful but a lot is propaganda by the system to push you out to see a lawyer and to convince you that going to court is the right way to do things. Quite often some of the best information you can obtain from attending these free clinics is the names of other people who you can make contact with afterwards. If you do attend any of these clinics, be sure to get the names and phones number of others who attend. Make yourself up a card ready to pass out before attending and pass this out to people at the legal clinic. It is also advisable to covertly carry a electronic recording device into the meeting to record the meeting. You never know what incorrect advice may be said by those giving the clinic to those who ask questions!

Familiarize yourself with applicable legislation If you have children, get yourself a copy of all legislation that deals with children and separation and divorce. Buy a copy or photocopy it from a friend. Many support groups have copies of laws available. In Ontario, legislation about children is contained in the Children’s Law Reform Act. Take the time to read and study these documents and familiarize yourself with what impact the laws can have on your case and how you can best argue the law to your favour.

Before you get ripped off by a lawyer, attempt mediation or other forms of conflict resolution Before you put down big bucks hiring a lawyer, attempt to resolve matters through some form of dispute resolution system outside of a lawyer. Generally, it is much less costly. If it fails and the other side was uncooperative during attempts to resolve matters, then this may be in your favor in court. Generally, Judges look more favorably on persons who have tried everything before going to court and less favorably on those who appear to want to take the other person to court as their first course of action. For those with nothing to hide and most agreeable to having the truth exposed, open mediation is best because anything that is said or done during mediation can be brought as evidence before a court. For example, if a mediator felt that one of the parties was negotiating in bad faith and or


failing to be honest during mediation, then this could be brought to the attention of the court under an open mediation process, whereas in a closed mediation process it could not. Generally the party who has something to hide generally tried to keep discussions behind closed doors. Many mediators as well prefer to have closed mediation, not because it is better, but they often don’t want to help in court to get the truth out.

Get yourself a phone recording device and mini recording device to carry with you Get yourself a recording device specifically for your phone line and make sure you have lots of blank tapes handy if is uses tapes. Many electronic stores such as Radio Shack sell phone monitoring devices or add on devices that can convert a portable recording device with a microphone input into a phone monitor device. Never speak to your ex spouse, her lawyer, police, Children’s Aid workers or others you don’t trust without your recording device operating. You cannot lawfully record a conversation between two other parties but you can tape your own without telling the other party providing you are a party to the conversation. The bottom line is that if people are being honest and speaking to you the way they should be then what is on the tape will never be needed. You will be surprised, however, what people will say to you when you least expect it, especially police and social workers and lawyers. Some of what they say may be helpful in your case later on. Also get yourself a mini-cassette recorder or digital recording device to carry in your person concealed and carry it with you AT ALL TIMES until your matters are finished in the court system. Again, always have it handy and ready to turn on when necessary such as when speaking to your ex in person or to officials such as the police, social workers, children’s aid workers and the lawyers. There are some high quality digital voice recorders that will tape for up to eight hours digitally without the use of actual tape cassette. They are small, compact and good quality and on top of that are totally silent in their operation. A good, high quality, recording device can literally gather the evidence necessary to win your case! For your cellular phone you should have a method for taping calls as well. Taping calls from a cell can be more difficult so you should check with the retailer of your cellular phone to see what options are available to tape off your cellular phone. Some of the spy shops also sell equipment that works with cellular phones. If you can’t record on a cellular phone, then do not accept any calls on your cellular phone from your former partner or from anyone else you don’t trust. Instead tell the other parties you are with someone and that you will call them back when you are alone. Call back when you are at home and can tape record the call.

The Radio Shack 43-473 makes an excellent, low cost recording device for home and is readily available at most Radio Shack stores. It uses tapes so the user does not need a computer to

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Recording your cell phone calls When dealing with child protection agencies it is always a good idea to be properly set up to easily record your cell phone calls as well in case child protection workers call you while you are away

Shown here is the Archos Jukebox MP3 Recorder which is one of a growing number of readily available portable hard drive recorders on the market today. This handheld MP3 player doubles as a portable 6-gigabyte hard drive which lets you record directly from any audio source, using the stereo line-in jack. It will also work as a standalone, high-quality voice recorder. Just like the long play digital recorder, these hard drive units record for extended periods of time and at high quality.

The built-in 6GB Fujitsu hard disk means the Archos can hold 6,000 minutes of CD-quality music, which is more than 100 CD's! Price is in the $300 to $400 price range.

Shown here is a simple hookup for a recording device to a phone line. Shown here is an interface device from the electronic chain “The Source” which sells for under $25. The interface takes only a few minutes to set up.

Shown here is the Jazz pocket High Definition video recorder. It can record 2 hours of video on a 2 gigabit memory card. It fits in the palm of your hand and uses an with an HD memory card, it has no moving parts. Canadian Tire has sold these for approximately $150 Canadian. This can be hidden to record CAS workers in your home or to record interviews between CAS workers and children on location.


from home. Recording your cell phone calls is fairly easy as well. In addition to the cell phone, all that is needed is an electronic recording device, a hands free microphone/earphone adaptor for the phone (this is a standard hands free option for cell phones) and a phone/recorder interface. The phone recorder interface is available from the Source for about $39.

Always assume that you are being recorded Never doubt that those associated with the child protection agency may have read this document as well and may be electronically recording you. This should also apply if you are involved in conflict with an ex-partner. If you have nothing good to say on the phone or in person, then don’t say it because it will likely be used against you in some worker’s report. Keep ALL your anger and frustration under control and never say anything over the phone or in person that you may regret having said later. Workers will take every emotion you demonstrate and twist it around in an attempt to make you look like you have a mental or anger management problem. Keep all discussions businesslike and polite. This advice applies when you are talking on the phone or in person. One positive aspect about electronically recording is that it can often help to keep normally hostile parties honest and polite to each other. If knowledge of a recording device keeps you more honest as well, then a good purpose has been served. The bottom line is that everyone talks honestly and openly, the presence of recording devices will be redundant as nothing will be recorded of any value. In reality this is the way that things should be. Some things to watch when speaking to your kids:

1) Never tell them how bad you feel because you can’t see them. This will be seen as making them feel guilty.

2) Never discuss plans about them running away from the child protection agency.

3) Never be critical of the actions of the child protection agency or its.

4) Never talk about court matters unless what you are talking about is age-appropriate for the children.

This end plugs into the cell phone

earphone jack This is the hands free microphone/earphone

The black box is the phone recorder interface


5) Never make noises or phrases which are intended to make you sound angry or frustrated such as “Oh God”, “Jesus”, “damn”, “this is crazy” or “isn’t that lovely” (in a derogatory manner) . Whatever you do, don’t use foul language when you speak to your children.

6) Never put the kids under pressure by blaming them for being in care. The best thing to do when you talk to your kids is to talk nice to your kids and to let them do the talking by asking them non leading questions to get them talking on certain subjects. If you are having doubts about how you converse with the children then have a third party review and critique some of your conversations with the children and to train you in the skill of speaking with your child in a non leading manner. If you are recording your conversations then learn to be a listener, not a talker. If you are recording your conversation with any child protection workers or any professionals associated with their agency, then don’t use the phone as a sounding board for your emotions. Try to let the person on the other end of the line do as much of the talking as possible. The biggest mistake that many parents make who are at distraught is to end up getting very little evidence because they ended up doing all the talking by going on and on about how they feel and about how angry and hurt they are! Parents who are distraught often end up interrupting the worker’s response as soon as the other party says something that upsets them which unfortunately if often in the middle of what could have been good taped evidence. Often, a party will make the mistake of using suggestive or leading questions in a confrontational manner.

Whenever you do have the opportunity to talk to child protection workers you trying to gather evidence on tape, then have a list of questions prepared before you speak to them and when you do have the opportunity to speak to them and ask them questions then give them time to respond fully without interruption. If they are asking you a question, then let them finish with their question fully and then respond to their question. If you don’t have an answer for them, then tell them you will call back after you have had time to think about your answer to their question. If you ask a question, then don’t interrupt the other party’s response or their question to you. The purpose of tape recording a call is to gather important evidence that may be helpful in court to show the willingness and ability of the parties to work things out and to be reasonable. The same thing applies if you are taping in person. Remain focused on the items of concern and stick to questions and answers as much as possible.

Get yourself a still camera and video camera A camera is also a good tool to have in your family court defense kit. A digital camera is the best to get as you can take lots of pictures at minimal cost. Digital pictures can easily been transferred by e mail to others who may be assisting you in your case if needed. . If you don’t have access to a digital camera then a regular camera can do the job as well, but when developing the film, have the film processor have the prints put digitally on a disk. Retailers such as Walmart offer this service for an additional charge of about $4 if done at the time you develop your pictures. Pictures tell a thousand words and good pictures can help in your court case and when dealing with professionals. Pictures can be submitted to the court as evidence of your parenting skills and your relationship with your child. A video camera can also be useful to produce clips which can be shown in court during a trial. It is


generally difficult to show video’s during the hearings prior to a trial as it is more cumbersome to bring into the court room. But this does not mean you should not try! Bring in your own laptop computer or arrange ahead of time to have a TV or monitor reader in the courtroom.

Use of a concealed video camera or professional surveillance camera can be helpful Many parents have reported child protection workers coming to their home and threatening them or their children or saying just plain stupid things. Some parents have reported that even workers will fabricate false allegations such as claiming that parents assaulted them when they came to a parent’s home. A surveillance video with audio camera in your home can be a valuable tool in your arsenal of tools to catch those unscrupulous child protection workers at their dirty tricks. Incidents caught on camera could give you the evidence needed to sue them in civil court or at the very least get them out of your lives. One trick that some parents do is to hide just a regular video camera in the room where a child protection worker may be expected to meet with parents. Video cameras can be hidden behind plants or boxes or concealed in other ways. A person’s imagination is the only limitation. A more elaborate way in which to capture video is to use a wireless mini-video camera. These are readily available at many of the large electronic stores or spy shops and are relatively inexpensive. A lot of information can be found on the internet by searching under “spy cameras.” These cameras are almost undetectable and are easily hidden and several cameras can be set up in the same home which will feed back to a home computer or home recording device.

A wireless pinhole camera which is not much bigger than a battery such as the one shown to the left can be easily hidden in any area of your home to capture images and sounds of persons who may be abusing their power and authority to intimidate or threaten you or members of your family. Images are sent back to a home computer or video recording device in another room or a next door home or apartment.

Make your home clean and safe Child protection workers will try to find anything they can to use against you. If workers are coming to your home, make sure you do a good general cleanup of your home before they come. Clean the house and clean up your child’s room before the workers come over. Check for safety hazards and check that smoke detectors are working properly. Don’t leave the obvious for them to find and use against you.

Keep yourself healthy and financially strong Remember that one of the strategies used by child protection workers is to wear you down and make you financially broke before you get too far in the system. Eat good, fight hard and rest when


you need it. Don’t push yourself over the edge because that is just what the workers would like you to do. A strong person has a much better chance of keeping up the battle and winning in court.

Maintain an accurate diary of events No matter what part of the system you are being persecuted by, you should maintain an up to date diary of events involving your matters with child protection workers. Make references to phone calls, persons you spoke to and letters sent and received. These records could be instrumental in winning your case or having costs awarded to you as a result of persecution against you by others. Don’t leave things up to memory! Don’t be intimidated and don’t be afraid to FIGHT BACK! The whole system including lawyers, courts, judges, social workers, etc. often use intimidation and threats as their main tools to get you and your family to do what they want you to do and to keep you from fighting back. They want you to lie down and take what the system wants to dish out to you without complaining. One of the reasons why gowns are worn in court by lawyers and judges is to intimidate people. By making the court process look like some ancient ritual and making the judge look like some kind of god elevated up at the front of the room, it is supposed to make many people feel afraid and intimidated. The system is playing psychological warfare on you while it tried to screw you and give the impression of justice. Those in the system want to make you scared of them and to bow down and kiss their feet. The rules are made difficult and complex just so that the ordinary person won’t know what to do without having a lawyer to guide him/her. Even courthouses are deliberately made spacious and elegant to impress you and make you feel humble when you enter. When you feel afraid of the system, you are easily led down the garden path by those in it, waiting for you to enter with your open wallet and blank cheque ready. The biggest mistake that many people do is that they let their fear of the consequences of fighting the system control what they do. Fear will:

1. Often make people afraid to file a complaint about the lawyer on the other side out of fear that the lawyer will get upset at them

2. Not file a complaint about a judge because it might get the judge or their lawyer upset.

3. Not do things that will benefit their case just because they fear it will upset the other side. Don’t forget, this is exactly what the other side is always trying to do.

Even judges will tell you things that they know are not true knowing that you will likely to believe them. For example, tape recording your case in court is permitted under law in Ontario yet bring a tape recorder into court and the judge will tell you that you are not allowed. They don’t like tape recorders and they don’t want you want you to know what was said in court without having to spend huge sums of money on court transcripts which hinder your ability to go to trial. Even the costs of transcripts can financially harm you. In some cases, you may be told not to complain about another lawyer or social worker who has caused harm to your case. Those in the system don’t want their clients to rock the boat too much because these people that they have complaints about are quite often the same people that work together on other cases. Even your lawyer may tell you not to do certain things that could be to your benefit, such as hiring paralegals or child advocates, because your lawyer does not want to be


seen by the judges and others in the system as letting his/her client get “out of control.” Often those representing themselves are afraid to go after the lawyer they are up against and allow themselves to be intimidated by the other side’s lawyer. If you want to get the most out of the system and to improve your chances of doing good in the system, then do not be intimidated and let your fear of a fight prevent you from what you feel in your heart is the right thing. If you want to get somewhere you must gain respect of the system and your opponent and the only way to do this is to start by FIGHTING BACK! When everyone starts fighting back, then the system will begin to change. Keep your appointments and value the time of those who assist you Good help and advice is hard to find yet it is one of the most important commodities you should value when you have found it. If you really want to save money on lawyers and want to get as much information as possible from other sources, then do your best to keep time and monetary commitments with outside sources of help. In many cases, outside sources can provide valuable information and at a much lower cost than lawyers. If you waste the valuable time of these outside sources or give problems in paying for services, you may very well find yourself without much needed help at a time when you need it the most. Too often, people will go to a lawyer and pay thousands of dollars for advice from a lawyer and get ripped off yet complaint when they are expected to pay relatively small amounts of money to get good advice from a non-lawyer source that saves them hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Don’t expect professional help in your case for free There are many good sources of information that you can obtain for free some of which have been listed at the end of this document. Much valuable information can be obtained for free from support groups and internet based groups. When it gets down to professional help in your very own case, it is very difficult to find others who will be able to directly involve themselves in your case without having to charge for their time. This is where advocates and consultants fill in. Giving general information and guidance over the phone or during group meetings is one thing, but involvement in individual cases can be very time consuming for outside parties. Don’t expect people outside of your family and friends to get intimately involved in your case without having to reimburse them for their time. Don’t forget, those people have bills to pay and families to raise as well. After all, would you work for free?

Make an offer to settle and a plan of care as early in the game as possible If you are fighting a child protection agency, be sure to put forth a fair offer to settle, in writing, as soon as possible. This is usually done with a document called a plan of care. This offer should set the stage well ahead of the court game and show others that you were trying to work out a reasonable settlement and help deflect some of the claims that lawyers are going to make that you are controlling and manipulative. To be effective, a plan of care must be detailed and be visually effective. Use pictures effectively in your plan of care. Always remember that it is the Court which makes the final decision if your plan of care for your child is acceptable, not the child protection agency. Many agencies will tell parents that their plan of care is not acceptable to them, so many parents give up before going further. If you think that you have a good plan of care, then be sure that it is presented to the court. Do not let the child


protection agency or your own lawyer convince you to not submit a plan of care if you think it is a good one, even if the child protection agency says no. Child protection agencies do not want you to put in a good plan of care and will engage in many tricks so that you will not submit one.

Make a home video and slide presentation of your relationship with your child If you are facing any allegations of being a poor or abusive parent by child welfare protection workers or facing claims that your children are not happy in your home or do not want to be with you, then produce a home video or slide presentation of your relationship with your child. Edit the video, add some music to spice it up to show how much fun you and your kids have together. Spice up a slide show in the same way by adding music and special effects. A digital camera and digital video camera can be very helpful in this area as digital photography is very convenient to edit into an impressive presentation. These video tools can make it very difficult for child welfare protection agencies to take your child or to interfere with your family when you have visual evidence which clearly can show to the court the opposite to what child welfare protection agency workers are attempting to allege.

Spend time with your child and strengthen your child’s relationship with you and your family In many cases, child welfare protection workers will attempt to weaken your child’s attachment to you. This is one of the reasons why they take your child. If workers have not taken your child, but you are fearful that they might take your child at some time, be sure to maintain a strong bond with your child. Having a strong relationship with your child will help to maintain your child’s bond and make it more difficult for child protection workers to break that bond.

Don’t make yourself an open target In Ontario it is unlawful to publish any information about a court matter in which a child is the subject of a child protection court proceeding. For this reason, parents must be very careful not to publish their names or photographs of themselves or their children in the public media about their legal matters. This includes publishing information about their court matters on the internet. Parents found breaking this law will likely be charged and taken to court by CAS agencies. One way in which CAS agencies silence parents is to tie them up in court and to financially break them. This keeps the parents tied up and CAS lawyers making money in the process. If part of your fight is to take your matter into the court of public opinion, then do it in a manner which will not allow CAS agencies to catch you breaking the law. This only hurts you and help give the CAS more money. Information about your case can still be published in the public domain but names must be blanked out or initials used. Pictures and videos must have the faces pixilated. Even if CAS workers know that it is you, this does not matter. Only the public must not be able to identify the child who is the subject of the proceeding. Once court matters have been closed then it is fair game to publish in the public domain. Don’t be afraid to fight back at the CAS but don’t cross the line when it comes to publication of information while your child protection matter is before the courts.


Part 4

Information and tips about child protection agencies (Children’s Aid Societies in Ontario)

This section gives some tips about how to protect yourself from the various child welfare protection agencies which are referred to as Children’s Aid Agencies (CAS) in Ontario. Similar agencies exist in most provinces under various names but all should be approached with caution using the same strategies as outlined here. Very similar to the Office of the Children’s Lawyer, social workers and lawyers are what drive these agencies in their objective to intrude in the lives of families in the name of “protecting” children. However, it must be mentioned that there are legitimate cases where child welfare protection agencies do provide a valuable service in protecting children. The real problem is that most of the workers with these agencies seem unable to use common sense to differentiate the cases where workers need to intervene in a family and when they should back off.

Educate yourself about these agencies Many parents and children have told of horrendous experiences with various child welfare protection agencies. The child welfare protection agencies are supposed to protect children at risk but in many cases they take kids away from good homes and loving parents and in some cases help parents who are abusing their children to keep abusing children. Child welfare protection agencies have placed children in homes where the children have ended up being murdered and sexually abused. To protect yourself you must understand these agencies and how they work and how their workers think. Do research to find out about the failures of these agencies so that you know just what they are all about. Everything that child protection workers see and everything you tell them WILL be used against you in a court of Law! Always be aware that child protection workers talk to you about helping your family. They do this to get you to take your guard down and then ask you all kinds of questions and have nice little cozy meetings with you. While they butter you up with reassuring words, they are taking notes of everything you say. They will ask you about your childhood and about how your parents treated you. Everything bad that happened to you as a child or growing teen will be used to paint a picture that you were raised in a dysfunctional or abusive family. If your parents argued when you were a kid, it will likely be marked down that they were dysfunctional or abusive. The less you say to these workers the better and the less bad things you say about your past, the better. They will pry into your current and past relationships to see if there is any violence or abuse. All information that may involved arguments or abuse by a current or past partner will be used against you. For instance, even if you were in an abusive situation, you will be blamed for exposing your children to abuse by having the wrong kind of partners in your home. In reality, trying to place blame on someone else will only case child protection workers to find you to blame as well. After all, they will blame you for make the choice of who you chose to be your partner. Remember, the less you tell workers about your past or about your relationships, the better.


Join up with internet based chat and support groups A good source of information is often found on chat boards or other internet based sources of information. Many of those participating on these groups are former victims of child protection agencies and have much valuable information that can help other people. Join up with as many such groups as you can find and especially join up on their personal chat groups. Everyone you can make contact with may be able to provide you with much valuable information. A couple of the organizations in Canada with chat boards are Canada Court Watch and the Foster Care Council of Canada which have websites at:

http://www.afterfostercare.com/ http://www.canadacourtwatch.com/ http://www.fixcas.com Understand why many child protection workers are the way they are It must be emphasized that not social workers with child welfare protection agencies are biased and incompetent. Many truly believe that they want is what is best for the children. However, a number of influences have contributed to the problem of bias and incompetence with those who work as professionals. Feminist slanted training with workers in schools and general bias against fathers, single mothers and families in the court system has created a situation where professionals tend to go along with what they know the biased justice system wants, rather than recommending what they feel is right for children. Many workers and lawyers do not want to step out of line to rock the boat so they tend to tow the line and lean reports in favor of what child protection agencies want. They know that the courts favours child protection agencies and the court is generally expecting to get reports from outside agencies that also favour child protection agencies. When child protection agencies are involved in a child custody and access dispute, between the two parties, the mother is often the favoured party.

Support from family, ex-partners, friends and community is your most powerful weapon to protect your children The best way to respond and prevent further systemic abuse by child welfare protection agencies is to collaborate with other family members and with other people in the community. Child welfare protection agencies get scared off when the reasons they use to intrude into your family are weak and not supported by other reasonable people in the community who are familiar with your family. The more people you can get to support you in taking a reasonable position, the better off you are. If you are divorced or separated, the support of the other parent of your child can be an a most powerful positive influence. Gathering the support of family and friends into a cohesive group is often called “family group conferencing” and applies the principles of what is referred to as “Restorative Justice”

Educate your friends and supporters about these agencies. One of the problems that many parents face when dealing with child welfare protection agencies is sometimes convincing members of their own family and friends just what they are up against. The problem is that most members of the public have the perception that these child protection agencies and their workers are highly qualified and capable of no wrong. When child protection workers


involve themselves with your family there is often some doubt by friends and neighbours that maybe you did something wrong. Few people have heard of the corruption that child welfare protection agencies have done and the persecution they have done to children and families. There have been many deaths and sexual assaults of children while in the case of child protection agencies. One woman foster care worker from Ontario was charged with fourteen counts of torturing children and brought before the courts in 2002. To help counter some of this doubt that potential supporter have, you should arm yourself with books and publications which expose these child protection agencies. Loan these materials to your friends and neighbours to let them know that these child welfare protection agencies have been guilty of some gross atrocities against children and families. By exposing potential supporters to some of the dirty laundry by child welfare protection agencies, you will gain more support in your battle against them. Understand the agency’s role in the community and join up as a member Most people think that child welfare protection agencies are government agencies and that the workers are government employees. In reality, each child protection agency in Ontario is an independent community-based charitable organization with a local director and board of directors. Workers are not government workers but private employees working for the charitable agency. They operate just like any other business in your community. Although they get their money from the government they are not the government. As a member of the public you can join up as a member and have a vote in who runs the operation. As a member you can have access to their bylaws and membership directory. Should you need to solicit the support of other members in the community you can start calling the other members for support to make changes to the bylaws and procedures of the agency.

Get to know the laws and procedures that govern these agencies Child welfare protection agencies work under government legislation. In Ontario this legislation is called the “Child and Family Services Act.” Social workers generally are regulated under the “Social Work and Social Services Act 1998” You should get a copy of this government Act and read it thoroughly and highlight any areas of the Act that seem applicable to your case. The Act is available through the Internet. Another thing that you can do is to study about child custody assessments. This will allow you to better understand what is in the best interest of children and to understand what constitutes a risk to the child. Should workers fail to do a proper report then you may have legal recourse to sue them but in order to do so you will have to understand yourself just what it was that they did wrong. Review the “Best Practice for the conduct of a Child Protection File” videotapes Parents can help to educate themselves by learning about the way in which a child protection file is supposed to be conducted by a child welfare protection agency and the lawyers. A good source of information is a videotape program which was produced by the Law Society of Upper Canada in 2004 (Ontario Lawyers) based on a two day program given to lawyers and social workers in Ontario called “The Best Practices for the Conduct of a Child Protection File”. Videotapes are available


from the Law Society of Upper Canada in Toronto or from some other parents or advocates who may already have previously purchased the tapes. Obtaining previously viewed tapes or DVD’s from other parents can save money as original tapes cost in excess of $300 Can. You would also be advised to have your lawyer review these videotapes, if he/she has not already seen them. If your lawyer has not reviewed these tapes, then ask that your lawyer purchase a copy from the Law Society for his/her office and to allow you to view the tapes for free. Your lawyer should be as up to date as possible on the procedures and you should not have to pay to educate your lawyer. Make child protection workers accountable with the help of a third party One of the most powerful ways to protect yourself against their shoddy, biased and unprofessional involvement is to hire your own independent child or family advocate to monitor the activities of the child welfare protection agency in your case. Make sure that the child welfare protection agency is aware that you have trained persons helping you. The child welfare protection agency will have to take extra caution in the work they do because they know that they will not be able to pull the wool over your eyes with a trained support person helping you to scrutinize ever move they make. They will not like this and may try to intimidate you to get rid of the support person. Child welfare protection workers will not like having a third party involved and will try to tell you that you cannot do this. When it comes to using a third party to protect you, do not let child welfare protection workers manipulate you into a position where you are up against workers alone. Always remember, one of the goals of most social workers and lawyers is to single you out and isolate you so that others, especially those who are trained, are not made aware of what is going on in your matter. In many cases, they want to screw you and your children but to do it in a manner so that others will not be able to see what they are doing. If the child welfare protection agency ever tells you that they don’t want the child speaking to any other third party, then ask them why. Do this over the phone and tape record their answer to you. If they don’t want to answer this question on the phone, then that tells you that they got something to hide and that they are were trying to screw you from the very beginning. At that point ask the same question in writing and if they don’t respond then fire off a complaint letter and copy it to as many Members of Parliament as you can to expose their failure to be accountable. You may also try to get their response on tape in person by concealing a hidden tape recorder on your body and speaking to them in person. Don’t refuse worker interviews with your children – take control by preparing yourself and your child for the interview instead You may be faced with a situation in which child welfare protection workers may show up at your home or call you unexpectedly and wish to have an interview with you or your child on short notice. If you refuse to speak to workers or refuse to allow them to speak to your children, chances are they will turn up at the school or at your home with police to interview the children. They will then claim that you were uncooperative and refused to allow them to see the child, which will only make it look like you have something to hide and are guilty of something. If you have nothing to hide, then you should not be fearful of having them interview your children.


Instead of refusing, you should agree to an interview at your home or at your office. Don not permit workers to meet with your child at school as this is unlawful and will damage your relationship with the school. Be sure that you are ready to electronically secretly record the meeting. If workers agree to a meeting at your home with your child then hide a recording device in the location where the child will interviewed at home. If you agree to have your child interviewed at CAS offices then tell the worker that you want the meeting electronically recorded. Quite often it is not what the workers write in their report but how they twist it around to reflect what they want it to be. Workers often don’t ask the children questions which may give an indication of the children’s wishes and preferences. Having an electronic recording of the meeting can help prevent a worker twisting the children’s words around and ensure that questions are not leading the children. Having a third party present with workers when they interview children can also keep things above board and accountable. Don’t let them snoop into your private life or your home If you are unfortunate enough to have child protection agencies involved with your family for some minor problem, you may be faced with a situation where the worker wants to come and meet your children at your home. When they show up they may ask if you could show them around your home. If the nature of their involvement has nothing to do with sanitary or living conditions in your home then they have no right to be snooping around your house. Quite often they may use the opportunity of being at your house to snoop to see if they can find anything else that they can use against you. If they ask, then ask them what relevance there is to looking around your home in relation to the protection concern they are investigating. If their nose gets a bit out of joint then tell them that you have heard a lot of horror stories about child protection agency workers and that you don’t trust them. If you have one of the publications that contain articles about child welfare protection workers, then show the worker your book of articles and say this is why you don’t trust them. When workers see that you are knowledgeable about child protection agencies, then they are more likely to back down and leave your family alone. Remember as well, to try to get this all on audio or video tape. You may catch a worker losing their cool at you and you may be lucky enough to catch them in the act and with the evidence get them fired.

Get lots of pictures of the children with parents, siblings and other family members Pictures can say a thousand words about the relationship between a child and parents and/or other members of the family. Good pictures can be powerful evidence before a court and can help convince a judge not to allow a child welfare protection agency to take your kids. If you are under potential threat of having your children apprehended by a child welfare protection agency, then be sure that you have lots of pictures of your child in a photo album and keep the pictures up to date. Take pictures of the child with parents and family members which show the child having a good time. Keep these pictures up to date because if you have to go to court, the current pictures will be most relevant.

Make your home child and family friendly The perception that workers will get upon entering your home can significantly impact on how their perceive you as a person capable of caring for children. If you have not been paying attention to making your home child and family friendly then you should start to learn what to do to make your


home feel more like a home, not only for the benefit of reducing the risk of losing your child but for the sake of making your home feel like “home” for the child. Tips to make your home seem tidy and clean and more like a home to CAS workers:

1) Make sure your home is clean

2) Have pictures of children and family displayed in the home.

3) Display artwork that you child may have done

4) Have toys visible for the worker to see

5) Check safety – have a smoke alarm

6) Don’t have beer in your fridge or empty beer or alcohol bottles anywhere where they can be seen.

7) Don’t have any prescription drugs within reach of small children.

8) Have the fridge clean

9) Have food in your cupboards

10) Clean the stove

11) Clean kids rooms

12) Have dirty clothes picked up.

13) In general, keep your home tidy when workers come to visit.

Get you child to contact their own independent help If your child wants independent help from an outside support person, then have your child to write a letter to a child advocate asking for help. Some child advocates offer intake forms for children which will guide children to give the information they need, so if such a form is available then obtain one. If a form is not available then get your child to explain the problems that they are experiencing in writing and to ask for help. You may give your child a guide how to write the letter but do not help them write the letter. Let you child do the writing in the letter. Ideally, get your child to write the letter in their own handwriting as this will reduce allegations that someone else may have wrote the letter for the child. A letter provides solid evidence that the child wishes to speak to another person in case authorities try to isolate a child from contacting others. In the letter the child should include the following:

1) The date the letter was written

2) The return address & postal code

3) The problems, fears, concerns that the child is experiencing. The child should identify the names of people and the names of organizations that he/she is fearful or untrusting of.

4) What the child wants the advocate to help them do.

5) A request from the children to have the advocate contact him/her wherever he/she wishes to be contacted (Parent’s home, group home, home of a friend, etc.)

6) If possible a phone number where the child wishes the advocate to call him/her.


If you have a child in care of a CAS agency then the child can communicate directly with the outside advocate and the advocate can communicate with the child through the mail. For children who are in care of the Children’s Aid Society and who feel they are being abused by the agency who they are in care with can contact the child advocate’s office at: The Office of Child and Family Service Advocacy 250 Davisville Rd. Toronto, Ontario. Tel No: (416) 325-5669 E mail: [email protected] Executive Director: Judy Finlay (as of Sept 2003) The Office of the Child and Family Service Advocacy, unfortunately, does not deal with children who are not in the care of a CAS agency foster home or group home. Such children would include those from families involved with divorce or separation, parents are in dispute between themselves or where child protection workers are looking into the family but have not removed any children as of yet.

Gather a family support group and prepare your own family plan of care Child welfare Agencies do not like it when their work is being seen by too many people. The more people you get involved in your case, especially family members, the more the child welfare agency and its workers will have the watch what they do to your family. An effective way to combat a child welfare agency is to gather your friends and relatives together at a meeting to discuss the problems that have arisen as a result of the child welfare agency’s intervention and work up a plan for the children. There are some organizations who would be able to assist in this process. This process is sometimes referred to as family group conferencing and has been used by some child welfare agencies. If you and your family can come up with a properly prepared plan which addresses the concerns of the children’s aid agency and can have this ready as quickly as possible before any court action, the child welfare agency may be forced to accept your family’s plan as they may see that they do not have much chance of beating your plan in court.

Show solidarity with your former partner if you are divorced or separated. If you are separated and divorced and are having problems with a child welfare protection agency, it is always helpful to be able to show solidarity and cooperation with your former partner or ex-spouse. Under law, parents have the greatest rights to the children and even an ex partner may have rights that must be considered. Should you prepare a plan of care to deal with issues from a child welfare protection agency, it always helps the situation to be able to show that your former partner also supports your plan of care. In some cases, former partners can provide care for children on an interim basis when there may be a threat of your child being apprehended by a child welfare protection agency. It is always preferable to have children remain in care of capable parents or family rather than to have children remain in the care of a child protection agency.

Don’t denigrate your former partner or parent


If you go out of your way to paint the other parent of your child as violent, abusive or a deadbeat parent, then you are likely giving child protection workers more ammunition to use against you. If you complain about your former partner being abusive or controlling, then workers will label the parent as being a weak and unable to stand up for themselves. In many cases, if you admit that you remained in an abusive relationship, then workers may allege that you have failed to protect your child because of your choice to remain in an abusive relationship. Workers will make statements in their court documents that the parent is a victim of abuse to make the parent look like he/she has been battered. Many child protection workers will actually ask parents leading questions to make violence and abuse in their relationships look much worse than it may have been. Remember, that most of what one parent says against a former spouse will be written up in the court documents which of course will make the other parent angry and force them into a position where that other parent will have to say a lot of bad things as well. Part of the conquer and divide strategy is to play one parent or spouse against the other and to get the parties to make all kinds of wild allegations against each other so that the court will see both parents as unfit to care for their child. Laying blame on former partners only helps the child protection workers make you look worse as a parent. Use restraining orders against any former partners only as a last resort Restraining orders against former spouses help make it easier for child protection agencies to get involved and to take your child from you. Unfortunately, too many parents are encouraged by their lawyers to take our restraining orders against their former partners. Restraining orders are used by child protection workers to eliminate the other parent as a possible placement location and also to support their claims that the children may be exposed to violence. If you and your former spouse are having difficulties which require you to be separated, then make sure that these issues are settled outside of the courts. Restraining orders should be used only as a last resort. If child protection workers suggest that you get a restraining order against your former partner be very cautious. Chances are the worker knows that the restraining order will create additional conflict and help to justify the involvement of child protection workers in your family’s affairs.

Be cautious of demands by child protection workers that the female partner go to a women’s shelter or to woman abuse counselling One of the tricks that child protection workers sometimes use to disadvantage parents and to give the child protection agency greater control over the family is to convince the mother or step mother to go to a women’s shelter. Child protection worker often will suggest this when part of the concerns may involved family violence. Even if parents argue but are not physical with each other, workers will try to convince the women that she should be “afraid” and that she should go to a shelter. Sometimes, workers will convince the woman to go to a shelter with the children and tell her that by being cooperative that this will allow her to see her child sooner because she is now protected from her male partner. Workers will get women to go to the shelter because even in situations where conflict between the parents may be minor, having the women at the shelter will automatically make it appear to anyone else, including a judge, as if the couple are not functional and that there is a serious problem with violence in the home. Just the mere presence of the women in a women’s shelter will give the court the perception that violence exists between the couple at the home, which of course fits into the general strategy of dividing the parents in order to conquer them and to take away any children. If serious violence is not really an issue in a home, then having the


women go into a women’s shelter will ultimately benefit the agenda of the child protection workers to divide the family. Although there are some fair workers at some women’s shelters, in many cases, women have reported that workers at women’s shelters put pressure on them to destroy their former partners by keeping them from seeing the children and by throwing him in jail. In many cases, women’s shelters push the woman to destroy their children’s father. Anything to promote conflict within the family is to the interest of the child protection agency and against the interests of the children.

Make sure you are clear on whether your file is open or closed. Some parents have complained about being called by CAS months after their last contact with the family telling them that they want to conduct a follow-up call to previous work. If you were not expecting this and if it seems strange for the agency to contact you after such a long period of time, then take the time to write a letter to the worker who called asking to confirm if a file is open on your family and the purpose of the follow-up call. The bottom line is that child welfare protection workers have no rights to come around to your home to “check up” on you unless there is a file open on your family and a complaint before them, but on the other hand there is nothing illegal if they ask you and you give them permission to visit your home. If you are stupid enough to let them in to your home then you can’t blame the workers for coming. After all, the more cases they have, the more money the agency gets and the more secure are their jobs. Sometimes in a custody and access matters where parents are separated, social workers may just want to snoop in on your business for the purposes of providing the other parent with information to use against you or to justify an investigation. Workers may actively take sides with another parent in a plot to try to erode your rights to custody of your children. So before you let any worker into your home, confirm IN WRITING that a file is open and the reasons why they are investigating and why they feel what they are requesting is required. Get the agency to provide their concerns to you in writing! Most often child welfare agency workers will deal with you verbally and will not provide you with anything in writing. Sometimes they will call you and say that they want to follow up on a previous concern. They do this so as not to commit themselves or to have things on the record that they may regret later. They also do not like a lot of paperwork. One of the very first things that you should do is to request in writing that they provide you with a list of their concerns in writing. All written communication to the agency should be done by fax so that you will have proof that you sent them documents. It is advisable to have as much support in place and to have some parenting plan in place prior to forcing them to go on the record so that they do not try to get even with you before your are ready. They sometimes try to make examples of parents who try to challenge their authority.

Document everything! Make sure that all of the information you give the child welfare agency is documented in writing. Workers with the various child welfare agencies will often claim that they did not have certain information or that you did not tell them certain things. They will select what they want to use and conveniently forget to include anything that my help the parent they do not want to support. Without a record of you giving them information that you feel is important, they can ignore it and say they never knew about it.


Protect yourself from having your own letters used against you If you want to write something that you do not want an opposing lawyer or anyone else to use against you in court later, then add at the end of your correspondence the following statement:

"This document is private and privileged and the sender does not wave any rights to privacy, direct or implied in regards to the copying or distribution of the contents of this document to other person than the named recipient of this document."

Adding the above statement to your letter makes it a violation of your privacy for the person or agency you sent the letter to give this letter to anyone else who may consider using this letter against you. For instance, if you want to make a complaint about a CAS worker and you don’t want your letter to be shown up in other court documents claiming that you are nothing but a person who makes complaints, then this statement will prevent the person to whom you wrote the letter to from giving your letter to anyone else. If you are writing to a worker, be sure not to address your letter to the agency the worker is employed by, otherwise, the agency becomes the recipient of your letter. Remember however, that any letter you write, can be used if it can be seen as protecting the best interest of your child or if by writing the letter you have broken the law. For example, you cannot write a letter and threaten someone and still expect them not to be able to use your letter against you. Remember, use common sense when expecting your privacy rights to be protected. They don’t protect you when you break the law.

Bury them in their own paperwork! One very effective way to get them to back off is to bury them in their own paperwork. Child protection agents are used to intruding into the lives of those who are not able to defend themselves. Writing letters is one of most tedious tasks that child protection agents have so when you make a lot of work for them, then they get very discouraged. You should make all your requests for information in writing and ask that they respond in writing only. Do no accept phone calls or ask them to send confirmation of what was said on the phone in writing to you. The scariest part to workers about writing letters is that it makes them accountable. They might write something that can be used against them at a later date.

Get their credentials and background One important thing you should try do in every case is to get the background and resume of the social workers assigned to your case. Shortly after they have assigned a worker to your case inform the child welfare agency that you would like a copy of the worker’s resume. Often you may find that there background may indicate that they are very bias. In some cases, it has been found that social workers being assigned to cases by child protection agencies were actually working for a woman’s shelter or at counselling agencies closely associated with them such as anger management courses. Some of the social workers and lawyers have been found to have experienced bad relationships themselves and as a result harbour ill feelings about other people in good relationships with their family. You can be sure that where workers have a history of having problems with a person of the opposite sex that the recommendations from a child protection worker will often be in the favour of the parent they favour, no matter what the best interests of the child may be. Before you deal with a child welfare agency demand the following


• Request resumes of any social worker involved with your children’s case. • Find out how long the social worker has been with the agency. • Ask the social workers if they have had any complaints lodged against them with the

Ontario College of Social workers or any other professional licensing body in any province. Most often, however, the child protection agency will tell you that they cannot give out the background of the person. Although it is not illegal for them to deny you this information, it does not make the child protection agency look good. It is important that you ask in writing for this information and even if they reject your request, get their rejection in writing. Fire off a complaint to the MPP’s about the failure of the agency to give out the worker’s credentials.

Get the license plate numbers of workers’ vehicles You may at some time find yourself wanting to launch a lawsuit against one or more of the social workers with the child welfare protection agency. Whenever workers come to your home try to get a description of their care (make and model) and get their license place number. Sometimes when workers know you are trying to serve them with papers, they may try to avoid service. With the license plate number of their car, you may just find this handy if you do try to serve documents on them later.

Find out if workers assigned to your case are registered, or not registered, with the College of Social Workers (Ontario) In Ontario, all persons who call themselves “social workers” are supposed to be registered with the Ontario College of Social Workers. This is supposed to help maintain some minimum level of accountability within the social work industry. While most members of the public believe that workers with child protection agencies are “social workers”, a trick that most of the child protection agencies are using is to use unregistered workers do work on your family’s file. There is no requirement workers with a child protection agency be licensed but if these workers are not licensed with the College then they cannot refer to themselves as social workers. In some cases these unlicensed workers have a title such as, “child protection worker” or “intake worker.” If they are not licensed they cannot in any way refer to themselves as a social worker. Some CAS agencies have been using unregistered workers to speak to children at schools. Be sure that you check to find out the registration status of any worker who may be dealing with your children or asking questions with your child or who is part of any investigation. If you find out that any person working on your family’s file, is not registered with the College and is involved with making decisions which may include the apprehension of your child or the intrusion of the agency into your family then send a letter to the agency’s board of directors demanding that only registered workers be allowed to work on your family’s file. Also send a complaint letter to the College telling them that no unregistered person should be involved in matters which potentially involve removing a child from the care of his/her parents. Most workers do not expect members of the public to know about the College so in many cases, if child protection workers realize that you know about the College, they will be less likely to be arrogant when they deal with you.

File an official complaint if the worker claims to be a social worker and is not registered.


You may find at times, unregistered workers, many who often call themselves “child protection workers” stating in person or over the phone that they are social workers. In most cases these workers would like you to think that they are licensed and don’t thing you will know the difference. If you ask the question to them “Are you a social worker” and they answer “yes” to your question and they are not in fact registered with the Ontario College of Social Workers, then they have broken the law. If you catch one of these unregistered workers claiming to be a social worker, then you must immediately file a notice with the College of Social Workers. Ideally, if you have been vigilant in tape recording everything workers say to you, you will have the evidence to support your complaint and likely the grounds to have the worker dismissed.

Don’t get misled into having yourself or your children assessed or examined by one of their professional referrals! Be extremely careful if the child welfare agency suggests that you or your child be seen by one of the doctors or other professionals they recommend. Sometimes the child welfare protection agents may ask that you or your child go for psychological assessment or counselling. Quite often parties may be misled into going to see someone referred to them by the child protection workers as the child protection agency offers to pay for the cost so at first glance this would appear to be hard to turn down, especially if the only alternative is to have to pay out of your own pocket for these services. Child welfare workers will make it sound like these professionals are just selected at random from the community but more than likely, the professional they try to refer you or your child to gets lots of referrals from the child protection agency. Because of the close working relationship between the professional and the child protection agency the professional will write reports to favour what the child welfare workers want to do with you and your children. If child protection authorities attempt to refer you to one of their “own” professionals then insist that you will have the same work done by someone you select. When you do select a professional on your own, you should be asking if they get referrals from the child protection agency and if they do then find another professional.

Don’t consent to a release or direct examination of professional records of your or your child! Often, child protection workers will ask you to sign a consent form for the release or examination of your files from various professionals such as doctors, school officials, etc. Once child protection workers get you to sign these consent forms, then they can use your signed form as their justification to directly communicate to the professionals involved or to pay a personal visit. Allowing child protection workers to deal directly with professionals can create a significant problem. Often these consent forms are misleading and intended to put parents in a disadvantaged situation by including such statements in the disclosure such as the parent is signing the form of their own free will or that they acknowledge having had legal advice before signing the form. Child protection workers will do everything they can to pry into your personal matters while they cover their own butts. In many cases, parents are threatened or blackmailed to sign these “voluntary consent” forms or they will have their kids removed from them. This is why it is a good idea for parents to secretly tape record conversations with child protection workers. If you are able to get a child protection worker threatening you with removal of your children unless you sign the “consent” form, then the worker can be charged with blackmail which is a crime under the criminal code.


The first potential problem that can be caused by CAS workers communicating directly with professionals, is that workers can twist around what the various professionals may say to them over the phone or in person as there is no accurate account made of conversations. Don’t forget child protection workers will not audio record their conversations for this very purpose. There have been reports from professions that information submitted in court documents which was allegedly from professions was not what the professionals had verbally reported to the CAS workers involved. The second problem is that most professionals consider the involvement of a child protection agency a hassle for themselves and their staff. This could lead to a situation where the professionals may no longer want to deal with you or your family. In addition to the hassle, there is no record of what the child protection workers may say to the professional over the phone and as many parents have experienced in the past, child protection workers may paint you as a bad parent to the professional they have contact with. Parents may suddenly find themselves painted as child abusers by the various professionals which child protection workers may speak to over the phone. The best way to handle this situation is to simply advise the CAS workers to provide to you a list of what information they wish and their reasons for wanting this information and you will obtain it for them. You are to advise them that they are not to have any direct contact with the various professionals. By obtaining information for child protection workers yourself, you prevent workers from having the opportunity to speak to the professional directly.

Remember, their jobs depend on intruding into your family! Don’t ever forget that the various children’s aid agencies rely on the number of cases they handle in their community to get funding from the government. Although their mandate is supposed to be to help children, do not think for one minute that they will not want to make it their business to get themselves involved with your children. Don’t forget that huge sums of money are being charged by the various child welfare agencies back to the taxpayers whish is based on the number of cases that each agency has. More cases = more money = more jobs for social workers. When social workers see their case load getting low they will find the smallest reason to keep your file open. They will drag your case on for months and have endless meetings and consultations about your family’s situation because they get paid as they go. How would you like to be in a position to be given a blank cheque from the government every month. Remember one thing, the main interests of the agency and the workers are THEIR JOBS and MONEY. These agencies sure know how to soak the taxpayers for lots of money!

Use their own dirty laundry against them in court When facing child welfare protection agencies in court, the most important thing you can do is to show that your plan of action for the children is better than theirs. You may also have to discredit the child welfare protection agency by providing the court with examples of how children and families have been harmed by child welfare protection agencies and their workers. As many articles from newspapers and horror stories from other parents should be submitted as an exhibit in the court to show that child welfare protection agencies are not as credible as most courts believe them to be. Let the court record expose the incompetence of child welfare agencies and their workers.

File a complaint if they do a lousy job


If you find that the work done by the child welfare agency and its workers was poorly done and a waste of taxpayer’s monies then write a complaint letter to the Community and Social Services Minister in the province in which your reside. Write a well, written, concise letter and copy the letter to as many of the members of federal and provincial parliament as you can. GO PUBLIC with your story. There are services available that will distribute you letter free of charge to a wide audience. Ask why tax dollars are being spent to keep social workers involved with your family when they do nothing to help or in some cases make matters even worse for your family. Make an appointment with your Member of Provincial Parliament and tell them about your experience with the child welfare agency and tell them how money is being wasted.

Copy your complaint letter to the agency’s liability insurance company Insurance companies are becoming very concerned about insuring children’s aid agencies as a result of incompetence of workers. If you can, find out who supplies the liability insurance for the agency and send the president of the insurance company a copy of your complaint letter. The more heat that is put in the CAS agencies and the more people in the business community who know how these agencies are abusing children, the better. You may find it difficult to find out this information because child welfare protection agencies don’t want complaints to their insurer for the very reason that the insurer may see themselves being placed at risk of financial lawsuits and potential payouts.

Electronically record everything that CAS workers say! Social workers, lawyers and agents with various children’s aid agencies have been known to lie to parents, perjure themselves in court and distort the truth to the disadvantage of parents. Some will lie and change stories to protect themselves and their fellow workers. In order to protect yourself, anytime you talk to them on the phone use a tape recorder and anytime you meet them in person conceal a tape recorder on your body or in the room where you will be meeting with them. In most cases child welfare workers prefers to meet people alone although you will notice that at many formal meetings, especially those at the child welfare agency offices, they will have other social workers present on their side. This is so that their workers can have a witness to collaborate any story they may come up with while you have no way to support your side of what was said in their meeting. You will be amazed at what workers may say when you least expect it or how they may report that you said certain things when in fact you did not. A tape recorder can catch them when they screw up. There are now long play digital tape recorders which will record for several hours or more. These digital tape recorders, although more expensive that tape models, offer silent operation, high quality without the worry of tapes having to run out in the middle of a meeting. If social workers request to come to your home to interview your children in private, then this offers an excellent opportunity to tape record their activities. Hide a recording device or wireless microphone in the room(s) where CAS workers will be speaking to your child. You may be surprised at what you might hear the CAS workers saying to your children. Some parents have reported that they have caught CAS workers instructing their children to disobey their parents and to hide secrets from their parents. It should be noted that a recorded a conversation between two other individuals when the person doing the recording is not part of the conversation is illegal so certainly you should not keep any of the recordings unless something damaging is said by the worker to the child. You can challenge the social worker and if they lie and accuse you of making false allegations against them, then the recording can be used to support your allegations. It would be hard for you to get charged for tape


recording when you believed that your child was at risk under the influence of the social worker. Remember, family law is already a farce and judges break laws and violate our rights and freedoms all the time. If you feel that you have to break the law to protect your children and expose injustice then just do it. There is also case law which supports the rights of parents to record the conversations of their children with others if the purpose was to protect their children.

Secretly videotape interviews and meetings with child welfare protection workers Some of the social workers with the various child welfare protection agencies have been caught falsifying evidence and changing stories or falsely reporting information that parents give to them. Quite often they will ignore information that may be supportive of a parent. Often they will ignore or trivialize information that is beneficial to parents, especially fathers. If the child welfare protection agency is coming to your home, then attempt set up a video recorder in a location that cannot be detected by the worker and try to video tape your meeting with them. You never know what you may catch on tape and it may save your case and may even get the worker fired and possibly sued later on in a court of law.

Don’t let them search you for recording devices! Some child protection workers have learned the hard way that people are beginning to secretly tape record them. A few of these agencies may be so bold as to ask you to remove your coat or jacket, suspecting that you might have a recording device hidden on your body. They will usually not confront you directly by asking if you have a recording device, but will get you to put items such as coats which could hide a recording device in another room. Be aware that CAS workers have no right to search you or to ask that you have remove any article of clothing. If they ask for you to remove your coat and you don’t want to them tell them “no”. If they then tell you that they will not visit with you or allow you to see your child because you refuse to take off some clothing, then say to them “Do I understand that you are refusing to meet with me or allowing me to see my child because I am refusing to remove my clothes.” At that point you have them in a difficult situation. If you are recording them and they say that they will not meet with you because you refuse to remove clothing, then tell them that you are not going to stand for this humiliation and that you are left with no choice except to leave and that you will be filing a complaint with higher authorities. Go public with your complaint and distribute your complaint to all the Members of Parliament. Also follow up with a complaint to the CAS Board of Directors. After all, what are these workers afraid of saying? If workers are denying you access to your child then force the hand of the CAS by filing a motion in court for your access. The CAS workers will look like fools if they try to defend their actions in court saying that you would not consent to a body search by private CAS workers which all judges know are unlawful. If you have a small enough recording device you should be able to conceal it in your underwear or socks with a microphone extending up behind your clothing. Even if they do get you to take off your coat then you can still attend the meeting, record it secretly and then still complain about having to take your coat off after your meeting. In your complaint you should insist that all future meetings be openly tape recorded. Take a witness to meetings with you! Many workers with child welfare protection agencies generally don’t like to speak on the phone or give written reports realizing that what they say or write may be used against them later. They do


this to minimize getting caught in lies and cover-ups. Those social workers who are honest and credible will have no objection to you having support persons with you or putting all communication in writing or even having personal meetings tape recorded. Quite often you will be asked you to attend a private meeting at their office. The workers make this sound convenient and part of the normal process. In reality, they do this because they can have greater control over the meeting process in their own environment and can intimidate you even more with their fancy office environment. They will usually have a minimum of two or more people in attendance to provide witness to each other but will tell you to come to the meeting alone. This always keeps them in a position of having two people’s word against yours should workers slip up during the meeting and say something wrong. With this strategy, they will always be able to back each other up with lies, while you, without any witnesses, will be unable to support your side. To better protect yourself from this kind of scenario, take a witness such as a friend with you to these meeting and always carry a concealed tape recorder with you. If they tell you that you can’t bring anyone into the meeting with you then ask them why and see what their response is. If they insist then ask them if the meeting can be tape recorded by yourself. If they say no then tell them that the meeting is off and don’t attend. Never attend a meeting without a witness with you or without a tape recorder running during the meeting. If you are being refused a support person and/or a tape recorder then send off a letter to the Attorney General’s Office outlining how they prevented you from bringing a witness to the meeting with you or taping the meeting. Copy this letter to all the members of provincial parliament by having your letter passed on to groups or organizations that can do this for you. Embarrass the child welfare protection agency for refusing to be accountable and trying to cover up what is going on in your file.

Understand what a “progress conference meeting” is all about Sometimes, parents will be asked to attend what is may be called a “progress conference meeting” where the parents, the social workers, group home or foster home workers all attend together. Generally, these meetings are for children who are in foster care or group home settings.

These meetings are a bit more formal than small meetings with one or two workers. These meetings sound very nice and give the air of openness and cooperation. They are usually held in one of the posh board rooms at the CAS and attended by many people from the CAS. Sometimes parents may find themselves in a room with six to a dozen CAS workers and lawyers putting on a big show to overwhelm parents. In reality, most of these meetings are carefully orchestrated to overwhelm parents and to give the appearance that the CAS is being open, friendly and encouraging cooperation. Most parents go to these meetings not informed of the specifics of the agenda or who will be there. Often parents are told that it is about talk about how their child is making progress. Most parents are just told to show up thinking that it is about how to get their child back. Rarely, these meetings are about getting the child back but how CAS can say involved in your family. Quite often because parents feel so overwhelmed by this sort of meeting that they get very easily led into signing a consent agreement allowing the CAS to keep the child longer or to remain longer in the family’s life.

At these meetings the CAS workers and foster care or group home workers will talk about how wonderful your child is progressing in their care. They will talk about how the child has been to a doctor for a checkup and describe some of the activities they got the child to participate in. Some


children have reported that CAS have given them very expensive gifts such as $250 sports events tickets to get the kids to like being in CAS care. These CAS people will use phrases such as “the child is progressing wonderfully” and that the child “is very happy” in their care. All these nice things are being written down by the CAS workers so at the end of the meeting they have gathered even more notes to support their case in court. At these meetings all the CAS workers and agents pat each other on the back and have big smiles.

If you try to complain at the meeting, your complaints are brushed away and the report of the meeting may show that you were generally uncooperative. You may find when you go to court the next time that you were painted as the only uncooperative person amongst this group of loving, caring CAS people.

Before you go to one of these “conference” meetings you should ask for the CAS worker to provide you with a written list of the agenda and ask who will be attending. You should ask for this at least two weeks ahead of time so that you can prepare. You should also ask the CAS that you would like to audio record the meeting for the purpose of supplementing your notes. See what kind of response you get.

At any of these meetings be sure to take a support person with you into the meeting. If there is an advocacy organization in your area which have trained representatives then see if you might be able to get a representative to attend with you.

Conduct your own pre-interview with the social worker involved. Social workers with child welfare protection agencies often are biased and comply their agency’s line which is often to be biased against fathers and non-custodial parents. Early in the game, you should provide a complete list of questions concerning their background, their beliefs in certain areas and any potential conflict of interest that they may be in. All Social workers should be willing to provide their CV (Curriculum Vitae) which outlines their background and experiences. If you don’t know what questions to ask them, then obtain the assistance of a family advocate or lawyer to prepare a detailed list of such questions. Again, be sure to tape record this interview with the social worker.

Be aware that most workers talk with “forked tongues” Child protection workers will in most cases, speak really nice to you and talk like they are trying to help you and that they are on your side. They may tell you that they like parents or family members who are “open and honest” with them. Quite often they talk like this to get you to lower your defenses so that you will tell them all of your secrets and family secrets. They may begin to talk about your family history, your relationship between your partner and former partners, etc. What the workers are really doing is to get you to tell them about problems with your children or your family so that they can use this against you later in their court documents. Don’t get fooled by their trickery. Many of these workers have forked tongues and once they are ready to take your kids, stab you in the back using the very information that you gave to them. If workers ask any questions that is not relevant to the child then tell them that you do not feel it relative and ask them to explain why they feel it is relevant. This is why tape recording is so important or written communication. Workers won’t ask certain questions in writing because they know that they do not have the right to ask them in the first place. Remember, it is up to you to control any discussions with child welfare protection worker, not to have them control you!


File a lawsuit against the child welfare protection agency social worker! All social workers with various child welfare protection agencies in Ontario are members of the Ontario College of Social Workers. They can be held liable if you can show that their actions have caused damages to you. You can even get their license suspended if you can show gross negligence. Even additional legal expenses to fight their flawed report are considered damages. If you have been diligent in following the recommendations given in this document, you may have gathered enough evidence which will reasonably show that they have lied or failed to conduct a professional and unbiased investigation relating to your children. Obtain a copy of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice manual published by the Ontario College of Social Workers and learn it inside and out. If you have evidence, then launch a lawsuit in small claims court or in civil court, including against the social worker personally. File a formal complaint against the social worker! All social workers with child welfare agencies in Ontario are members of the Ontario College of Social Workers. If you have been diligent in following the recommendations given in this document you may have gathered evidence which will reasonably show that they have lied or failed to perform their job in a professional manner. Telephone the college and obtain a copy of their code of ethics and rules that their members must follow. Prepare a detailed and comprehensive report outlining where the worker has failed. Preferably have a third party conduct a review of the social worker’s report and prepare a report. A third party analysis of the social worker’s performance will get more attention and be taken more seriously. Fire off a complaint with your detailed report to the College of Social Workers and demand a hearing of the matter. Demand that the worker be disciplined and the flawed report pulled from the proceedings. Again, having a third party trained in conducting assessments or a professional support you in your claims will help you with the complaint. The College of Social Workers like most regulatory bodies run by members of their own profession usually do not like to take action against one of their own unless there is either overwhelming evidence or they see that other professionals are in support of your complaint. When they know they have only you to deal with, they will be much more inclined to put off your complaints as they know that damage to their reputation will be minimal. The more people you have visibly supporting you, the better.

Get to know some of their dirty tricks! Child welfare agency workers employ a number of dirty tricks to spy on families in hopes of being able to take the family’s children away. Some of the dirty tricks of child welfare agency agencies are:

1. Fabricate false information against you Sometime child welfare workers will fabricate false information against you and say that you said or did things that you did not say or do. Often, workers will work in pairs of two at some interviews so that they can back up each other’s lies and fabrications. If one worker makes a mistake or says something that they should not have said, then the other worker will serve as a witness to the other worker’s denial. In this manner, each worker backs up the other worker’s story. This is why the tape recording of meetings is most important.

2. Refuse access to your file In most cases, child welfare workers and agencies will refuse access to your files. They will put


delays after delays. Sometimes they will tell you that you need a court Order. To help drive your legal expenses up higher, they will tell you that only your lawyer can look at or obtain a copy of your file. 3. Exaggerate information that makes you look bad in court Many times when child welfare agency workers write a report they will exaggerate information that will make you look bad. Workers are trained in the use of fancy court language and are very clever at using words which maximize any allegations they want to make against you. 4. Marginalize information that could help you in court In a similar manner to exaggerating information workers will marginalize other information that may support your side of the story. Quite often workers will not include information that may be helpful to your side. 5. Talk nice to you like they are on your side to make you more cooperative and speak to you with a forked tongue Another strategy that lures a lot of parents into a trap is the “Mr. Nice Guy” approach. Sometimes the worker will make negative comments about the other parent and say things such as “things look good for you”. Of course, all of these are to make you think that the CAS may be on your side. While you sit back believing that the CAS may actually be working for you, they are quietly working behind the scenes while they delay things and to screw you and your children when it finally does come the time to go to court. So watch out! 6. Serve court documents on you giving you little time to respond A common strategy to beat parents is to catch them off guard by serving court documents on short notice of service. They will serve documents on parents often just one or two days before the court hearing. They sometimes will serve documents on Saturday, knowing that most lawyers are not working on weekends and that you cannot get a lawyer until the next business day.

7. Use divide and conquer techniques to separate parents and families A common strategy used by child welfare protection workers is to separate parents and families so that they will not be able to work as a team. This is commonly used during incidents of alleged domestic violence or when a parent is alleged to have physically disciplined a child. Many parents have reported that child protection workers tell the female partner in a relationship that she must admit herself into a women’s shelter as a condition so that she can continue to see or to have her children with her. Sometimes the children’s aid agency will say that one parent must move out of the house and that the parent who is told to leave cannot have any contact with the children and often with the other parent. When parents and children and family members isolated from one another then the children’s aid agency can do its dirty work to build a case against the parents while the family is separated from each other and unable to effectively mount a defence. A strong family unit with community support is one of the best defence strategies against these power hungry agencies that claim to protect children.

8. Threaten to take your children away if you don’t do as they tell you Child welfare agencies will sometimes tell parents that they will have their children taken away from them if they don’t do as they are told. They will use this as a stick over your head and in most cases will carry out this threat so that they can further separate the family.


9. Try to convince you to sign a voluntary consent agreement with the agency One trick often used by child welfare protection agencies is to get you to sign a voluntary consent agreement with the agency. Workers will tell you that this is just a temporary arrangement while they provide “help” to your family but in order for your family to benefit for these “free” services, you must sign up. If you read the agreement you will often find that it is carefully worded so that it can be an admission that you are lacking in some way in caring for your children and that you need outside help from the CAS. By signing the consent agreement, often you would have admitted that you are unable to provide care for your family and in essence guilty of being an inadequate parent. Should you change your mind later, then child welfare authorities can get a court Order against your family as they now have your signature where you admit that you cannot care for your children. Sometimes they may also have a clause that says that you have the right to withdraw from the agreement within a specific period of time but in reality this clause is there to fool you into thinking that you can get out of the deal whenever you want, but rarely will they allow you to do this. Don’t forget, once they have your signature, they have you at their control and will likely be successful in obtaining a court Order should you try to back out of the deal later. Never forget that getting you to sign a voluntary agreement is often used as the first step to a court Order and makes it very easy for child welfare agency to get a court Order at any time in the future. This signed agreement can be pulled out years later and used against you. 10. Not interview critical witnesses Child welfare protection agencies workers will often not speak to witnessed who could provide valuable information that may support your case. Once a child welfare agency has decided to intervene in many cases they will distort many of the facts to justify why the agency must intrude into the family. Part of your written materials to the agency should include requests that they interview those individuals that you feel should be spoken to. 11. Rush matters to court to catch you unprepared when they want to apprehend your children Child welfare protection agencies will rush things off to court and often try to get things in court within days. This is done so that you and your family have the least amount of time to come up with a plan to defend your family. This is why it is important that you get your family, your friends and your community behind you and prepare a strategy if possible before you get hauled off to court unprepared. 12. Divert your attention while they prepare to catch you off guard in court. Child welfare protection agencies will often divert your attention by asking you to attend meetings and speaking to them about your case, while they prepare court documents behind your back. Most parents are left with the impression that these meetings will be helpful and productive, but in reality child protection workers are using these meetings to try to extract more information from the parents while diverting parent’s attention away from getting prepared to go to court. 13. Get your child into another school right away In order to get control of a child, child welfare protection agencies will get your child enrolled into another school right away – sometimes before they even have a court Order for wardship. They do this because once the child is registered into another school, then it because more difficult to move the child back as the workers will say in court that the child has adjusted good to his new school.


They will make it look like the child likes the new school and wants to stay in Foster care and to go to this new school. 14. Attempt to keep matters secret Child welfare protection agencies will try to control all information and keep all matters secret. When it comes to a court hearing they will insist that the judge close the courtroom so that family and friends cannot attend. If child welfare protection agencies have apprehended your child they will often keep you from seeing your child so that your child will not be able to communicate what is happening with you. They do not want your child to be “spilling the beans” before they have got you where they want you. 15. Try to influence others so that others will not listen to your complaints Child welfare protection workers will often go on a campaign to ensure that you will not be listened to by others. They will talk to other professionals and convince others that you are not credible. By doing so, they are trying to cut you off from anyone who might listen to you. 16. Spy and/or befriend your children at school Child welfare protection workers will sometimes go to school to interview your children at school to dig for information. Often, they are looking for tidbits of information that they can use against you in court later on. Some workers have been so bold as to take children out to lunch at McDonalds with the full knowledge of school officials and to try to befriend them. CAS workers will use any dirty and unethical trick to deceive children in order to extract information from them. All parents must be aware that it is unlawful for CAS workers to come into your child’s school to interview your child. Information about this can be found in the guide for school officials called “Schools and CAS: A guide for school officials” which is posted on the Canada Court Watch website. This document can be downloaded from the Internet at the following link: http://canadacourtwatch.com/Studies/SchoolsAndCASGuide.pdf 17. Spy on you at your home and snoop through your neighbours Child welfare protection workers will be so sneaky as to come and spy in your neighbourhood by parking down the street and observing your house just like private investigators. They will also speak to neighbours in an effort to get the goods on you. Child welfare agencies have been known to get parents ordered out of the home for slapping their children and then send people to spy on the home to see if they could catch the parents for breaking the order to stay away from the children. The purpose of course being that if they did catch the parent then the CAS could apprehend the children for a parent violating a condition of their bail. 18. Take your children out of school without your knowledge Some child welfare protection agency workers have taken parent’s children out of school and removed them to foster care over such things as minor discipline by the parents at home.

19. Try to trap you into breaking a court Order One a child welfare agency has obtained a court Order against one or both of the parents, they will attempt to find out if the court order has been broken. For example, child welfare agencies know how difficult it is for parents to stop from communicating with each other or with the children, so


when such court Orders are in place blocking communication, they try to catch the parents breaking the Order so that they can take the children totally away from the parents and further destroy the children’s relationship with their parents. 20. Trick you into handing the children over to the other parent to help give the other parent the upper hand in a child custody dispute In an area that is mostly a problem for fathers, child welfare protection agencies will try to intervene should you have the kids for some reason such as mother assaulted you or was caught with drugs etc. When you keep the children in your care, the child welfare agencies will tell you that you have to let the mother see the children. Of course when mother gets to see the children, she won’t bring them back which will then put her in the driver’s seat when it comes to custody of the children. It has been reported that some child welfare protection agencies have convinced fathers to bring the children in to visit with the mother as the agency’s offices and when mom comes to see the children the father is told to sit in the waiting room while the kids have their visit with mom. Of course, unknown to the father, child welfare protection workers have make secret arrangements with mother to sneak the kids out the back door of the agency without the father being made aware of these arrangements. They will then come out to the waiting room and tell you that they had to give the kids to mom because she was considered their primary caregiver. Again, once the kids are in the mother’s hands, you will face monumental odds getting them back. 21. Create lots of legal work and expense Child welfare protection agencies will do many things which will cause most people to have to seek the services of a lawyer. The child welfare workers want to tie you up with paperwork because they want to break your family financially. These agencies know that once they weaken you financially, then you will no longer have the financial resources to fight them and then you will not be a threat to them. Most families run out of money long before they ever can reach a trial which can often cost families $20,000 to $50,000. 22. Put layers of complaints processes to frustrate you Complaining against a child welfare protection agency can be very frustrating. They create several levels of complaints process to frustrate those who do complain in hopes that people will give up. Unfortunately, with the piles of problems brought on by child welfare protection agencies, many parents do end of giving up. A complicated complaints procedure is the child welfare protection agency’s first line of defense. Complaining against a child welfare protection agency can be very frustrating. They create several levels of complaints process to frustrate those who do complain in hopes that people will give up. Unfortunately, with the piles of problems brought on by child welfare protection agencies, many parents do end of giving up. A complicated complaints procedure is the child welfare protection agency’s first line of defense. 23. Switch case workers – sometimes just prior to the scheduled court date Another trick that child protection workers and agencies will do is to switch workers on the case. They often do this when you make things difficult for them and when a particular worker feels under pressure. Changing workers allows the CAS to divert blame to a previous worker and then tell you that things will be better with the new worker. This excuse can be used to justify what the


child protection agency needs more time. In most cases, changing workers won’t change the course of matters and if anything things can sometimes get worse. Switching workers makes it easier for child protection agencies to claim mix up in records due to different workers being assigned on cases. Sometimes, the child welfare protection agency will switch workers before a court hearing or case conference and then use this as an excuse to buy more time. The child protection agency will then say that because a new worker is not the case, that they now need more time to get prepared for court. 24. Set you up for an incident Child protection workers will sometimes ask you to do something which you believe will only lead to an incident. For example, they may ask you to meet your ex-spouse at their offices knowing that the two of you will engage in an argument or create an incident which will adversely impact your children. Child protection workers sometimes deliberately arrange things knowing that there is a high likelihood of something going wrong. When there is an incident, workers are quick to take out their notebooks and to record the incident to use against you later. 25. Tell your children in foster care that you don’t want to see them. Child protection workers will sometimes tell your children that you do not want to see them. This of course makes the children feel that you don’t love them or care for them at all. Workers will create obstacles to your attempts to contact your child and then tell the child that you have not tried to contact them because you are not interested in them. This divide and conquer technique is often used by workers to permanently isolate children and parents from each other. Whatever you do, don’t fall prey to these tactics. 26. Get you to attend a parenting assessment through one of their own professional referrals. One very powerful trick that child protection workers will do will be to tell you that you need to have a parenting assessment done. A private parenting assessment can cost a few thousand dollars so most parents cannot afford them. The child protection agency will then tell you that they can provide an assessment free of charge. To most parents, these seems like a good idea and with the child protection agency, paying the bill, an offer almost too good to turn down. In realty, the child protection agency is setting the parents up. The parenting assessor usually gets many referrals from the same agency and as such likely benefits from a substantial income from the child protection agency over the course of a year. Because of this relationship, the parenting assessor will write up a parenting assessment to reflect what the child protection agency wants. Unknown to the parents, child protection workers will speak to the assessor off the record before your assessment starts and in all likelihood the assessor will already be convinced that the parents are bad. Of course, none of this pre-information sessions will show in the assessor’s notes. The assessor will then come up with a parenting assessment report which supports the position of the child protection agency.

Familiarize yourself with their complaints process and get a plan of attack together! Most child welfare protection agencies have a formal complaint process for those who wish to complain against workers with the agency. The complaint process is layered in such a way as to force you to start at the bottom of the ladder and to have you fight to get to the top. All those workers with the agency have a vested interest in frustrating you. They are trying to get you to give


up with your complaint. If you use a lawyer to go through the complaint process you many end up spending thousands of dollars before you get anywhere. You will likely be told that your complaint has no validity by everyone who deals with your complaint because the complaint process is usually internal so that you are being forced to complain to people who work for the same agency and who of course have a vested interest in protection the agency and their fellow workers.

Within the agency, the top complaint level is usually the Board of Directors. In most cases the Board of Directors are people from the community and are the ones who may be most sympathetic to your complaint so the workers will attempt to keep those with complaints from reaching the top.

One of the first things you should do it to ask, in writing, for the agency’s complaint process. Once you have this you will be able to get a picture of the whole process and develop your battle plan. Also get the names of those who you will deal with at each level of the process.

To be effective with your complaint you should assemble a complete presentation including documentation, audio tapes and videotapes to take with you. When you show up at a meeting to complain be as professional as you can and show them that you mean business and that it is in the best interests of the agency to properly deal with your matter, rather then to try to deflect your complaints.

Remember – the ultimate objective of going through the complaint process is for the agency to come clean for their mistakes and if they are not willing to do this, for you to get your complaint before the agency’s Board of Directors who are often isolated from seeing the problems created by workers in the field.

Get your child to speak to an outside independent third party Workers with child welfare agencies will often twist the facts and in some cases outright lie about what kids said when they interview them in private. For example, child protection workers may not write about a child who is being abused by one parent but will use words such as “problems” when in fact physical abuse occurred. Quite often mothers who abuse their kids get enough time through delays by the child protection agencies to work on their kids so that the kids will shut up and not say a thing about being abused. It has been reported that many child protection agencies have the same bias as many other government agencies in that mothers are favoured over fathers. When you have the children interviewed by other third parties, it now becomes difficult for child welfare authorities to lie about the children’s wishes and preferences. Where you find that child welfare protection agency workers have lied or twisted the truth and your children are angry because of this, then a good idea is to arrange to have your children interviewed on video tape by an interviewer who is trained to interview children and trained to asked the appropriate questions. This taped information can be useful for advocates who may be trying to assist your family and to help make the system more accountable. Videotaped children’s testimony can be devastating to child welfare protection agencies and their workers should the children they are claiming to protect speak out against them. Note: When having the children interviewed by third parties, caution must be exercised to have the children interviewed by at least one INDEPENDENT witness, ideally someone who is experienced in doing child interviews. Interviews should be done without you being present and properly recorded and documented. If proper procedures are not followed you may be accused of coaching the child and could be threatened with repercussions from the court.


Have a plan of care that beats theirs! One of the most effective ways to beat the child welfare protection workers is to present your own comprehensive plan to deal with the issues before they make up theirs, especially if you are in a situation where the child welfare agency has taken or is threatening to take your child into protective custody and place him/her into foster care or a group home. This plan is referred to as a “plan of care” document. A plan of care document is basically a detailed plan of how you plan to address the concerns that the child welfare protection agency or the court may have. It may include provisions for schooling, where the child will live, how the family’s situation will be monitored, etc. A good plan of care can keep your children from being seized! Having an experienced third party who is experienced with the preparation of “plan of care” documents can be very helpful. These people usually will review your court documents, come to your home, take pictures, interview key witnesses, etc. as part of their service to prepare a “plan of care”. Generally, a plan of care by an outside third party reports will be more influential than will one from parents themselves. In most cases, there is some grounds for the involvement of the child welfare protection agency in the first place and in most cases when they the agency does go to court to get a court Order to take control of your child, they will have enough evidence to lead the judge to believe that the children need some level of protection. The child welfare protection agency will usually present a plan that they claim is a short term plan of usually 6 months or less. They will approach the court as if the family needs some short term help and they just want to “help” the family get through its difficulties. In most cases, no matter what the child protection agency may have done wrong or how inappropriately they have acted up until that point, the issue in the court will be if the evidence before the court would cause the judge to believe that there is enough risk to the child to warrant removal of the child from the parent. Without any plan of care by the parents to deal with the issues brought before the court, the court is left with little option except to let the child welfare protection agency take control of the kids as the child welfare agency is already deemed competent to care for children. Unless gross negligence and malicious actions by child welfare workers can be clearly shown, the only way to get control of the children before the child welfare protection agency is to present to the court a plan of care which clearly addresses all of the concerns that the child protection agency has raised in their court documents. If you present a better plan that the child protection agency, the court would be hard pressed to let the child welfare protection agency take your child when the court has been given a well thought out plan which includes the family having primary responsibility of caring for their own child. A good thing to include in your plan of care is your own independent monitoring process with the child welfare protection agency taking a secondary role to the family’s own monitoring program. You may consider another private agency or family group to monitor the process. Child welfare protection agencies are less likely to stick their noses into your families business when others are on top of the problems before the child protection agency is.

Don’t reside in a shelter if you expect to get your child back! If you are a parent that has been forced to live in a shelter for some reason chances are that this will be used against you. Many children report having their children taken from them when they are


residing at a shelter. All shelters, including shelters for women and children are generally seen as not a very good place to be raising children. Residing in a shelter sends the message to the court that you are unable to provide a stable environment for your child and unable to fend for yourself. Being able to provide a stable environment for your child is an important factor in preventing child protection workers from taking your child. Be very cautious if child protection workers suggest that you take up residency in a shelter for chances are they are deliberately trying to make you look bad in any court proceeding. The best place to be residing when in dispute with a child protection agency is in a stable environment with family or friends around you.

Public pressure and awareness can be one of your most powerful tools! Always remember that most child protection workers and agencies fear public knowledge of their wrongdoings. Bringing public attention to workers and the agency they work for can be very helpful, even if the publicity is not about your own case. Bringing negative publicity against a certain agency when you are fighting them can be helpful. If the word is out in the legal community that certain agencies are being careless and being exposed for doing stupid things, then support from the court and from public funding agencies will dry up. Few judges will want to be seen supporting a child protection agency when recently publicity has shown the workers to be biased or incompetent. Even passing out flyers to attract other people in the community who may be similarly affected can have a domino effect in the community.

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Part 5 Information and tips about dealing with your child

protection matter relating to the court

Get as much evidence as possible on the court record Before you go before a court, be sure to get as much information that supports your case on the court record. This may include photos, video tapes, audio tapes, affidavits from friends and neighbours, case law, studies and research statistics. Some lawyers may try to discourage you from doing this by telling you that the judge will not read the materials because your materials are too lengthy. In most cases, lawyers are too lazy to put all your evidence before the court. Lawyers know as well that judges don’t like to read a lot of material so generally lawyers don’t want to put a lot of material before the court as the judge may frown upon the lawyer for doing this. Although there is some truth about judge’s not reading material, it is the judge’s responsibility to read all the evidence before the court, not you or your lawyer’s responsibility to make the judge’s job easy. If the judge does not read the materials and ends up making the wrong decision at least the evidence will show that he/she was an incompetent judge. On the other hand, you don’t put the evidence in and if something goes wrong down the road as a result of the judge’s decision, then the judge can just sit back and say that he based his decision on the evidence before him. Remember, the less evidence there is before the judge, the less accountable he/she can be. Third party reports which are added as exhibits to your affidavit is a good way to get lots of valuable information into the court record without making your primary affidavit too lengthy for the judge to read. Packed court documents with lost of information help to put the judge between a rock and a hard place because it shows that you possess at lot of knowledge about the issues and that you may be a force that can intimidate and possibly expose the system should they make the wrong decision based on the evidence before the court. Quite often, the professionals in the system will try to tell you that the court won’t take a particular piece of evidence or that they may not like it or try to convince you that it may work against you. When it comes to evidence, take the position that should anyone not familiar with your case pull your court file and go through the materials as they stand on the court record and you believed that particular piece of evidence will help convince them that the position you have put forth to the court is correct, then that is likely a good piece of evidence that should be included. Do not let your lawyer convince you not to submit evidence that you feel is good. Consider good evidence as being anything you believe that a jury of your peers would consider as being convincing evidence. A good solid case should be won by what information is on the court record, not by what is said verbally in court. Don’t forget, the system is trying to get you to keep your evidence out of court and if they can convince you beforehand then the better for them and not for you. Even if the system refuses to consider your evidence, it remains as part of the record for others to see for themselves. Time will eventually tell who was right and who was wrong. Submit proper court documents The preparation of court documents is crucial. There is an art to writing them which generally takes time and experience to perfect. This is why lawyers generally do this task. Court cases can be lost by parties who submit poorly written and flawed court documents but with that in mind, even


lawyer can lose a case because they fail to prepare effective court documents. Always remember that not only is a judge reading each party’s court documents for the purpose of evidence, but the judge is also developing a perception of the credibility and personality of the person behind the pen. For example, if a party writes in an angry and vindictive manner, the judge will get that opinion of that person and this may affect the judge’s decision. If on the other hand, a person writes documents in a compassionate and caring manner, then the judge will get that opinion of the person. Generally, it is not desirable to be viewed by a judge as the type of person that most people do not like. Judges are people too. In a growing number of cases, the parties themselves are preparing their own court documents to save on legal fees by providing documents to their lawyers that they have prepared beforehand on their own. This can save a lot of time for the lawyer with the lawyer then just having to touch up or make minor changes to the party’s documents. For those who are representing themselves in court, they have no choice except to prepare their own documentation. Parties appearing before the court must ensure that their documents are written properly with the documents written in a manner which properly organizes the information and makes a clear picture for a judge to read. Those who don’t have experience and training in how to write their own documents, should obtain the assistance of someone who can help in this matter. Again, how documents are prepared can win or lose a case! Don’t be misled into thinking that you can’t submit evidence at the last minute. Sometimes you will be told that it is too late to submit evidence and that you cant do it now because you missed the deadline. Sometimes your own lawyer may tell you this. Whether you are told it is too late or not, get in it and tell your lawyer to put it in anyway. Tell you lawyer that he/she is to argue before the court to have it accepted. Child protection agencies serve parents with papers at the last moment and then have their lawyers try to block parents from putting their information to the court if it is late. This is standard for child protection agencies to do. If you have information that is relative to the best interest of your child the judge must consider it. All you or your lawyer has to say in court is “Your Honour, this information is relative to the best interest of the child and should be heard”. If the judge says no, then it would be on the court record that the judge did not consider all of the relevant information relative to the child. This will make the judge look mean spirited. This would also give you grounds for an appeal should the judge rule against you. The bottom line is that the judge can do anything he wants in his/her court. The judge can accept to listen to any evidence he/she wants and should feel obligated to do so if the evidence is relevant to the best interest of the child. Remember the rules were created to maintain some order and fairness to the proceedings but not to the point of having rules and procedures be an excuse for the court to refuse certain information deemed to be relevant to the best interest of the child.

When in court dress appropriately On days when you do have to attend court in person, be sure to dress appropriately. Most judges are conservative. Don’t forget they were once lawyers and businessmen. Wear clothing that would be suitable if you were attending a business meeting. The more conservative you look, the better. Dress code should also apply to your witnesses although witnesses in court can be dressed a little less formally than yourself. If you have witnesses in the court which do not look respectable, then


this will affect the judge’s opinion of yourself. The type of people you appear to associate with could affect how the judge thinks of you.

Take your own audio recording device into the court and record the court proceedings Another way to make all those in the court more accountable and to prevent the likelihood of court transcripts being altered, is to argue to have your court hearing tape recorded using your own tape recorder. In Ontario, section 136 of the Courts of Justice Act gives persons or their solicitors the right to tape record for the purposes of supplementing their notes. Attached to the appendix of this document is a copy of “How to record your own court hearing.” Read this document over and follow all of the steps shown in the document. If you don’t have a full copy of this then obtain one from some of the websites which may have it published on the net. Canada Court Watch is one organization which has this document posted for download by the public.

Have personal support persons present in court! Having witnesses in the courtroom is one of the best protections for you or your child should you have to attend a court hearing where child welfare agencies will be one of the parties involved. So plan to bring family and close friends. Remember, the more supporters you have in court, the better it is for you and your child. The Court general does not members of the public into the court so be sure that only persons who know the child and who are familiar with the circumstances be brought into the court. Anyone who attends court with you should be ready to say that they know the child very well and are familiar with the matters involving the child. If court staff attempt to intimidate you into making your family and friends leave the court before the judge comes into the court, then refuse to have them leave unless the judge orders them out. Only the judge has the power to force people out of his/her court. Force the judge to make a decision in front of all your witnesses regarding their right to attend the hearing. Do not allow your friends and family to be forced out of the court without forcing a judge’s formal decision on the matter.

Don’t let the child protection agency or the court workers scare off your supporters before the court hearing! Generally with child protection cases only, the court keeps members of the public out of the proceedings and uses the excuse that this is for the protection of the children by helping to keep the identities of the child unknown to the public. Using the same argument as for members of the public at large, those in the court system also try to keep out extended family members and friends as well. Often, court staff will tell people who show up to court that only the parties named on the court documents can come into the courtroom. In reality, the court and the child protection agency workers just want to keep matters from being seen by the child’s family and friends so that their dirty work and incompetent actions will not be been by family or those who know the family and who often know what the truth is. Having witnesses in the courtroom is one of the best protections for you or your child. Requesting the public, including family and friends, out of the court has become standard practice when child welfare protection agencies are involved in a case. This has become this way because in the past, most people have left the courthouse simply when asked by clerks without every questioning the legality of closing the court hearings. Court clerks or security officers in a courtroom do not have the legal authority to ask any of your supporters to leave the court if they are


close family friends who know the child and who are familiar with the case. Only the judge has the authority to order that people leave a court room and that the proceedings be closed to extended family members and friends. Most judges do not want to go on the record as ordering close family members and supporters of the child out of the court, so the dirty work is done by court clerks and staff. Generally, all that you have to do is to have extended family and friends come to the court is to formally invite them. You must be willing to insist when challenged that you want close family friends in court with you and that they have come at your invitation and you must be prepared to argue with any clerk of officer that tries to turn them away. In the event of problems with court staff, insist that the judge be asked to rule on the matter of family and friends attending the court. Have a spokesperson for the family members who are present speak to the judge in the court and to advise the judge that those in the room are supporters of the child and as such are here to help see that the child’s interests are protected. The spokesperson could carry with them examples of how child protection agencies have failed in many cases to ensure that other children have been protected and that the extended family and friends of the child want to be in the court to ensure that the proceedings are conducted in a manner consistent with the child’s best interest. Tell the judge that it is in the best interest of the child that family and friends be in the courtroom. It would be helpful if you allow those who are going to attend court to read the court papers that have been served upon you as those in the court can honestly advise the judge that they have read the papers and are intimately familiar with matters before the court. The Ontario Courts of Justice Act states the following:

Public hearings

135. (1) Subject to subsection (2) and rules of court, all court hearings shall be open to the public.

Exception

(2) The court may order the public to be excluded from a hearing where the possibility of serious harm or injustice to any person justifies a departure from the general principle that court hearings should be open to the public.

The main argument to be used is that if the close family members are familiar with the case, then they are not to be considered as members of the public at large. The general principle is that the identity of the child is to be protected. There is no need to protect the identity of the child from family members who obviously know the child and are familiar with the case. You should have family members attend court sessions with you as this makes the court and the child protection agency a bit more accountable. One good idea is to have a child advocacy agency attend court with you. Generally, you should be prepared to argue in the court to have any support persons come to court with you because those persons as the court in most cases will try to keep them out. Remember, the court must give reasons why it feels that the court must be kept closed. One good argument is that those who you wish to bring in court are already familiar with the children involved and details of the case so there is no reason for the court to keep them out.


Be sure that your lawyer is prepared to argue to have your support person(s) in court with you as quite often lawyers will be hesitant to argue bringing witnesses into court as they don’t want to go against what the court wants. At the very least your lawyer should argue the Courts of Justice Act and force the other party to explain to the judge how “serious” harm will come to person if family and friends are allowed to attend. It can be argued before the judge that the court may place a publication ban on the publication of anything that may allow the identity of the persons at the hearing to be known and may address this warning to those in attendance in the court. The Judge must be forced to listen to the arguments and be made to give a ruling on the arguments and have his ruling on the record. This whole process will help to ensure that the court, the child welfare protection agency will be more accountable. If your witnesses are excluded by the court and in your mind the other side was not able to give good reasons for justifying harm, then have each one of those who attempted to attend the court file a judicial complaint against the judge and go public with their complaint letters to all of the Members of Parliament.

Don’t let the court or your lawyer kick your supporters out of court Quite often lawyers may tell you that your friends are not allowed to come to a court hearing. You may also be told that the court is closed to members of the public. Under Ontario law, child protection courts are closed to the public so that the public will not know which children in the community are involved with a child protection agency. People are also kept out because the court and the lawyers do not want members of the public to really see what is going on behind the closed doors of the courts. They don’t want to have people see them screw up or to see the injustice that goes on in court. If your lawyer tells you that you cannot have friends in the court, then ask they why over the phone while you tape record it. If you have friends come to the court hearing, then they must be willing to identify them as close friend and/or family members and that they have intimate knowledge of the matters before the court. Remember that only the JUDGE has the authority to ask your friends and supporters to leave the court. If the judge does not allow your friends and family to enter the court, then each one of those who were denied entry to the court should file a judicial complaint against the judge.

Always try to have a citizen’s based advocacy group present in court to monitor your case Find out it there is any local organization which monitors the courts or child protection agencies. Canada Court Watch is one such organization that monitors the courts. If there is such an organization in your area, then approach them to have an observer attend your hearing. Just remember, however, that if your court matter is a child protection matter (which most cases are), witnesses will not be allowed in the court. In this case, the only third parties who are allowed in court are journalists. Court observers are trained to observe information and report irregular activities to outside agencies whenever they observe it. Observers with organizations such as Court Watch come to court clearly identified with a badge so that everyone in the court knows they are there. Observers are there to intimidate the judge and the lawyers by letting them know that their activities in court will be reported if justice is not delivered in the court. Because most child protection courts are “closed”, you will have to let everyone know that you have specifically requested that the court be monitored.


Although this may upset those with the court, chances are you will get a better deal in court with a monitor present.

Soften up the court and the child protection agency prior to your appearance in court One way to help soften up the court prior to your appearance is to get local groups to picket the court or to have local groups or individuals distribute literature to persons visiting the court regarding problems the court system or the child protection agency you are dealing with. Another good way to gather information about the child protection agency you are fighting is to distribute a flyer in the region asking people who have similar problems with the child protection agency to contact you. Get the court to realize that people in the community are beginning to take note of the injustices against children by the family court system. The courts, especially the judges, do not want to be caught backing the wrong horse by blinding siding with child protection agencies. When it comes to the crunch, child protection agencies and the courts, will set things up so that workers will be blamed and take the fall. If you do resort to distributing literature to your court it is always best to have the information distributed by persons other than yourself so that the court or the child protection agency will not be able to make allegations to the court that you are harassing the agency. Even though it is your democratic right to try to make changes to unethical and often corrupt practices of child protection agencies, most of these agencies will bring to the attention of the court, your activities and then twist things in hopes that the judge will not like you because you have chosen to challenge their authority. This can be a double edge sword, however, because in some instances, the judge may want to make matters worse by allowing himself/herself to be misled by child protection workers as you or groups that you may be working with, may expose the injustice to the public. Remember that what the judges and child protection workers fear most is public exposure of their incompetence and wrongdoings. Although the court may be able to control what is said in court, they cannot control the court of public opinion.

Children in the Courtroom Most courts do not like children being brought into the court, especially younger children. Lawyers and judges know that a child’s testimony can be compelling and in some cases, embarrassing to the court or to some of the professionals associated with the court so they don’t want to hear from children directly. Some courts may view the attempts of parties to bring children into the court as a threat to the system and will try to label the party who attempted to bring the child into the court as abusive to the child and may order that the party’s access to the child be restricted or cut off completely. Courts may even order a child to be placed into the care of child protection workers to ensure that the child’s access to those he/she trusts is cut off. Of course, while the child is separated from those he/she trusts, those with a vested interest in hiding the truth or protecting the court, will brainwash and terrorize the child to remain silent or coerce the child to come up with another story which protects those who may be really abusing the child. Children have reported being threatened by child protection workers that if they do not say what they are told to the court, then they will never see those they love ever again.


Information from children is usually brought into the court through third party professionals such as children’s lawyers. The courts know that children’s lawyers or other professional agencies associated with the court system will temper the information so that it keeps the court and those associated with the system in a good light. The best way to get relevant information to the court from a child is to have the child interviewed by a competent third party and to have this information submitted to the court under affidavit of one of the parties or to have a separate third party report submitted to the court by the third party. There are a few advocates who specialize in the area of interviewing children. The best way to interview children is on videotape where a child’s testimony can be recorded directly for others to see. It is important that the parties involved do not videotape the child as this may be seen as coaching the child. Affidavits from children Generally, most lawyers and courts will attempt to oppose the submission of written evidence from those under legal age of majority, although there is nothing in law which prevents children from under the age of majority from submitting their own evidence. The age and maturity of a child is very important in establishing whether written documentation from an underage person is considered credible or not. For a child to submit an affidavit, the child should be mature enough to fully understand what an affidavit is, the contents and how it is to be used in court. The child should also have a sincere interest by wanting to help by submitting an affidavit. Generally in most cases, courts will assume that any written evidence submitted by the child has been done under pressure from a parent. The first assumption that is made by most courts is that the written evidence was prepared by one of the parents in the matter. It is important that this not be the case and that it can be reasonable demonstrated to the court that this is not the case. In reference to submitting affidavits from children, here are some simple tips:

1) Make sure that the child is of an age and level of maturity to fully understand what an affidavit is, its purpose and how it is to be used in court.

2) If you are a party in the court, never prepare the child’s documents and never have anything to do with the preparation of the documents.

3) Judges can see through a person’s writing style. If the writing style of the child resembles that of one of the parties, the parties had better have an explanation for this.

4) Don’t put your child in a position of having to lie about anything, especially about who may have assisted them to prepare their documents. At all times, a child should be able to stare a lawyer or judge right in the eye and confidently say that they did not get the help of any of the parties before the court.

5) All statements made in an affidavit must reflect evidence from the child’s perspective. For example, it would not be appropriate for a child to be discussing in his/her affidavit how much child support another parent should be paying.

6) Ensure that your child can give the name of a person who did help him/her prepare documents if this is requested. Ideally, this person should not be a family relative to any of the parties


before the court and ideally have no interest in the issues before the court.

7) Signed affidavits must be sworn. When getting affidavits sworn by a child, the child should to into a lawyer’s office alone so that the lawyer can ask the child about the truthfulness of the affidavit. Parties should not be with the child when the document is signed.

8) Be prepared for the child to be directly questioned by a judge in chambers. If a judge was to ask the child to come into his/her chamber to be questioned, then the child should have the confidence and maturity to deal with this situation should it occur. If the child is not maturer enough to deal with this type of situation on his or her own, then the child should either have a lawyer appointed or to not submit sworn documents.

9) Never push or force a child to sign a sworn affidavit if the child is not mature enough to handle the responsibilities that come with doing this.

Conflict of interest by judge In some cases, judges may have worked for some of the child protection agencies when they were lawyers prior to be appointed a judge. This of course will put the judge in a very biased position as the judge will undoubtedly favor his/her former employer. Before a child protection court begins, you or your lawyer should ask the presiding judge about any conflict of interest as a former lawyer or supporter for any child protection agency.


Part 6 Information and tips when your child is in foster care or

a group home placement Maintaining contact with your child should be your first priority

Should your child be apprehended and placed into foster care or a group home setting, maintaining communication with your child must be your first priority. In most cases, child protection workers will not mention anything about contacting your child but will likely either tell you or leave you with the impression that you cannot communicate with your child for a certain period of time. As part of their agenda to isolate the child and to take control of the child’s mind, some workers may even tell you that you cannot speak to or write to your child in hopes that you will abide by what they tell you verbally. Of course you won’t get this in writing.

When your child is first taken into care, often child protection workers may tell you that you should give your child a while to get comfortable in his/her new setting and that after the child feels comfortable that they will get communication set up. Workers feed parents this line in order to get parents to voluntarily not make any attempt to call so that workers will have more time to work on and to condition the child to the workers point of view. In most cases, child protection workers try to block communication because this will drive a wedge between the child and his/her parents.

Depending on the circumstances, in most cases, children will want to come back home or will welcome some sort of contact with their parents, siblings and/or family members. Just as they do with parents, child protection workers will in most cases will also tell your child that he/she cannot communicate with parents or family members.. Very seldom will child protection workers write this down on paper because in most cases, impeding communication between a child and parents will be seen as abusive and controlling. This is why most child protection workers will say this verbally to the parties.

When child protection workers manage to stop communication between the child and the parents by making both the child and parent believe that they must do this, then this allows the workers to drive a wedge in the child’s relationship with the parents which works in favor of the agenda of child protection workers. Some children have reported that they have been led to believe that they their parents are angry and that they don’t want to talk to them. Parents on the other hand are led to believe by workers that their child does not wish to communicate with them. The longer a period of time that workers can prevent communication between the child and the parent, the more difficult it becomes for either the parents or the child to restart communication. After a while, both parents and the child believe that the other does not wish to speak to them. Of course, this is exactly what child protection workers want to happen! Child protection workers have been known to go so far as to tell a child that they must close down any e mail accounts they have so that the child cannot maintain any contact with parents, family or friends.

At the earliest possible time, you should contact child protection worker by phone and over the phone with a tape recorder going, you should ask workers the following questions

1) How it can be arranged so that you can contact your child by phone. If you are told that you cannot contact your child, then you should ask the worker why you cannot contact your child


and also which worker made the decision that contact would not be permitted between the parents and the child. If the workers tell you that this is policy, then later in your line of questioning you will ask to see this policy.

2) If you are told that you cannot speak to your child, then you should ask if it would be OK if other family members can contact the child. Again, record the response of the worker on your recording device.

3) Next, if communication is not allowed now, then you should ask the worker when and under what circumstances will telephone contact with your child be allowed. Again, whatever answer you are given you must ask what is the basis for this decision or policy and who made this decision.

If you are one of the luckier parents with a reasonable child protection workers involved on your child’s case, then workers will quickly move and arrange to have communication established between you and your child even if communication might happen to be monitored or in a supervised setting. Any kind of communication is better than no communication.

Competent and professional child protection workers will give you direct and straight forward answers about communication and will be willing to get assist in getting communication between parents and child established as quickly as possible. On the other hand, incompetent and unprofessional workers will give you the runaround by providing vague or inconsistent answers when it comes to establishing contact with your child.

If you do not get answers in a recorded phone call, then the next step will be to send your questions in writing to the child protection agency by fax with a request for a written response from workers.

Ways of making contact Here are some of the ways in which contact should be attempted in order to prevent child protection workers from isolating the child from family and friends.

Attempt direct, personal contact with your child by phone

Attempt indirect contact with your child through other family members

Attempt indirect contact with your child through one or more of your child’s school friends

Attempt contact with your child through regular mail. Send your child letters.

Attempt contact with your child through e mail.

Getting your child out of care ASAP should be your second priority

If your child has been placed into foster care or a group home setting, getting the child out must be your first priority. In many cases, children in foster or group home care have reported being sexually assaulted, forcefully drugged, physically and emotionally abused while in the care and control of a child protection agency. Some children have even been killed while in care.

The first priority you should have is to get the child out of care and into the care of family or friends. Another section of this document explains how to put a plan of care together and to get your child out of the care of the child protection agency, so do it ASAP. The longer a parent waits, the more potential there is for damage to the child in care.


Electronically record all conversations with your child over the phone When you do have the opportunity to speak to your child in care, be sure to electronically record all conversations with your child. Your child may say things or incidents may occur while you are on the phone with your child which could assist you in your case.

1) A child may cry and tell you that he/she wants to come home or the child may tell you that he/she does not like being in foster care.

2) The child may tell of seeing inappropriate and abusive things in the foster home, sometimes to other children.

3) Child protection workers may be heard taking the phone from the child when the child says something

4) Child protection workers may come on the line and tell you that your child cannot speak any further when it comes apparent that your child is in distress from being taken from your home

If statements are said by your child or if incidents occur while you speak on the phone with your child and you have these statements recorded, this may prove to be powerful information for the court or in a lawsuit.

Don’t say inappropriate things to your children over the phone if they are in care of a child protection agency At times you may be speaking to your children over the phone at a location where they may be in temporary care. You may find it difficult to not say certain things and you may be tempted to say things about the situation that you should not. Coaching the children or saying inappropriate things to children over the phone could get you in big trouble because your conversation with your child may be recorded or most likely, a worker will be listening in on the phone and possibly recording your phone conversation with your child. So don’t get caught making this mistake.

Get your child to speak to you when he/she is away from the foster or group home facility Often, it is difficult for children to speak freely when at the group home or foster home facility. Often workers will listen in on conversations and make the child hang up the phone if they hear the child saying anything that might look bad for the child protection agency or its workers. If the child is old enough to get to a phone tell the child that using a phone in the facility is not the best place to be speaking to you and that they should go to a pay phone or a friend’s home to use the phone there. Your child will be able to speak more freely once they are away from the child protection agency facility. Don’t have your child complain about the foster or group home facility when he/she can be overheard by workers at the facility If your child is complaining about inappropriate treatment or conditions in the foster or group home facility, you should tell your child that he/she should not complain where workers at the facility can overhear or find out about the child’s complaints. If workers find out that your child may be complaining about some condition, the workers may attempt to discredit your child first by first making false allegations against your child in order to make them appear to be not credible. By workers launching false allegations before your child gets a chance to complain, then your child will look like the one making false allegations. This could result in all communication between you


and your child being cut off and your child forced onto drugs to make him/her remain silent. Make sure your child make complaints where he/she cannot be heard and ideally to an outside third party so that you will not be accused of coaching your child.

Get your child to speak to another third party or have another third party advocate for them If your child feels that he/she is not being listened to by workers or by their lawyer if they have one, then help your child make contact with a child advocate in the community. Often, workers with child protection agencies will twist the facts and in some cases outright lie about what kids said when they interview your child in private. Child protection workers will not write down things that your child may be reporting that make the child protection agency look bad. Some children and parents have reported that child protection workers have actually fabricated false allegations against the child in order to make the child appear to be not credible. For example, if a child has been sexually abused while in care of a child protection agency, then workers may claim that the child is suffering from delusions or has mental problems. Workers may go so far as to get one of the child psychologists to provide a report that the child is suffering from some mental illness in order to cause other people not to believe the child, even though what the child may be saying is the truth. When a child is interviewed by a third party who has no ties with the child protection agency or its workers, it now becomes more difficult for child welfare authorities to lie about the child’s wishes, preferences and experiences in care of the child protection agency. Where you find that child welfare protection agency workers have lied or twisted the truth and your children are angry because of this, then a good idea is to arrange to have your children interviewed on video tape by an interviewer who is trained to interview children and trained to ask the appropriate questions. This taped information can be useful for advocates who may be trying to assist your family and to help make the system more accountable. Videotaped children’s testimony can be devastating to child welfare protection agencies and their workers should the children they are claiming to protect speak out against them. Note: When having the children interviewed by third parties, caution must be exercised to have the children interviewed by at least one INDEPENDENT witness, ideally someone who is experienced in doing child interviews. Interviews should be done without you being present and properly recorded and documented. If proper procedures are not followed you may be accused of coaching the child and could be threatened with repercussions from the court. Have your child write a complaint letter to the Premier of your Province Delivering mail to the group home or foster home The law allows mail to be delivered to a child who is in a group home or foster home, although the law does allow the child welfare protection agency workers to open the mail and read it first. If you have difficulty in speaking to your child then you can send card, letters and other messages to your child through the mail. Keeping in touch with your child by mail will reassure the child that you are still thinking about him/her and to keep them looking forward to seeing you next. Even sending mail to a child can stop the workers from alienating your child from you. In your mail you should


ask the child to write you back or if you are having personal visits with your child, you should check with the child that the child has been receiving mail and if it has been opened or not. If at your next visit the child reports that he/she has not received the mail you sent then you should make inquiries and file a complaint to the Minister if it appears that a pattern of intercepting the child’s mail Electronically record any meetings with your child which are being supervised in person by child protection workers If you are one of the unfortunate parents who is subjected to supervised visits with your, be sure to tape record any supervised meetings with your child. In most cases, supervised visits with your child are held at the child protection agency office but in some rare instances, visits may be allowed at your home or another location. Visits are most often held at the child protection agency’s own facility because they have greater control over the environment and have other workers who can support each other as witnesses. Recording supervised visits is where the small, long play digital recorders come in handy. They are easily hidden and with the right microphone can pick up most conversations in a room. In an effort to strengthen their case against you, workers will sometimes fabricate notes about your visit with your child. For instance, child protection workers will not write in their report when it appears that your child was happy to see you. On the other hand if your child is upset or angry because he/she is in care of the agency, then workers will report that your child seemed angry when he/she saw you, making it sound as if the child was angry at you. Recording should be done covertly so that neither your child nor the worker will know you are recording your visit. Your recorder should be on while entering and exiting the facility so that you can record any conversations with workers as you enter or leave the facility. Workers have been known to lie and to make false statements about what you may have said to them before or after your visit with your child.

Take pictures of your child with family members during supervised visits A picture tells a million words they say, so that same applies when your child visits with you during supervised access visits. During supervised access visits get your child to pose for pictures with you or other family members. These pictures can send a powerful message to a court if your child appears to be very happy with family. In some cases, supervision staff may tell you that you are not allowed to take pictures with your child. If they tell you this then tell them to show you were the rules say this. In most cases, there will be no rules because workers do not want it to be known to the public that parents are being denied the opportunity to take pictures with their own child. Even if they say that you can’t take pictures, then ask them what will happen if you do take picture. If you are taking the correct steps to protect yourself, then you should be carrying a recording device and have this conversation recorded. If you are refused permission then file a complaint to the child protection agency and ask for reasons why photographing your child is not allowed. Also copy your complaint letter to any advocacy organizations that help families defend themselves from abuse by child protection


agencies. A complaint on your behalf should be sent to Members of Parliament from the advocacy group

Never allow yourself to be subjected to a body search prior to a supervised visit Some child protection agency workers have become so paranoid of the child saying things about the child protection workers to the parents during a supervised access visit, that some workers may ask that you remove your coat prior to entering the room to visit with your child. In some cases, they may ask you to check your body for recording devices. If workers ever ask to do a body search, then you must refuse, even if you do not have a recording device with you. Allowing workers to invade your privacy like this will imply consent and only encourage more intrusion into your family. When workers see that they can push you around, then they will only degrade you even further as time goes on. One of the most effective things you can do is to show these workers that you are not going to tolerate your rights being violated. If workers ever request to do a body search, then say no and ask that they show you any law that gives them the right to search you. Tell them that if they can’t show you something that gives them this right, then you are not going to be humiliated and degraded like this. Tell the worker that you will file a complaint with the Ministry if they refuse you to see your child if you don’t subject yourself to a body search. Unwanted touching of your body is considered an assault under the Criminal Code of Canada. If workers refuse to allow you to visit with your children at a scheduled visitation visit, then you should leave and file a motion with the court to allow visits without a body search. This forces the issue in that it puts it on the record that the child protection agency is being so obnoxious as to insist that parents be searched for recording devices. Most members of the public would see attempts by child protection agencies to block an accurate record of visits highly questionable.


Part 7 Information and tips when your family is under a

voluntary supervision service agreement Often, parents are placed under a supervision order in which the CAS will come to your home to check up on the child and conditions in the home. . Below are some tips which will help Get your act together. Do what you are supposed to do when it comes to caring for your kids. Don’t get caught violating any agreement or order. How to avoid unannounced home visits by child protection workers Workers often like to just show up at your door without any notice so that they can get you at your worst time. In most cases, these workers want to spy on you and your family to dig up anything they can to make life for your family more difficult. It is always a good idea to be ready for them and to be ready to record any contact with workers If child protection workers show up to your door unannounced be ready with a response for them every time they show up announced. If it is not a good time for workers to come into your home, then tell the worker at the door that you have guests in the house visiting with you and that if they want to return later that day that would be fine with you. Get a door intercom or TV camera system for your door A door intercom system will allow you to know who is at your door before you go to the door and make it easier for you to tell the worker to come back later. This will give you time to get your tape recorder ready and set up.


Presenting an Effecting Plan of Care

Refer to supplementary plan of care


Part 7 Answers to common asked questions

Child protection workers are reporting that my child is saying things which I do not believe are true. What should I do? Many children and parents have reported that child protection workers have lied about what children have told child protection workers. If you feel that child protection workers are not being truthful then send them a letter advising them that because you believe that they may not be telling the truth, that you want all interviews with your child done in the presence of someone you have personally appointed or that you want any future interviews with your child videotaped to ensure accountability and transparency.

My child is reporting that they are being abused or have seen another child abused in a group home or foster home. What should I do? Many children have reported to parents that they are being physically, sexually and emotionally abused while in group homes or foster homes. Parents must be very careful in dealing with this because if you don’t deal with it properly, child protection workers may take steps to isolate your child from you and to keep your child from saying anything more about the abuse. In many cases, the child protection agency wants to protect its reputation and may go to almost any extent to protect itself and its workers. Some children have reported being forced on drugs and set up by doctors associated with child protection agencies to appear to be mentally unstable. Some workers have been caught in court fabricating evidence and court documents in order to conceal what was happening to the child while under the care and control of their agency. Some child protection agencies have resorted to the blackmailing of parents. When your child reports abuse occurring in a group home or foster home, you should attempt to get your child interviewed secretly on videotape by a third person who is trained to interview children. Children should not be interviewed by family member or friends as this may be interpreted as coaching. The person who interviews the child should follow all of the standard procedures to ensure that the interview is properly done and that the child appears to be credible. Once you have the child’s testimony on videotape, then it becomes very difficult for child protection workers to ignore your child’s complaint. A child advocate may be able to help you deal with the issue. Another tip, similar to being interviewed is to have your child make a video statement. Rather than being asked questions by an interviewer, the child will read a statement on video about the abuse he/she has witnessed. Just as with an interview, this should not be organized by family members. Ideally, a third party could assist your children to make a statement on video. In all cases, you want to take steps to get your child out of the group home or foster home setting where the child has reported being abused or reported witnessing abuse.


My child is in a group home or foster home. What should I do to get my child out of this situation? Many children have been placed into group home or foster home environment and are not happy and just want out of there. In most cases, however, children are placed in these environments because there was some reason for placing the children there in the first place. If you believe that you can take your child back into your care then you simply must deal with the issues which got the child taken away in the first place and to submit a comprehensive plan of care. If you are unable to deal with the issues that got your child taken from you in the first place, then you should find another family member who can take the child into his/her care and submit a comprehensive plan of care. If your child is older and more mature, then your child can often walk out of the CAS facility on their own providing they properly prepare themselves and have prepared their parents or those they wish to live with. What do I do to get a letter to my son or daughter who is in the care of the CAS but I do not know where he/she is located? The law allows children to receive mail while in care although it does give the CAS agency the right to open the mail and inspect it for suspicious things. Sent your letter or package to the CAS with a covering letter asking that they deliver the letter or package to your son/daughter. In your letter request that they confirm with you that your son or daughter has received the package. Do not allow them to say that they gave the package to the other parent. Child protection workers are not accurately reporting my access visits with my child. What can I do? One way to protect yourself if you find that child protection workers are not reporting accurately as to what transpires at an access visit, is to covertly record your access meetings. Take a tape recorder and hide it on your person. You might be lucky enough to catch workers lying and then be able to sue them. If recording is not possible, then send a letter to the child protection agency asking that all future access visits be recorded on video for your protection. You can offer to bring your own video tape recorder. If they refuse, then approach the Court for a court Order to force the agency to do. I moved to different municipality while under a supervision order of the CAS. I relocated in June but my supervision order expires in October. When should my file be transferred? The old municipality wants to apply for an extension of the supervision. Can I insist that my file be transferred and have the new municipality decide if an extension is necessary?


When you move to another municipality, unless the CAS agency that you are currently dealing with covers that geographical area as part of their service area, then you can request that your file be transferred to the CAS which covers the new municipality you are residing in. This will not be done automatically unless you have moved a great distance because the CAS will continue to send its workers out to your new municipality at even greater cost to the taxpayer just so that they can retain control of your file and keep others from viewing your file. The reason why many CAS agencies do not want to lose files to another agency is because it means a loss of revenue for them. What they are also often afraid of is that another worker at another agency may not be a corrupt or unethical as the workers who may be presently handling your file and that this new worker might point out some of the wrongdoings of the previous workers. If one CAS agency sees that they have to transfer a file, they will often arrange a meeting or phone conference between the workers so that your existing worker can say bad things about you to paint you and your family as trouble before your file is even transferred. Workers also will buy time before they transfer your file so that they can go through your file and remove any notes which may incriminate them or provide proof of wrongdoings of the agency. Generally, CAS agencies feel uneasy allowing new people to get involved with files because of what someone might discover in the files. You have the right to have your file transferred and if the CAS agency refuses then you should file a complaint with the Minister asking why taxpayer money is being wasted and CAS agencies are overlapping service area. Each CAS agency should be able to provide the same services as other CAS agencies in a consistent manner. If you don’t get success in having our file transferred and really want to, then file a motion to the court to have the file transferred. Just remember that these steps are part of a paper trail to show how CAS agencies are not operating as efficiently as they should. If the distance you moved is not very far away or just across the border in another jurisdiction, the CAS might be able to argue in court to keep the file in their hands and used the excuse that it is in the best interest of the children to keep the same worker. But generally this is not a good excuse for them and will cost the CAS a lot of time and money to do this. But the bottom line is that it costs money to have workers travel into other jurisdiction (unless its just a short distance over the border) so CAS agencies should not be wasting money by going outside of their jurisdiction. If you want a new CAS agency to take over the file, then formally request this in writing. Before you do this, however, make a verbal request over the phone and secretly record your conversation. You might get some worker making some ridiculous and outlandish statements which organizations who work at making CAS agencies accountable, such as Court Watch, might find very helpful in their efforts. Generally, it is a good thing to have your file transferred to a new agency, especially if you have had problems with workers in the old jurisdiction. Existing workers generally are trying to hide things to cover their backs and want to keep control of the file. When a file gets transferred to another jurisdiction, new CAS workers may not want to get themselves caught up in the wrongdoings from the previous agency, so you may likely find new workers more inclined to close the file so that they don’t get their own fingers burnt. Another thing you should be doing at regular


times, is to review your CAS file in person by going into the CAS office at least once every three months. I have tried to report abuse of a child to the CAS but it seems as if workers do not want to listen to me. I am really concerned about the child who is being abused. What can I do? Often parents and/or concerned citizens report that they are being discouraged from reporting about a child being abuse or that their reports are discounted by child welfare protection workers. In divorce and separation scenarios, sometimes the non-custodial parent feels powerless while he/she sees their child being abused by the other parent. Sometimes friends and neighbours get the same reception by child welfare protection agencies and their workers when they try to report a child being abused. Child protection workers will sometimes not take complaints from callers seriously or will twist the information around to support the child abuser by making it appear in their reports as if the caller was malicious and/or frivolous. Tragically there have been many cases where children have died as a result of child protection workers and agencies not properly following up on complaints and not conducting a proper child abuse investigation. There are several reasons why those wishing to report child abuse sometimes face this dilemma. In some cases, child protection workers deliberately discount reports of abuse to protect the parent who is abusing the child. Many times the worker or the agency has already taken a position which supports the abusive parent and they don’t want to be embarrassed by having to reverse their previous actions. In one famous case in Ontario - The Reverend Dorian A. Baxter v. the Durham Children’s Aid Society, the court found CAS workers guilty of malicious prosecution and perjury in their effort to support the mother who was the parent abusing the children. In this case, workers with the Durham Children’s Aid Society tried to cover up their incompetence and malicious actions by fabricating more lies to cover up previous lies and fabrications. Ultimately, workers were caught and found guilty as was the Durham Children’s Aid Society itself. In some other cases, workers are just too lazy and don’t want more work to do on a file which may cut into their evening and weekend “off” time. Many times, child protection workers turn their backs on information so that they can keep information “off the record” and to keep themselves unaccountable. After all, how can workers be made accountable when information is not even in official records with the child protection agency? In some cases child protection workers may do nothing to protect a child because they are afraid of the party doing the abuse. Sometimes, the abusive party may be an influential person with lots of money or have connections to persons in high up places (such as a judge or police) and/or organizations which the child protection workers may fear (such as gangs or organized crime). In such situations workers may turn a blind eye to abuse of a child if the worker fears for his/her own safety and or loss of his/her job. One trick that child protection workers will sometimes do to get those who wish to report abuse to go away is to tell those who may wish to remain anonymous, that the caller must identify themselves and that they will report this person’s name to the person who they allege is abusing the child. This of course may scare some people from making a complaint because they may fear reprisals from the person who they may have made a complaint about. Scaring people away before


they report child abuse is one way of keeping information “off the record” at the child protection agency. If you are a person who wants to report abuse of a child but are faced with a situation where child protection workers appear not willing to take your complaint seriously or who try to intimidate you by telling you that they will give your name to the party who is abusing the child, then you may try the strategy outlined below. Be aware that under privacy rules, child welfare protection workers cannot identify you if you request that your name be held in confidence for protection purposes. However, you must be willing to provide your name and information when you do call as a demonstration of your willingness to help a child. If you are not willing to give your name about child abuse, then you should not call. Too often, anonymous calls to child protection agencies are malicious. To report child abuse then a child protection agency seems unwilling to accept the information, follow the steps outlined below: 1) Set yourself up with a good quality recording device on your phone.

2) Make up a list of all the specific information which would support your concerns. Write it down on paper and have ready. Give each item a number so that you can give the item number to workers when you call.

3) Call the child protection agency and advise them that you would like to provide information which you believe is relevant to the safety of a child.

4) When you get through to a worker who will take your call, ask the worker for his/her name. If the worker refuses to identify themselves then tell that person that you would like to speak to someone who is willing to identify themselves.

5) Once you have a worker on the phone who will identify themselves, then ask them their title with the agency. If you are in a province where there is a regulatory agency such as the Ontario College of Social Workers in Ontario, then ask the worker if he/she is a social worker. Some may call themselves social workers when in fact they legally cant call themselves a social worker.

6) Once you have engaged the person on the phone, then tell the worker that you would like to report the following points and ask them to have a pen ready to record the points you are going to provide.

7) Read down your list of points you wish the worker to record.

8) At the end of your list ask the worker if they recorded all of the points and if there is anything they wish you to repeat or to clarify. Check with the worker that the number of points on your list agrees with the number of points on his/her list. This will ensure for the record that the worker has all the information and has not excluded some of your information from the record.

9) Next tell the worker this is what you feel they should do to resolve your concerns. Answer any questions that worker may have.

10) When you are finished giving your points and discussing the issues with the workers, then advise the worker on the phone that you have recorded the phone conversation with the worker and that you are formally advising the worker that your name is to be kept in confidence and any information which would allow any other person to identify you is to be


kept in confidence. Tell the worker that you will hold him/her personally responsible as well as the agency they work for if your request for confidentiality is violated. Advise the worker that your personal safety and that of your family members is at risk should the abuser become aware of your identity.

11) Next, advise the worker on the phone that you will be following up and if any harm comes to this child in the months or years ahead as a result of the failure of the worker or the agency to act upon your complaints that you will ensure that the worker and the agency will be held accountable for failing to protect the child. Tell the worker that copies of your recording will be passed to appropriate parties to take legal action as well as the Premier of the Province in which the agency is located should any further harm come to this child.

12) Also advise the worker that the records in the agency should properly reflect the information that they have been given by yourself and that the records at the child protection agency had better show that an appropriate course of action to protect the child was taken. Advise the worker that although the records are not available to you that they can be opened up in the future in the event that harm does come to the child you have called about.

Following the steps listed above can be considered as taking reasonable steps to force the worker to take appropriate and accountable action. Should harm come to the child at some time in the future, your recording will likely be instrumental in a finding of legal liability against the worker and the agency the worker worked for. Even if years have elapsed since your call and the worker is no longer with the agency, a lawsuit against the worker who took your call initially could be successful using your recording as evidence in a civil action. Child protection workers have told me that I cannot videotape or audiotape my own child who may be reporting abuse. What do I do? Often, child protection workers will advise parents that they are not allowed to interview their child on videotape or audiotape about incidences of abuse while in the care of CAS or another parent or family members. The reason why child protection workers do this is so that they can control the information coming from the child. As long as there is just a parent reporting abuse, child protection workers can always claim that the parent is lying knowing that the court will likely believe workers before they believe parents. Child protection workers have been known to fabricate false information about what children are saying to them. Child Protection workers will claim that it is abusive for a child to be formally interviewed and questioned by a parent or family member. While child protection workers are correct in that parents should not be formally interviewing their own children on videotape or audiotape, having children interviewed by a neutral third party is entirely acceptable even though child protection workers will tell parents otherwise. Remember that child protection workers want to control information and this is very hard to do when people, other than child protection workers are gathering this information. If a child is reporting abuse and a parent does not trust child protection agency workers to do a competent job at interviewing the child or getting the truth out, then arrange to have the child interviewed by a neutral third party who is not a friend or associate. Ideally, a professional in the community or someone trained to conduct child interviews would be the best choice. Parents are urged to read more on the subject on videotaping children during formal interviews.


Child Protection workers claim they try and place the children with family first and I have family more than willing to take the children while the child protection agency investigates but the child protection workers don't seem interested in allowing the children to stay with family. Answer While Child Protection workers claim that they look out for the best interest of the children and claim that they will first try to place the children in care, in reality as is required by the law, in reality, child protection workers want to keep your children in their care. In most cases, child protection agencies and workers only want to put your children in care as this assures that they will get the most government money and that the money flowing in to their agency will keep their bureaucracy and foster homes operating. In many cases, workers will use false and exaggerated information to put the children in care and then use tactics intended to impede the collection of information and to create delays to build a status quo. Step One – Understand your rights Step One – Prepare a Plan of Care The first thing parents must do is to prepare a very detailed written plan of care. This must be presented in writing to the child protection agency with a covering letter. Ideally, this should be faxed or given in person to workers at the agency and a receipt obtained from the agency that the letter received by workers. Step Two – Discuss your plan of care with the worker The second step is to contact the worker involved in the matter and to ask if the worker has read the plan of care and what their initial response to the plan of care is. It is important that this contact be recorded to get the worker’s comments. Stop Three – Step Four – Take matter to the court


Appendix Appendix 1 A simplified step by step guide to understanding and successfully resolving issues of concern to child protection workers and their agencies. Appendix 2 Document “A Guide to recording your court hearing” Appendix 3 Testing affidavit materials of CAS workers and witnesses (under construction)

Appendix 4 Child protection intake form for parents

Additional tools and study materials Below are documents that can be found in the public domain that parents should study to further assist them in their dealings with Children’s Aid Agencies. “A Guide to Recording Your Own Court Hearing” This document contains valuable information on how to take a recording device into court and to record your own court proceedings. This document applies to Ontario only although the same fundamental principles can be applied in any court hearing. Copies of this document can be downloaded from the Canada Court Watch website at http://www.canadacourtwatch.com DVD Video – Best Practices for the Conduct of a Child Protection Hearing This is a DVD video series available from the Law Society of Upper Canada which goes into detail about how lawyers are supposed to handle a child protection matter. This video series contains over 7 hours of video and is very helpful to anyone involved in a child protection matter as it informs the viewer as to exactly what their lawyer should be doing to defend their family in family court. The Destruction of Families by Child Protection agencies and workers Exposed! This is a collection of articles from various newspapers and publications which provide evidence to show that there is widespread abuse of children while in care of child protection agencies. This document may be used in court as an exhibit.

001 - The Parents CAS Survival Guide - 2009Dec15

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Transcript of 001 - The Parents CAS Survival Guide - 2009Dec15