How Do I Prove a Kinship Relationship to a Child in a CAS Case in Ontario?

For a planned placement with a relative or a member of the child's extended family or community, the society must check that you can provide a safe home, which includes interviewing you, meeting the child privately and assessing the home. A relative is the child's grandparent, great-uncle, great-aunt, uncle or aunt, including through a spousal relationship or adoption. Extended family is wider and means people related to the child, including through a spousal relationship or adoption.

A close family friend can qualify too. A member of the child's community includes a person who has a beneficial and meaningful relationship with the child or a member of the child's family, and a person with ethnic, cultural or creedal ties in common with the child or a family member. Before placing a child in society care, the court must consider placing the child with such a person, under supervision and with that person's consent.

Showing the connection is only the first step, because the society must also check that you can provide a safe home. Which documents the worker wants can vary, so ask what they need. For a First Nations, Inuk or Métis child, the society must first consult each of the child's bands and communities.