How Long Does a CAS Court Case Take in Ontario? The 120-Day Timetable

If a children's aid society (CAS) has taken your child, or has started a court case about a child you care about, you probably want to know how long it will last. Child protection cases are meant to move faster than most court matters, because children should not wait a long time for decisions about where they will live.

This article explains the timetable in the Family Law Rules, the limits on adjournments, and the temporary orders a court can make while the case is going on. It is general information, and your own case may have features that change how these rules apply.

The Family Law Rules timetable

Rule 33(1) of the Family Law Rules (O. Reg. 114/99) sets a timetable for every child protection case, including status reviews. The times are maximums, measured from the start of the case.

Those figures come directly from rule 33(1). So the usual answer to how long a CAS court case takes is that the hearing is meant to happen within 120 days of the start of the case. That is a target set by the rules, not a promise about when a final decision will be made.

Taken to a place of safety: the first five days

When a child is brought to a place of safety, the CYFSA requires that, as soon as practicable and in any event within five days, one of three things happens. The child is brought before the court for a hearing under s. 90(1), returned to the person who last had charge of the child, or placed under a temporary care agreement or an agreement with a 16- or 17-year-old.

This lines up with the 5-day first hearing in the timetable. Because the time is so short, it is worth contacting a lawyer right away if your child has been removed.

Extending times, and plans of care

The court may lengthen a time in the timetable only if the child's best interests require it. The parties cannot lengthen it by consent. So agreeing with the society that you both need more time is not enough.

There is also an earlier deadline for paperwork. A party must serve and file its plan of care or supervision at least seven days before a conference, even if that is sooner than the timetable would otherwise require. A plan of care is the written proposal for how the child will be looked after, so it helps to start preparing it early.

Adjournments and temporary orders

The court may not adjourn a child protection hearing for more than 30 days. The exception is a longer adjournment by consent: it is allowed if all parties present and the person who will care for the child during the adjournment consent, and the court does not know of any absent party who objects.

When a hearing is adjourned, the court makes a temporary care and custody order. It may do one of four things:

• Return the child to the person who had charge before the society stepped in.
• Return the child to that person under society supervision.
• Place the child with another person who consents, under society supervision.
• Place the child in society care.

The court may use the last two options only if there are reasonable grounds to believe there is a risk that the child is likely to suffer harm, and the child cannot be adequately protected by returning them to the caregiver, with or without supervision. Before placing a child in society care on a temporary basis, the court must consider whether it is in the child's best interests to place the child with a relative, or with a member of the child's extended family or community.

Closed hearings, status reviews and next steps

Child protection hearings are held without the public present unless the court orders otherwise. In deciding, the court considers the parties' wishes and interests and whether a public hearing would cause emotional harm to a child. The same timetable applies to status reviews.

If you are involved in a case, these steps can help:

• Write down the date the case started and the deadlines that follow from it.
• Keep every notice, plan of care and court document in one place.
• Ask a lawyer early, because the first steps happen within days.
• If you are a relative, tell the society and the court that you want to be considered as a placement.
• Prepare your plan of care in time for filing at least seven days before any conference.

Frequently asked questions