RIDE FOR ACCOUNTABILITY
of Children's Aid Societies & the Ministry of Children and Youth Services
A public awareness campaign of the Foster Care Council of Canada

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INTRODUCTION
The Foster Care Council of Canada recognizes the fact that in many cases, children, youth, and their families across Ontario have benefited from the involvement of a Children's Aid Society in their lives and that many former foster children go on to lead happy and successful lives as contributing members of society.

However, it is also common knowledge that the involvement of Children's Aid Societies in the lives of children and youth have had negative impacts on them and that many --after leaving the foster care system -- have ended up in prisons, living on the streets, depending on various forms of government assistance, suffering from low self-esteem, depression, addictions and other ailments as a result of how they were treated or neglected while in the foster care system. (see quotes on this from the Ontario Legislature regarding this by clicking here. It will open in a separate window. [here])

In Ontario, totally independent, privately incorporated corporations are both approved and designated as a "Children's Aid Society" by the Ontario Goverment's Ministry of Children and Youth Services. The Ministry  also has the duty to fund, monitor, and regulate them.

The Ministry of Children and Youth Services leads us to believe that Children's Aid Societies are governed by what they call a "community elected" board of directors, however it has been our experience that most Children's Aid Societies do not advertise the fact that they offer regular memberships to people in the community. Regular memberships with a Children's Aid Society allow members of the community to hold the Societies accountable for their decisions, actions or inactions, their expenditures of millions of dollars worth of tax-payer funded, ministry allocated transfer payments each year, electing members of the Societies' Board of Directors, reviewing financial statements and more as outlined under the Corporations Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C-38.

LACK OF EFFECTIVE AND EXTERNAL OVERSIGHT
One area of concern to us is the lack of effective and external oversightof Ontario's 50+ Children's Aid Societies. When asked by the media, or when making presentations to the various committees at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, the Children's Aid Societies, through their multi-million dollar lobbying firm known as the "Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies" (OACAS) repeatedly make claims of having to comply with numerous accountability measures. We challenge you to even attempt to obtain and verify any form of documentary evidence verifying these claimed "accountability measures" including how they work, what processes are involved, what the measures account for, and any data, decisions and actions which result from them and to report your findings to us.

Thank-you for visiting and please, take the time to read through all of the pages of this website and if you support transparency and accountability of child-welfare in Ontario, consider making a donation of any amount. You can find out how to donate by visiting the donations page.

Sincerely,
John Dunn
Former Foster Child
Volunteer Executive Director
Foster Care Council of Canada