29 Ontario Child and Family Services Act (CFSA) The Ontario Child and Family Services Act recognize that each person has a responsibility for the welfare of children. It states clearly that member of the public, including professionals who work with children have an obligation to report promptly, to a Children’s Aid Society (CAS), if they suspect that a child is or may be in need of protection. CFSA s. 72 (1) A child in need of protection is a child that has experiences physical, sexual and emotional abuse, neglect and risk of harm. As professionals in the field of Early Childhood Education, we are obligated to contact the CAS if we have reason to believe that: 1. The child has suffered physical harm, inflicted by the person having charge of the child or caused by or resulting from that person’s A. Failure to adequately care for, provide for, supervise or protect the child, or B. Pattern of neglect in caring for, providing for, supervising or protecting the child. 2. There is a risk that the child is likely to suffer physical harm inflicted by the person having charge of the child or caused by or resulting from that person’s A. Failure to adequately care for, provide for, supervise or protect the child, or B. Pattern of neglect in caring for, providing for, supervising or protecting the child. 3. The child has been sexually molested or sexually exploited, by the person having charge of the child or by another person where the person having charge of the child knows or should know of the possibility of sexual molestation or sexual exploitation and fails to protect the child. 4. There is a risk that the child is likely to be sexually molested or sexually exploited as described in paragraph 3. 5. The child requires medical treatment to cure, prevent or alleviate physical harm or suffering and the child’s parent of the person having charge of the child does not provide or refuses or is unavailable or unable to consent to, the treatment. 6. The child has suffered emotional harm, demonstrated by serious: A. Anxiety B. Depression C. Withdrawal D. Self-destructive or aggressive behavior, or delayed development and there are reasonable grounds to believe that emotional harm suffered by the child results from the actions, failure to act or pattern of neglect on the part of the child’s parent or the person having charge of the child. The child has suffered emotional harm of the kind described in subparagraph a, b, c, d or e of paragraph 6 and the child’s parents or the person having charge of the child does not provide or refuses or in unavailable or unable to consent to, services or treatment to remedy or alleviate the harm. Professionals who work with children have a responsibility to report their suspicions; therefore, failure to report is an offence in accordance to CFSAs. 72(4), (6.2)
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