This policy directive under section 42(1) of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 directs children's aid societies (societies) to apply the 2021 Ontario Permanency Funding Policy Guidelines where a society is considering providing financial assistance to support children and youth, their families and caregivers.

This directive supports consistent delivery of financial assistance to support family-based permanency options such as adoption, legal custody, customary care and kinship service.

Effective date

This policy directive will come into effect on October 1, 2021; and replaces Policy Directive CW 003-16: Ontario Permanency Funding Policy Guidelines dated June 15, 2016.

Introduction

On June 15, 2016, CW Policy Directive 003-16 came into effect requiring societies to implement the Ontario Permanency Funding Policy Guidelines when considering the provision of financial assistance, for the purposes of facilitating admission prevention, kinship service, place of safetyfootnote 1, customary carefootnote 2, legal custodyfootnote 3 and adoption options. The guidelines reflect the principles that financial assistance should be based on the unique needs of the child and/or the family's ability to meet those needs.

The 2021 Policy Guidelines have been updated to include:

ProgramImplementation date
Standard Adoption and Legal Custody Subsidy – new supports to increase the availability, consistency and predictability of post-permanency financial supports for families.October 1, 2021
Targeted Subsidies – revised to increase the annual net family income threshold for eligibility and clarify transferability of targeted subsidies to new adoptive parents/legal custody guardians in the event of death of adoptive parents/legal custody guardiansOctober 1, 2021
Customary carefootnote 4 - revised to increase the amount of one-time financial assistance per eligible child and expand the definition for eligible expendituresApril 1, 2021
Kinship Service - new supports to assist with initial costs and home modifications and episodic funding to support kinship service family placementsOctober 1, 2021

The objective of this updated 2021 Policy Directive remains the same - to provide a framework for the provision of financial assistance to support children and youth, their families and caregivers.

Financial assistance that will be provided to support placement options for children in the care of a society (i.e. kinship care, foster care) and to children in extended society care who are leaving care is not included in this policy. Financial assistance for kinship care, foster care and youth leaving care are outlined in separate documents. Societies will continue to follow financial policy directions currently in place for these types of care. For clarification: a kinship care family approved as a kinship foster home will be eligible for foster care per diem rates.

Note

This policy directive applies to the making and approval of decisions by societies to provide financial support in specific placement and permanency options and the provision of financial and service supports for specific children and youth.

Requirements

Children's aid societies are required to:

  • inform staff about the purpose, content and procedures regarding the 2021 Ontario Permanency Funding Policy Guidelines.
  • ensure relevant staff are trained on the 2021 Ontario Permanency Funding Policy Guidelines to enable full implementation of the guidelines and required documentation.
  • establish internal tracking mechanisms for the financial assistance provided as outlined in the 2021 Ontario Permanency Funding Policy Guidelines.
  • develop a plan to review and revise all internal policy and procedure manuals and develop a plan to advise staff of the changes.

Reporting requirements

  • Societies to report service and expenditure data for each of the permanency options in their child welfare customized budget package submissions to the ministry.

Effective date: October 1, 2021

Original signed by

David Remington Assistant Deputy Minister
Child Welfare and Protection
Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services

Footnotes

  • footnote[1] Back to paragraph Place of safety – in relation to section 74(4) of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act.
  • footnote[2] Back to paragraph Customary care – in relation to section 2(1) of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act.
  • footnote[3] Back to paragraph Legal custody – in relation to section 116(1) of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act.
  • footnote[4] Back to paragraph Customary care subsidies are provided in accordance with section 71 of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act.