On March 31, 2000 amendments to The Child and Family Services Act were proclaimed.These amendments include the new provision that any person, including a person who performs professional or official duties with respect to children, is required to report if there are any reasonable grounds to  suspect that a child is or may be in need of protection. The penalty for professionals who fail to report is extended to all the grounds for protection, not just abuse. The amendments to the act also clarify that professionals cannot delegate the duty to report to another individual, and that they must report additional suspicions even if they have already reported a previous incident.

The grounds for protection that must be reported under the new amendments (Section 72 of the C.F.S.A.) are:

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 failure to adequately care for, provide for, supervise or protect the child, or 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 failure to adequately care for, provide for, supervise or protect the child, or 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 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 or the person having charge of the child does not provide, or refuses or is unavailable or unable to consent to, Nipissing & Parry Sound District Children’s Aid Society 3. In order that the Society may fulfill this purpose in the provision of services to the families and children in the Districts of Nipissing and Parry Sound, the Society shall strive to achieve the following objectives in a manner which demonstrates concern for people and reflects the use of appropriate helping techniques and skills.

6. The child is less than 12 years old and has on more than one occasion injured another person or caused serious damage to another person’s property, services or treatment are necessary to prevent a recurrence and the child’s parent or the person’s property, with the encouragement of the person having charge of the child or because of that person’s failure or inability to supervise the child adequately.

7. The child has suffered emotional harm demonstrated by serious anxiety, depression, withdrawal and self destructive or aggressive behavior
v) Or delayed development… and there are reasonable grounds to believe that the 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.

8. The child has suffered emotional harm of the kind described in subparagraph i, ii, iii, iv, or v of paragraph 6 and the child’s parent or the person having charge of the child does not provide, or refuses or is unavailable or unable to consent to, services or treatment to remedy or alleviate the harm.

9. There is a risk that the child is likely to suffer emotional harm of the kind described in subparagraph i, ii, iii, iv or v of paragraph 6 resulting 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.

10. There is a risk that the child is likely to suffer emotional harm of the kind described in subparagraph i, ii, iii, iv or v of paragraph 6 and the child’s parent or the person having charge of the child does not provide, or refuses or is unavailable or unable to consent to, treatment to prevent the harm.

11. The child suffers from a mental, emotional or developmental condition that, if not remedied, could seriously impair the child’s development and the child’s parent or the person having charge of the child does not provide, or refuses or is unavailable or unable to consent to, treatment to remedy, or alleviate the condition.

12. The child has been abandoned, the child’s parent has died or is unavailable to exercise his or her custodial rights over the child and has not made adequate provision for the child’s care and custody, or the child is in a residential placement and the parent refuses or is unable or unwilling to resume the child’s care and custody.

13. The child is less than 12 years old and has killed or seriously injured another person or caused serious damage to another person’s property, services or treatment are necessary to prevent a recurrence and the child’s parent or the person having charge of the child does not provide, or refuses or is unavailable or unable to consent to, those services or treatment.