Do You Have a Concern, or Complaint About Our Services?

We want to work with you to resolve any issues. If you have a concern or complaint about the service you are receiving from us here’s what you can do:

1. Talk to your worker. You may be able to solve the issue together.
2. If you still have concerns after talking to your worker you can set up a telephone or in-person meeting with your worker’s supervisor. You are welcome to bring a friend or family member or Band or Native Community member with you to the meeting for support.
3. If after these discussions you still don’t feel like your issue has been solved or you don’t wish to meet with your worker’s supervisor, you can send your complaint in writing to:

Jess Uddenberg, Director of Services,
Highland Shores Children’s Aid,
363 Dundas St. West, Belleville, ON, K8P 1B3
Email:  jess.uddenberg@highlandshorescas.com

Within seven days of receiving your written complaint, you’ll be contacted. You’ll be told if your complaint is eligible for an Internal Complaint Review Panel meeting and that meeting will be explained. If you want to continue with this step, the Internal Complaint Review Panel meeting will take place within 14 days of you having sent in your written complaint.

If a solution to your concern has still not been found after the Internal Complaint Review Panel meeting, then you may be able to take your complaint to the Child and Family Services Review Board (CFRB) if you feel that our agency has:

• Refused to proceed with a complaint
• Failed to respond to your complaint within the required timeframe
• Failed to comply with the complaint procedure outlined on this page
• Not given you an opportunity to be heard regarding a decision affecting your interests or concerns about the services you received
• Failed to provide you with the reasons for a decision that affects your interests

You may also contact the Child and Family Services Review Board if you believe there are inaccuracies in your file at our agency. A complaint about file accuracy can only be made after it has been heard by the agency’s Internal Complaints Review Panel.

Your request for a review at the Child and Family Services Review Board must be made in writing on the form available through the Child and Family Services Review Board.

You can also contact the Ontario Ombudsman. Anyone who has a concern about a child or a group of children receiving services from a CAS, or about a children’s residence where a young person has been placed by a CAS, may request an investigation if the issue remains unsolved after existing complaint procedures have been exhausted. The Ontario Ombudsman cannot begin an investigation until the complaint has already been addressed through the Children’s Aid Society’s internal complaint process or through the Child & Family Services Review Board (CFSRB).