Complaints

At Native Child and Family Services of Toronto (NCFST), our main goal is to provide the best possible help to families, children, and youth. Still, as reflected in our different Teachings, conflicts can happen.  If you have concerns about the help we’re giving you, we want to work together with you to resolve them effectively so that good relations can be maintained.

Our approach places a strong emphasis on proactively addressing concerns before they escalate into more significant problems. To this end, we actively engage in partnerships with families, children, and other service providers as we strive to support families and ensure the safety of children and youth.  If you have a concern or complaint about service, we want to work with you to resolve the issue.

INFORMAL COMPLAINTS

The most direct and efficient way to resolve the issue is to discuss your concern/complaint directly with your worker.  By coming together with good hearts, minds, and spirits, most conflicts can be solved quickly and in a good way.   

If you cannot resolve matters with your worker, you can make an Informal Complaint with their manager.  The manager will respond to your complaint within 4 working days.  They should ask for your contact information, details about the complaint, if you tried to resolve the matter directly on your own, and what kind of outcome would satisfy you.  The manager will give you a brief outline of the process they intend to follow regarding the complaint, how it will be investigated, what the possible outcomes could be, the anticipated length of time needed to resolve the matter (usually less than 28 days), and information about when you will be contacted next. 

Informal Complaints do not need to be in writing.

FORMAL COMPLAINTS

If your attempts to address issues informally have proven unsuccessful, NCFST has a Formal Complaint review procedure. This process involves engaging with an Internal Complaints Review Panel (ICRP), which typically includes two senior NCFST managers who have not been directly involved in your situation and an external individual who is not affiliated with NCFST, typically a member of the NCFST Board of Directors or a community representative. The role of the ICRP is to fully understand your concerns, identify potential resolutions, and determine the subsequent steps.  

Also, some complaints may be deemed serious enough that they warrant being heard through the Formal Complaints process instead of through the Informal Complaints process.  If that is the case, the manager handling your Informal Complaint will tell you and refer your matter for a formal hearing.  

Some matters cannot, unfortunately, be heard by an ICRP such as: 

  • Concerns about services provided to someone other than yourself and/or your family. 
  • Concerns about services you have received from other agencies. 
  • Issues that are currently before a Canadian court or have been decided by a Canadian court. 
  • Issues that are currently before an FNIM body or have been decided by an FNIM body. 
  • Issues that are undergoing another decision-making process under the Child, Youth, and Family Services Act or the Labour Relations Act.  

To ensure clarity and effective communication, a Formal Complaint must be submitted in writing through mail, email, or in person using the formal complaint form below. 

Do You Need Help Completing the Formal Complaint Form? 

NCFST is committed to helping you submit a Formal Complaint. If you are having difficulties completing the appropriate form and don’t have a support person of your own to assist you, we will get you the help you need. 

For help to complete the form, contact our Complaints Officer at: [email protected]. 

ANONYMOUS COMPLAINTS

While direct complaints by community members are preferred, it is acknowledged that not everyone is comfortable doing so.  With that in mind, NCFST allows the placing of anonymous complaints for an alleged violation of the rights of children or young persons receiving services or a violation of the rights of children or young persons in care.  Every effort will be made to investigate anonymous complaints as thoroughly as possible.  

To submit an anonymous complaint use the Anonymous Form below.

APPEALS

This Policy has been designed so that conflicts between a community member and the organization manifesting themselves as a complaint can be handled in a good way.  To protect the community and the integrity of this Policy, a community member who believes their complaint has not been handled in a good way by NCFST can make a Complaint by way of External Review through the Child and Family Services Review Board of Ontario (CFSRB).   

The CFSRB will consider hearing a Complaint by way of External Review if NCFST: 

  • did not give you a chance to be heard when you raised your concerns, 
  • did not give you a chance to be heard when decisions that affected your interests were made, 
  • did not give you reasons for a decision that affect your interests, 
  • refused to proceed with your complaint, 
  • did not follow its complaint review process or timelines. 

Also, if your Complaint with NCFST was heard and the review process is now complete, you can appeal to the CFRSB and ask them to review the decision made by the agency’s ICRP.  

Need More Information?
For complete details, please see our Complaints Policy and our Complaints Procedures.

Do You Have Questions?
Contact our Complaints Officer at: [email protected]