Child Protection: Can I get my child back because my section 7 Charter rights have been violated?

It is crucial to understand that family law Judges and courts will always put the child’s best interests above any other factor when rendering a decision.

In the case of Children’s Aid Society of Oxford County v. C. (W.T.), a biological mother argued that due to the delay in the court-proceeding process, she never had a chance in her appeal to take her child back from the adoptive parents, and thus her section 7 Charter rights were breached.

The case witnessed an institutional delay regarding the preparation of certain transcripts that allowed the adoptive parents to hold on to the child and create an uninterrupted four-year bond with no access awarded to the biological mother.

During that time, the biological mother put her life together and claimed to be sufficiently capable of mothering her child.

The Court recognized the progress she had made during the four-year period and acknowledged that she would now be deemed fit to raise her child. However, the Court did not rule in her favor.

The Court of Appeal emphasized the bond the child had made with the adoptive parents during these four years, and declared that the child’s best interests were to be place above all other interests.

Therefore, although the biological mother was now deemed capable of raising her own child, and despite the fact that the delay in the appeal process was not her fault (ultimately breaching her section 7 Charter rights), the Court was obligated to put her child’s best interests first, and thus awarded the child to his/her adoptive parents.

To learn more about Child Protection as well as the services provided by Krol & Krol, call 905.707.3370 today.