Let me clear up a legal factor that seems to be cloudy
to some readers who in their frustration with child protection agencies in Canada,
spout “I thought we were innocent until proven to be guilty.” That axiom continues to be true in criminal
proceedings. Child protection proceedings however, are not criminal in nature. Rather
they are civil proceedings and that means that the standard of proof is a
balance of probability. You may still dislike that.
That balance of probability proviso when harnessed to child
protection’s remarkable degree of legal authority over children disturbs and
even angers many parents beset by CP case workers. In every Canadian
jurisdiction there is now comprehensive child protection legislation. If that
were not enough, the common law has given courts inherent jurisdiction over
children who are in danger, and this jurisdiction is called parens patriae. The
summary truth is that in Canada
the natural parental custody and even court ordered guardianship is superceded
by child protection or child welfare orders.
