When a child has been granted the Legal Order of Extended Society Care under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, then a Children’s Aid Society is required by law to make all reasonable efforts to secure an adoption placement, if adoption planning is in the child’s best interests.
An Extended Society Care Order is made by the courts on determination that in the child’s best interests he or she can no longer live with his or her birth parents, and that a better and less restrictive option (such as placing the child with relatives) is not available. Under Extended Society Care, the province accepts all rights and responsibilities for the child.
A child in Extended Society Care cannot be placed in an adoptive home until those parties who maintain some level of access to or with the child (Access Holders or Recipients) have been served and given the opportunity to apply for an Openness Order, the time permitted for appeal of the Extended Society Care order has fully expired, and any appeal of that order has concluded with a decision that has left the order intact.
The consent of any child 7 years of age or older is required.
