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Before this year, if you’d asked me about Children’s Aid Societies all I would have said is that, as a teacher, I have a duty to report. Like most educators, that was pretty much the extent of my understanding: if something seems wrong, report it.
“As a professional educator working directly with students and supporting others who are, you have a legal and ethical duty to report to a children’s aid society when you have reasonable grounds to suspect that a child is or may be in need of protection.”
– Ontario College of Teachers
But during my practicum with the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa (CASO), I started to realize just how much I didn’t know. I had no idea how the system actually worked, how complex and under-resourced it is.
Here’s something I didn’t know: It’s highly likely that in your teaching career, you’ll work with multiple students involved with this system and many of them you won’t even know about. Sometimes it will be disclosed to the school admin and other times it won’t. But behind the scenes, these students are often navigating legal systems, mental health supports, group homes, and frequent placement changes, all while trying to attend school like everyone else.
If we don’t understand how our welfare systems operate, we risk misinterpreting our students’ behaviours, needs, and absences. And worse, we will likely fail to advocate for them in ways that matter. In this blog post I will summarize what I learned during my practicum about the intersection between CASO and Ottawa schools. I am by no means an authority on this topic and I urge you to check out the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa website to learn more.
What does the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa do?
When people think of Children’s Aid Societies, they often imagine a child being forcibly taken away from their home. That’s the image we generally see portatrayed in media and, unfortunately, it used to be close to the truth. Nowadays, child welfare work in Ontario is much broader, more complex and focused on supporting families rather than separating them.
The Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa (CASO) is a non-profit agency that provides child protection services. Their job is to empower caregivers and support families to ensure a safe and nurturing environment for all of Ottawa’s children and youth.
In-Home Support
If a safety concern is identified but a child isn’t in immediate danger, CASO may work with the family while the child remains at home. This often happens under a service model called Signs of Safety, where workers collaborate with families to identify risks and build actionable safety plans. These plans prioritize the family’s strengths and existing support networks. The goal is to stabilize the home environment, not disrupt it.
Out-of-Home Care
In situations where a child or youth cannot safely remain at home, CASO may become the child’s legal guardian. But even then, removal is not the default. Whenever possible, CASO looks for kin placements (placing the child with a relative, family friend, or trusted community member). If that’s not an option, the child may enter foster care, a group home, or independent living (for older youth).
In all cases, the goal is to provide a stable, supportive environment while keeping children and youth connected to their identity, community, and culture.
Support for Youth 18+
Youth don’t stop needing support just because they turn 18. CASO works with many young adults who voluntarily stay connected to access education support, life skills training, or transitional housing.
Reconciliation
CASO is also committed to reconciliation with First Nations, Inuit, Métis, and Urban Indigenous communities. This includes providing culturally informed services, responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, and aligning initiatives with the Calls for Justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. CASO acknowledges that Indigenous communities have historically been and continue to be overrepresented in the child welfare system. Read More
I want to be clear: I’m not an expert on child welfare. I still have so much to learn. But what I have learned through my practicum made me passionate about sharing this information with others. As educators, we need to understand the systems our students are navigating. And we need to push past the stereotypes to build real understanding.If you’re curious to learn more, I highly recommend exploring the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa website.
My Experience with CASO
For my first-year BEd practicum I was part of the Pod Model for Learning Support Program. Instead of being placed in a classroom, we worked in collaboration with Ottawa’s Children’s Aid Society to support students in care with their academics.
It didn’t take long to realize that this was a very different kind of teaching. Supporting students in care goes far beyond helping with homework. Many are juggling school alongside court dates, new placements, family separation, and a rotating cast of adults in their lives. Every time I met with a student, I was reminded that education doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
That’s why trauma-informed practice and consistency are so central to Pod. Many of our students have experienced abandonment, neglect, and broken systems. In Pod, we’re taught that showing up matters. Even when students cancel. Even when they ghost. The simple message of “I’m still here” can be life-changing.
At the same time, it’s important to remember to stay in our lane. We’re not social workers or therapists. But part of being a trauma-informed educator is recognizing that challenging behaviours are often rooted in trauma, that classroom differentiation is essential to equity, and that sometimes our students’ needs go beyond what we can provide. When that happens, our role is to advocate for the student and for the supports they deserve.
Of course, you can’t advocate for supports if you don’t know what they are. Before this placement, I had never heard of things like the JSPA or REACH meetings. Now, I understand just how powerful these tools can be. As part of my Pod placement I advocated for REACH meetings for some of my students and explained the benefits to other teachers. I remember thinking, Wait—why am I the one explaining this? Shouldn’t the teachers already know? But in many cases, they didn’t. And that’s the problem.
I’m grateful to be starting my teaching career with this knowledge under my belt. Many experienced educators haven’t had this kind of training or exposure. We need to do better for our students in care.
What Is the JSPA?
One of the most important tools I learned about during my practicum was the Joint Protocol for Student Achievement (JSPA). It’s a formal agreement between Children’s Aid Societies (CAS) and school boards across Ontario that outlines how to support the academic success and well-being of students receiving child welfare services.
At its core, the JSPA is about collaboration. It helps schools and CAS work together across silos by setting shared expectations around information sharing, student transitions, and educational planning. It also clarifies who’s responsible for what because when no one is sure whose job it is, students fall through the cracks.
Some key things the JSPA outlines:
- How information is shared between CAS and schools.
- What happens during a school move, including timelines and supports.
- Who’s involved in creating an education plan for a student (REACH Team).
- Student consent as a central part of decision-making, especially for youth aged 16 and older.
- Equity commitments, including trauma-informed, culturally safe, and identity-affirming supports—particularly for Indigenous, Black, and 2SLGBTQI+ students.
In Pod, we received training not just in teaching strategies, but also in privacy practices, consent pathways, and the systems that shape our students’ lives. Learning about the JSPA helped me understand how schools and child welfare are supposed to work together. As Ontario educators, it’s contractually part of our job to make sure that happens.
I had never heard of the JSPA before this practicum, and I don’t think I’m alone in that. But now that I’ve seen how powerful it can be, I believe every educator should know about it. It’s one of the few tools we have that’s specifically designed to bridge the gap between school and care.
What is a REACH Meeting?
Another key support I learned about through Pod were REACH meetings. This stands for Realizing Educational Achievement for Children/Youth (Educators really do love a good acronym). These meetings are part of the JSPA framework and are designed to bring everyone involved in a student’s care and education together to create a plan that actually reflects the student’s needs, strengths, and goals.
A REACH meeting typically includes:
- The student (as appropriate for their age and comfort)
- Their caregiver, legal guardian, or CAS worker
- A school representative (often a VP, principal, or School Point Person)
- An Education Liaison from CAS
- Other adults the student wants present—this could include mentors, community Elders, or trusted teachers
REACH meetings are meant to be collaborative, student-centered, and proactive. These are often youth who haven’t had a lot of say in major decisions that affect them so when it comes to their education, they must be heard.
The outcome of a REACH meeting is often an Education Success Plan (ESP): a written document that outlines goals, supports, and the responsibilities of each adult in the student’s circle. It can include everything from tutoring and credit recovery to mental health referrals, pathway planning, or cultural supports.
REACH meetings are not a one-time event. According to the JSPA, they should take place:
- Within the first month of a student starting at a new school or entering care
- At least twice per year to review progress and update the plan
- Anytime someone on the team requests one, including the student
One thing I really appreciated is that REACH meetings aren’t just for students who are “struggling.” They’re meant to be preventative, and strengths-based. If we wait until a student is in crisis, we’ve already missed the chance to build the kind of support network that could have made a difference.
Final Reflections
Before this practicum, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I thought Children’s Aid was something you only needed to worry about when filing a report. I didn’t understand the full scope of what child welfare work looked like or how many of our students are quietly navigating these systems every day.
My practicum with Pod didn’t just teach me how to support students academically. It taught me how to advocate, how to listen better, how to ask the right questions and how to start from a place of humility.
I’m not an expert in child welfare but I am an educator who cares deeply about equity. And I believe that part of our responsibility as teachers is to understand the realities our students face.
Are you an Ontario educator who is interested in learning more on this topic? Read the JSPA. Ask your admin about REACH meetings. Learn more about your local Children’s Aid Society. Talk to your colleagues.
Better understanding leads to better support and better support leads to better outcomes for students in care.
Katelyn Day 