Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Indian Act
Know Your Rights
Criminal Law
Child Protection
Fair Decision Making
Serious Concerns
It is important to know that if you have serious concerns about something happening with your child or the care they are receiving, you should request follow-up right by the Ministry or FNCFS Agency rights away and continue to request it until you are satisfied your child is safe and well cared for. You can also contact the Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth or Ombudsman Saskatchewan.
You have a few different options when you disagree with what is happening with your child or with services provided by the Ministry or FNCFS Agency.
Have a Judge Decide
If you disagree with a finding made by the Ministry or FNCFS Agency that your child is in need of protection, you can choose to deal with it in court and have a judge decide. This is much easier if you have a lawyer. A lawyer can also advise you as to what they think a judge will decide.
Talk to your Case Worker or the Ministry
If you disagree with a service being provided (like the school that the caregiver has enrolled your child in or a lack of cultural programming), the Ministry suggests you do the following...
- Talk to the case worker involved first.
- If that does not address your concern, ask to talk to the case worker's supervisor.
- If that does not address your concern you can ask to appeal to the "Manager of Services Delivery" or the "Director of Service Delivery".
- If that does not address your concern you can contact the Minister of Social Services.
You should be able to get contact information for all of the people listed above from the case worker assigned to your file. Remember to ask for and keep the case worker's business card. You can contact the Minister of Social Services at 306.787.3661 or ss.minister@gov.sk.ca.
Contact the Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth
If you have concerns about something happening with your child or the care they are receiving you can always contact the Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth. They investigate complaints and can make recommendations to the Minister about issues and concerns in the child protection system. Their offices are located at 201-446 2nd Avenue North in Saskatoon. You can also go to www.saskadvocate.ca, call 1.800.322.7221 or email contact@saskadvocate.ca.
Appeal a Judge's Decision
If you disagree with a decision a judge has made you have 30 days to appeal that decision to either the Court of King's Bench (if the decision was made by a Provincial Court judge) or to the Court of Appeal (if the decision was made by a King's Bench judge). Note that this is different than an application to change an order based on a change of circumstances.
