Title: Office of the Children’s Lawyer | Ontario.ca
Headings: Office of the Children’s Lawyer
Office of the Children’s Lawyer
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Overview
Parenting time and decision-making responsibility
Child protection
Office of the Children’s Lawyer involvement
Civil cases
Estates and trusts
Managing a child’s money and property
Minors’ Funds Program
Contact

Content: Children’s Lawyer Reports
Voice of the Child reports
legal representation
legal representation with clinical assistance
We do not: get involved in cases before they go to court other than in pre-court child protection alternative dispute resolution cases and certain civil and estates cases
represent youth in criminal or youth court
decide what is in a child’s best interests
enforce support order cases (visit the Family Responsibility Office website for information on child support matters)
give a parent or caregiver legal advice, other than parents under age 18 in child protection cases
provide advice about education law
provide advice about immigration law
provide advice about mental health law
provide social assistance
You may wish to contact Justice for Children and Youth for help with these types of matters. Parenting time and decision-making responsibility
In cases involving parenting time, contact and decision-making responsibility for a child, the court may need information about the child’s views, preferences and circumstances. Decision-making responsibility refers to the right and authority to make significant decisions about a child’s life and well-being about issues such as education, medical treatment and religious upbringing. Parenting time and contact refer to the time a child spends in the care of their parent (in the case of parenting time) or another person (in the case of contact). In some cases, parenting time or contact may be restricted to supervised contact or by videoconferencing, telephone or other methods. When courts ask the Office of the Children’s Lawyer to help, we may provide: a lawyer to represent the child
a clinician (generally a social worker) to meet with the family and write a report for the court
both a lawyer and a clinician
An OCL lawyer will generally take a position that is consistent with a child’s views and preferences. A clinician preparing a Children’s Lawyer Report will make recommendations to the parties and court about what they believe would be in a child’s best interests. Both lawyers and clinicians will work with the parties to try to reach an agreement that they believe will work best for the children.