15 Ontario families were forced to surrender kids to CAS because they couldn’t get medical care, ombudsman reveals

The unsettling disclosure comes 20 years after the ombudsman first flagged forced abandonment as a concern — but systemic issues persist. 

June 25, 2025

By Amy Dempsey Raven, Investigative Reporter and Megan Ogilvie, Health Reporter

They are often at risk of harming themselves or others. But instead of getting the urgent medical care they need, kids across the province are being abandoned to children’s aid societies by desperate families that have run out of options.

In the past year alone, the Ontario ombudsman’s office has investigated 15 cases in which parents were forced to surrender their children with complex health needs to CAS to get the treatment and support they require.