Court of Appeal

                                NOVA SCOTIA COURT OF APPEAL

Citation: A.M.S. v. Children’s Aid Society of Halifax, 2006 NSCA 67

Date: 20060601

Docket:  CA 262675

Registry: Halifax

Between:

A.M.S.

Appellant

v.

Children’s Aid Society of Halifax, D.H. and R.S.

Respondents

Restriction on Publication:      pursuant to s. 94(1) of the Children and Family Services Act

Judge:                            The Honourable Justice Nancy Bateman

Appeal Heard:               May 26, 2006                 

Subject:                Child Welfare       

Summary:            Grandmother appeals from a decision ordering the three grandchildren into permanent care rather than placing them in her custody under the Maintenance and Custody Act, R.S.N.S. 1989, c. 160.

Issue:                   Did the judge err in failing to consider the grandmother’s plan or did the Agency wrongly fail to investigate the plan?

Result:                 Appeal dismissed.  The grandmother was known to the Agency, having a history of involvement with it.  The Agency was clear from the outset that it opposed placing the children in the care of the grandmother and advised that it would be relying on the evidence available from its files to demonstrate that the grandmother was not a suitable custodian.  In the circumstances, the Agency was not obliged to conduct an assessment of the grandmother’s plan.  In view of the unfavourable evidence presented at trial regarding the grandmother, the judge’s briefly worded dismissal of her plan in his judgment did not suggest that he did not consider it to the extent he was required to do so.  Fact specific.