O Use planning times effectively – beware of time wasters.
O Keep parents informed by using class newsletters and/or calendars. This saves a lot of time in the 

long run.

O Simplify what you can.
O Prepare open-ended work for students that meet a range of abilities.
O Remember if students can finish work faster than it took you to create it, you’re doing something 

wrong.

Adapted from ETFO, After the Chalk Dust Settles, 2000.

A Member’s Duty to Report under the 

Child and Family Services Act

Section 72(1) of the Child and Family Services Act (CFSA) requires “a person who performs professional or 
official duties with respect to children” to report any reasonable grounds to suspect that a child under 
their care is at risk of harm, abuse, neglect, etc. There are a number of situations and types of harm 
that are mentioned in the Act. These are detailed below. A failure to report can lead to conviction of a 
provincial offence, and a fine, as well as an investigation at the Ontario College of Teachers.

What kinds of situations trigger a member’s Duty to Report?

Section 72(1) of the CFSA describes the following situations:

1. The child has suffered physical harm, inflicted by the person having charge of the child or caused 

by or resulting from that person’s:
i. failure to adequately care for, provide for, supervise or protect the child; or
ii. pattern of neglect in caring for, providing for, supervising or protecting the child.

2. There is a risk that the child is likely to suffer physical harm inflicted by the person having charge of 

the child or caused by or resulting from that person’s:
i. failure to adequately care for, provide for, supervise or protect the child; or
ii. pattern of neglect in caring for, providing for, supervising or protecting the child.

3. The child has been sexually molested or sexually exploited, by the person having charge of the 

child or by another person where the person having charge of the child knows or should know of 
the possibility of sexual molestation or sexual exploitation and fails to protect the child.

4. There is a risk that the child is likely to be sexually molested or sexually exploited as described in 

paragraph #3 above.

5. The child requires medical treatment to cure, prevent or alleviate physical harm or suffering 

and the child’s parent or the person having charge of the child does not provide, or refuses or is 
unavailable or unable to consent to, the treatment.

6. The child has suffered emotional harm, demonstrated by serious:

i. anxiety;
ii. depression;
iii. withdrawal;
iv. self-destructive or aggressive behaviour; or
v. delayed development;

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