Ontario. Children's Aid Branch

Identity area

Type of entity

Lower-level Ontario government office (type C)

Authorized form of name

Ontario. Children's Aid Branch

Parallel form(s) of name

    Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

    • Children's Aid Branch

    Other form(s) of name

      Identifiers for corporate bodies

      Description area

      Dates of existence

      1930-1951

      History

      In late 1930, the Office of the Superintendent of Neglected and Dependent Children was transferred to the newly created Ontario Department of Public Welfare, where it became the Children's Aid Branch. The former Superintendent, J.J. Kelso, continued as Head of the Children's Aid Branch

      At the time of the creation of the new branch, responsibility for industrial schools, refuges, orphanages, and training schools, was removed from the jurisdiction of the Children's Aid Branch and brought under a separate Inspector of Training Schools, Industrial Schools, Refuges and Orphanages. Responsibility for orphanages was later transferred back to the Children's Aid Branch.

      In 1944, the Children's Aid Branch became part of the new Division of Child Welfare along with three other branches: Children's Institutions (formerly Orphanages); Day Nurseries (created in 1942 in response to wartime need and reorganized in 1946); and British Child Guests.

      The Children's Aid Branch, along with the other three branches of the Division of Child Welfare, ceased to exist in 1951, when the division was replaced by the Child Welfare Branch.

      Places

      Legal status

      Functions, occupations and activities

      The Children's Aid Branch of the Ontario Department of Public Welfare had responsibility for the protection and care of needy and neglected children in Ontario. Under the Children's Protection Act, the branch encouraged the formation of Children's Aid Societies across the Province and provided them with policy and planning advice. Under the Children of Unmarried Parents Act, the branch gathered information with respect to children born out of wedlock, provided advice and protection for the mother, and on the establishment of paternity arranged for a private agreement or affiliation order and the collection and payment of monies from the father on behalf of the mother and child. Finally, under the Adoption Act, the branch ensured that applicants for adoption met requirements to have custody of a child, and that consent of all parties was secured.

      Address

      Internal structures/genealogy

      General context

      Relationships area

      Related entity

      Ontario. Dept. of Public Welfare (1930-1967)

      Identifier of related entity

      AA39

      Category of relationship

      hierarchical

      Type of relationship

      Ontario. Dept. of Public Welfare controls Ontario. Children's Aid Branch

      Dates of relationship

      1930-1951

      Description of relationship

      Related entity

      Ontario. Child Welfare Branch (1951-1979)

      Identifier of related entity

      CA790

      Category of relationship

      temporal

      Type of relationship

      Ontario. Child Welfare Branch is the successor of Ontario. Children's Aid Branch

      Dates of relationship

      Description of relationship

      Related entity

      Ontario. Office of the Superintendent of Neglected and Dependent Children (1893-1930)

      Identifier of related entity

      BA759

      Category of relationship

      temporal

      Type of relationship

      Ontario. Office of the Superintendent of Neglected and Dependent Children is the predecessor of Ontario. Children's Aid Branch

      Dates of relationship

      Description of relationship

      Access points area

      Subject access points

      Place access points

      Epithet

      Control area

      Authority record identifier

      CA751

      Institution identifier

      Rules and/or conventions used

      RAD: Rules for Archival Description, 2nd edn (2008)

      Status

      Approved

      Level of detail

      Dates of creation, revision and deletion

      2026-11-16: migrated to AtoM

      Language(s)

        Script(s)

          Sources

          MacTaggart, Hazel. Publications of the Government of Ontario, 1901-1955 (1964)

          Annual Reports of the Department of Public Welfare, 1930-1952

          Directory and Guide to Services of the Ontario Government, 1949-1952

          Canadiana Name Authorities, 1996-12- 24

          Maintenance notes

          Archivist(s):
          R. Anger; Solovitch