AMBER alert may violate child's privacy, Toronto CAS claims.

Toronto -- The Amber Alert system places child welfare agencies in the midst of "conflicting goals", according to Toronto Children's Aid Society Communications Manager Melanie Persaud. The AMBER Alert (America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) was raised after a child was allegedly abducted by her mother from an office of the Children's Aid Society of Toronto. It has "raised difficult privacy issues for all who deal with child protection proceedings".

The child, who lives in a foster home, was in the CAS office for a supervised visit with the mother, disappeared from the CAS with the mother when the social worker's attention was diverted. The child was found and returned to CAS care within a matter of hours. Meanwhile the identity of the child and the mother was broadcast through the media in North America through the AMBER Alert system as required by law. Child welfare agencies and the media are required to provide identifying information.

"While this law makes it more challenging for both the media and CAS to keep the public informed about important issues, the privacy, and well being of the child must come first. "We must consider privacy rights for even very young children," Persau said, "We live in an electronic age. When a child grows older it would be quite easy for them to find out information that could cause them great personal trauma."

Ontario's Child and Family Services Act requires that there be no public information that identifies a child, a foster parent, or other family members involved as witness or subject in a child welfare process. This aims to promote the best interests of children to avoid stigmatization for the child and the family. 416-924-4646