your rights

The following rights apply to all clients placed with Milestone Foster Homes. Every client has the right to:

• Express your own views freely and safely about matters that affect you, including decisions with respect to placements, discharges, and transfers.

• Participate in honest and respectful discussions about how and why decisions affecting you are made and to have your views seriously considered based on your age and maturity.

• Be consulted about the kind of services you are getting or will be getting, participate in decisions about those services, and be told about the decisions that are made.

• Raise concerns or suggest changes to the services you are getting or will be getting without interference or fear of pressure, discrimination, or retaliation, and to receive a response.

• Be informed of your rights in a way you can understand.

• Reasonable privacy, and to have your own personal property in your room.

• Learn about and participate in activities of your choice related to their creed, community identity and cultural identity.

• Aid in developing your Plan of Care and making any changes to it.

• Receive assistance from your Milestone resource worker, foster parent or other caregivers in exercising and benefiting from your rights.

• Access to food that is of good quality and appropriate for you, including well-balanced meals.

• Be provided with good-quality clothing that is appropriate for you, based on your size, activities, and weather conditions.

• Receive regular medical and dental care at regular intervals and whenever needed, in a community setting whenever possible.

• Receive education or programming that matches your skills and abilities, in a community setting whenever possible.

• Participate in recreational, athletic, and creative activities that are appropriate to your skills and interests, in a community setting whenever possible.

• Attend any religious or spiritual functions and participate in religious diets or fasts of recognized faith groups.

• Communication:

o Where permitted, speak in private, visit and receive visits from members of your family.

o Make telephone calls, unless deemed harmful to you.

o Without unreasonable delay, speak in private with and receive visits from:

> Your lawyer.

> Another person who is representing you.

> The Ombudsman and their staff.

> A member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario (MPPs)/the Parliament of Canada (MPs).

• Send and receive written communications (including electronic communication) of any kind that are not read, examined, or censored by another person unless the content may be harmful to you, in which case the resource worker must be consulted.

• Contact the Residential Placement Advisory Committee (RPAC) to request a change in placement or to review placement decisions.

• Contact the Ontario Ombudsman’s office privately and without delay to make a complaint about any matter concerning service provided by:

o The Ministry

o A Children’s Aid Society or other placing agency

o Milestone Foster Homes

• Consent to the collection, use and sharing of your personal information with certain exceptions. This ability is based on capacity as opposed to age.

• Request access to your record of personal information held by Milestone.

• Request correction of your record of personal information held by Milestone.

• Know if a privacy breach happens with your personal information.

• Make a compliant.

No Milestone director, manager, supervisor, employee, contractor, volunteer, or student is allowed to use or permit:

• Physical punishment of you.

• Detention of you in a locked premises.

• Physical restraints unless there is imminent risk that you will physically injure, or further physically injure, yourself or others.

• Mechanical restraints for the purpose of punishment or solely for the purpose of convenience of a caregiver. A personal assistive device (PASD) may be used to assist you with hygiene, washing, dressing, grooming, eating, drinking, elimination, ambulation or positioning or any other routine activity, if necessary and recommended by your doctor or other health professional.

Right to be informed

Your rights, responsibilities, the Milestone program description (including cultural competency), the complaint procedure, RPAC, The Ombudsman’s role and contact information, and Milestone’s restraint and mechanical restraint policies will be reviewed with you:

• Upon admission.

• 30 days after admission.

• 90 days after admission.

• 180 days after admission.

The review will be conducted using tools and language that is suitable to your level of understanding and will be documented on the intake paperwork and in the POC and POC reviews.

NOTIFICATION OF PARENTS OR PERSONS WITH LAWFUL CUSTODY

Your parents or persons with lawful custody will be notified of your rights, responsibilities, the Milestone program description (including cultural competency), the complaint procedure, RPAC, The Ombudsman’s role and contact information, and Milestone’s restraint and mechanical restraint policies at the same prescribed intervals as described above.