Reasonable Efforts to Seek Parental Support for TCA in Ontario

The Requirement Most Grandparents Dread

Ontario Works Directive 3.10 includes a requirement that many kinship caregivers find uncomfortable: before receiving Temporary Care Assistance, you are expected to make "reasonable efforts" to seek financial support from the child's biological or adoptive parents — the people with the primary legal obligation to provide for the child.

For grandparents raising a grandchild because of parental addiction, incarceration, mental health crisis, or abandonment, the idea of asking that parent for money feels anywhere from pointless to dangerous. The good news is that Directive 3.10 recognises this reality and provides clear safety exceptions.

What Counts as Reasonable Efforts

The directive does not define a specific checklist of required actions. "Reasonable" is assessed based on the circumstances. In practice, Ontario Works caseworkers accept evidence such as:

• A written note or email to the biological parent asking whether they can contribute to the child's expenses
• A phone call or text message (screenshot or call log as evidence) making the same request
• A letter sent to the parent's last known address
• Documentation showing the parent is unreachable (no known address, no phone number, no contact in months or years)

The standard is not that you succeed — it is that you make reasonable efforts, or that seeking support would be unsafe. The directive does not set a fixed number of attempts, so document what you can do safely and ask OW how it applies the standard to your circumstances.

When the Requirement Is Waived Entirely

Directive 3.10 explicitly waives the reasonable efforts requirement when seeking parental support would create a risk. Waivers apply when:

• Domestic violence — past or current violence by the biological parent toward the caregiver or child
• Fear of child abduction — a realistic concern that the parent will take the child if contacted
• Physical or emotional harm — contact with the parent would cause harm to the child (common in cases involving parental substance use or severe mental illness)
• Complete loss of contact — the parent's whereabouts are unknown and there is no safe way to reach them
• Parent is incarcerated — explain how the circumstances make seeking support unsafe or impossible

If any of these apply, provide a written statement to the OW caseworker explaining the safety concern and any supporting information available. The caseworker must waive the requirement where compelling safety risks exist.

How to Document Your Efforts

Whether you make contact or claim a waiver, documentation matters. Keep a simple log:

1. Date of each attempt or the date of your safety statement
2. Method — phone, text, email, letter, in-person
3. Outcome — no answer, refused, agreed to contribute, unreachable, unsafe
4. Evidence — screenshot, call log, copy of letter, email printout

If you are claiming a safety waiver, write a brief statement (one page is fine) explaining:

• Why contact with the biological parent would be unsafe
• The nature of the risk (violence, abduction, substance use, etc.)
• How long the safety concern has existed
• Whether any authorities (police, CAS, courts) are aware of the situation

Present this with your TCA application. The caseworker notes the waiver in the file, and the requirement is satisfied.

What Happens If the Parent Actually Pays

Child support paid by natural parents is exempt from TCA calculations under the specific rules for authorized kinship arrangements, so it does not reduce the basic TCA rate.

Our Ontario Kinship Financial Help guide includes a parental support effort log template, a safety waiver statement template, and a detailed breakdown of how child support interacts with TCA — so you can satisfy the reasonable efforts requirement without putting yourself or the child at risk.

See more Ontario guides →