North Eastern Ontario Family and Children’s Services (NEOFACS) is a multi-service organization and offers services and programs for children and their families in the districts of Cochrane and of Timiskaming. Our head office is located in Timmins with satellite offices in Hearst, Kapuskasing, Smooth Rock Falls, Cochrane, Iroquois Falls, Kirkland Lake, Englehart, New Liskeard and North Cobalt.

Our child and youth mental health services focuses on children most in need of social, emotional and behavioural intervention. We recognize the importance of early intervention and support families in their central role of caring for and nurturing children.

We provide child and youth mental health services (i.e. Counselling and Therapy Services, Parenting, Residential Services, Telepsychiatry/Psychiatry, Psychology, Intensive Service Coordination and Supervised Access) prevention services, (i.e. Brighter Futures, EarlyON), child welfare services (i.e. Child Protection, Kinship Services and Care, Foster Care, Adoption) and youth justice programs (i.e. Non-Residential Attendance Centres, Restorative Justice, School-Based Intervention, Sexual Offender Treatment, Youth Mental Health Court Program, Community Support Team and Residential Services). A complete description of our services can be found on our website and in our Agency pamphlet.

In connection with our delivery of mental health services, NEOFACS is a personal health information custodian (“HIC”) in our child and youth mental health programs, and is committed to complying with the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA), which requires that personal health information be kept private and secure. Among other things, PHIPA also governs the collection, use and disclosure of personal health information.

NEOFACS is a lead CYMH agency. As a lead agency, NEOFACS collects client and service-related information for the purpose of providing services to our clients. This information is stored securely within our Client Management System.

Business Intelligence (BI) Solution - NEOFACS provides anonymized service-related data to the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care (MOHLTC). The MOHLTC funds the mental health services we provide and uses the anonymized data to assess performance indicators in order to conduct service planning analysis.

Consent

We will collect, use and disclose the personal health information of our clients only with express or implied consent. PHIPA also provides that an individual can withdraw consent at any time. In cases where we collect, use or disclose personal health information without consent, we will do so only where the law permits or requires us to do so.

Although our clients are generally children, they are entitled to consent to the collection, use or disclosure of their personal health information when they are capable to do so. A client’s parent or other person authorized by law can normally provide consent to collect, use or disclose personal health information on his or her behalf if the child is deemed unable to consent by the worker.

Collection of Personal Health Information

We collect personal health information directly from our clients, or from individuals authorized to act on their behalf, in order to provide health care services to our clients.

The personal health information that we collect from and about our clients may include, for example, our client’s name, date of birth, clinical history, health and family information, records of clinical meetings and information with respect to the care we provide and the care and treatment our clients may have received elsewhere.

Occasionally, we may collect personal health information from other sources, such as other care providers, schools and physicians, where we have obtained consent to do so or if the law permits.

We will not collect personal health information if other information will serve the purpose. In addition, we will not collect more personal health information than what is reasonably necessary to meet the purpose.

In some circumstances, we may collect information from our clients and others for the purpose of providing Child Protection Services. In these circumstances, we will not collect personal health information, even from our own records, except with express consent or where required to comply with our legal obligations.

Use and Disclosure of Personal Health Information

We may share our clients’ personal health information with other professionals who provide care to our clients for the purpose of providing health care services, during clinical case discussions in supervision or clinical meetings, and unless clients tell us otherwise, we assume that we have our clients’ consent to do so.

With the express consent of our clients, we may also share personal health information with service providers within NEOFACS who are not health care providers or health information custodians, for the purpose of delivering services to our clients, in order to:

• facilitate and provide services, including to determine which of our services is most appropriate for the client;
• conduct audits;
• plan, administer and manage our internal operations;
• conduct risk management and quality improvement activities;
• facilitate reviews by accrediting or governing bodies;
• conduct permitted research; and
• fulfil other purposes permitted or required by law (i.e. providing Child Protection Services and reporting the abuse of a child to provide such services).

These staff members will not use or disclose the information received for any purpose other than the purpose for which the information was provided, or for the purpose of carrying out a statutory or legal duty. They will not use or disclose more information than is reasonably necessary to meet the purpose for which the information was provided, unless disclosure is required by law.

NEOFACS provides anonymized client service data to the MOHLTC for the purpose of conducting service analysis.

Access and Correction of Record of Personal Health Information

Under PHIPA, an individual (or someone legally authorized to act on their behalf) has the right to request access to and correction of their record of personal health information. A client may see or ask us to correct a record, by making a written request to our Privacy Officer, identified below.

Security

We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that personal health information in our custody or control is protected against theft, loss and unauthorized use or disclosure. Paper records containing personal information including health information is maintained in secure and locked files. All electronic records require passwords to access PHI. In the unfortunate event that personal health information is stolen, lost, or accessed by unauthorized persons, we would normally inform the client or his or her parent or guardian of such an occurrence at the first reasonable opportunity.

Privacy Officer

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the privacy and/or information practices at NEOFACS, please ask to see our Privacy Policy or contact our Privacy Officer, Laura Michel at 1-705-360-7100 ext. 5017 (Toll-Free: 1-866-229-5437/KIDS).

Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario

If you are not able to resolve a privacy issue directly with NEOFACS, and wish to make a complaint, you may contact the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario at 2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 1A8.