Christine is 16 years old. She lives with her mother in Toronto
and her father lives in Vancouver
Christine does not know how to get financial support.
LEGAL INFORMATION
Ontario Works (OW) is a provincial agency run through municipalities that provides social assistance, including financial benefits and help finding employment. If you are 16 or 17 years old and you have left home, you can get financial assistance (money) from OW under special circumstances, but if you are under 16
years old and you are not a single parent, you usually cannot get social
assistance on your own.
If you want to get social assistance, an Ontario Works worker will usually check
that your parents will not let you live with them at home or that it is harmful
for you to live there. Also, the Ontario Works worker will want to be sure that
your parents will not support you in your financial needs. In addition, you will need to show that you are a
full-time student in high school or another training program.
Christine meets all of these requirements. So, if Christine needs money to live alone, she might be able to get social
assistance (money) from the Ontario Works program.
What kind of assistance will
Christine get?
If Christine qualifies for assistance, she will get a monthly allowance.
The amount Christine will get can help her to pay for basic expenses such as
rent, food and clothing. She can also get assistance to buy prescription drugs.
Also, Christine might be able to get community maintenance benefits to
help her pay the cost of setting up a new place to live (for example, money for a last month's rent deposit).
How Does Christine Apply?
If Christine wants to receive social assistance, she needs to complete an
application and to have an interview with an OW worker who will ask Christine
for information to show that she qualifies for assistance. This will include talking about the things
discussed above, like finding out more about why Christine isn’t living with a
parent. When Christine goes to the
Ontario Works office, she will have to have a number
of documents with her. Christine can
show evidence of her circumstances by getting a letter from her guidance
counselor, or another professional (like a social worker) who is familiar with
her situation.
Christine has the right to apply to Ontario Works for social
assistance. That means that she can
apply even if someone tells her she is ineligible when she goes to apply. If she is turned down, she should ask for the
decision in writing, so that she can try to have the decision reviewed by
someone else in the OW office. This is called a "request for internal review". If
Christine is turned down, it will be helpful for her to talk to a lawyer, who
can help her with the internal review request. It
is important for Christine to act quickly if she is turned down, as there are
short deadlines for a review or an appeal (which is like a review of a review).
This information only applies to someone who is 16 or 17 years old – if you
are 18, different rules apply, even if you are still a full time student.
To learn more about leaving home, check out this JFCY pamphlet
To learn more about social assistance, including Ontario Works, check out
CLEO’s guide to social assistance. Or, check out this government of Ontario website.
If you are 16 or 17 and living on your own in Ontario, and you are having trouble applying for or receiving OW, you can contact a JFCY lawyer. Call JFCY at 416-920-1633, or toll-free from outside the GTA at 1-866-999-5329.
Thanks to Lina Maria Sanchez, a PLE Team Member and JFCY volunteer, for writing this post. Lina Maria was a lawyer in Columbia before moving to Canada. Legal information was reviewed by JFCY.
