Privacy Policy

FSYR recognizes the importance of securing privacy for clients and the confidentiality of personal information. FSYR maintains careful and consistent practices to protect client rights to privacy and confidentiality, including the collection, use and disclosure of personal information in-person and virtually. FSYR adheres to all relevant privacy legislation.

Limitations to Confidentiality

FSYR adheres to the following legal limits to confidentiality:

• Suspicion that a child under 16 years is at risk of abuse or neglect
• Imminent risk of physical harm to oneself
• Direct threat of physical harm to another person
• When records are subpoenaed by a court of law or the agency is presented with a search warrant
• A client of the agency discloses that they were sexually abused by a regulated health professional

Client Records

Information is collected and records are kept for all individuals, couples and families that seek and access services at FSYR. Records include demographic information, ongoing notes and other documents completed when applying for and during service. This is not an exhaustive list of what may compose a record.

All client records and counselling sessions are strictly confidential. A basic axiom of our policy is to never release information which individually identifies a client without informed consent, except in the circumstances outlined above.

Records are also useful in the provision of statistical knowledge of client presenting concerns, services provided and service gaps. Records provide vital data required to assess the quality of service delivery during accreditation.

Client Access to Records

Clients have a legal right to their file and information. On request, clients may receive a letter of attendance, service letter with goals, view and/or receive a copy of their file. FSYR charges comparable administrative fees for such requests. Fees are not to be a barrier to information and may be reduced/waived to ensure accessibility.

Should a client disagree with the content of their file or feel that it contains inaccurate information, they may register this in writing with FSYR’s Correction of File of Information form. FSYR will respond to this in writing using the Agency’s Response to Correction of File Information form. These documents will be retained in the client file.

Clients do not have access to reports in agency files written by professionals from other service delivery systems. Clients seeking access to reports from another service system will be advised to approach the other system directly.

Receiving and Releasing Information

When information is requested by or from other organizations serving clients, informed written consent must be obtained from clients prior to release or collection.

Clients have the right to withdraw, withhold and place limits on the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information at any time. Counsellors are responsible for explaining the foreseeable risks and benefits associated with these decisions. This information is documented in the records.

Signed consent forms are valid only for the period of time that the file is active. Consent forms must be signed again if the file is reopened.

FSYR provides counselling services to clients in order to further their personal or interpersonal well-being and does not conduct assessments for court purposes. Therefore, FSYR generally does not provide clinical notes or other information gathered during a counselling session for legal purposes or for any other reports.

Record Retention and Destruction

In accordance with regulatory bodies, all adult client records must be retained for at least the current year plus ten years, after which they can be destroyed. For children and youth files, the minimum length of time for retention is ten years from the client’s eighteenth birthday. To protect clients’ ability and rights to their records in circumstances where future access may be necessary, FSYR has extended its minimum file retention period to at least fifteen years, or fifteen years from the client’s 18th birthday, whichever is later.

Questions, Concerns and Complaints

The Director of Clinical Services and Organizational Development or designate assumes the role of Privacy Officer for the agency, overseeing the collection, use, protection and disclosure of personal information. For questions, concerns or complaints, the Privacy Officer can be contacted by calling 1-888-223-3999 or in writing at 1091 Gorham Street, Suite 300, Newmarket, ON L3Y 8X7.

If not satisfied with a response provided by the Privacy Officer, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario can be contacted by calling 416-326-3333 or in writing at 2 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 1A8.

Family Services York Region respects the privacy of visitors to its website and strongly believes that if online activities are to flourish, visitors must be assured that information provided online is used responsibly and appropriately. To protect online privacy, the agency has implemented the following protocol:

About the Information We May Collect

Data and information we collect through our website is used only to help us achieve our mission. It is our policy to collect and store only personal information that our clients knowingly provide.

Casual Website Visitors and General Users

We do not collect any personal information from users browsing our website. When you use the public areas of our website, you are doing so anonymously. We do collect aggregate use information, such as the number of hits (visits) per page. We use aggregate data for internal and marketing purposes, but we don’t collect any personally identifying information.

How We Use Cookies

Cookies are small text files that are sent to your computer when you login to a website that allow us to identify you when you return to the site. We do not use cookies to track your usage or any other personal information about you.