Child and Family Services of Grand Erie (CFSGE) celebrated the grand opening of its new Henry Street location in Brantford on Wednesday, December 11, 2025.
The organization, formed in 2022 through the amalgamation of the Brant Family and Children’s Services and the Children’s Aid Society of Haldimand and Norfolk, is a provincially mandated child protection agency.
“We’re funded by the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services to do just that, deliver child protection services. So that could be anything from investigating referrals when people call us to report that a child may be in need of protection, to providing ongoing services to families who need a little bit more help to keep their kids safe,” said Sally Johnson, CFSGE’s Executive Director. “Sometimes we remove children, but only in a very small percentage of the families that we work with, and we place those children in foster homes or in alternative care, and we also place children for adoption, but we do so many other things too. We really, really work hard to support families and strengthen families so that they can keep their kids safe at home.”
Since amalgamating the two agencies, CFSGE handles anywhere between 1,600 and 1,700 investigations a year.
“We usually get about 3,000 to 3,5000 referrals a year, but not all of them require our intervention,” said Johnson. “On any given day, we have about 400 ongoing family service files, and those are families that we’re working with; typically their children remain at home with them, and we work with them to reduce any risks. We also have about 300 children in care at the moment, which include a large cohort of kids who are over the age of 18.”
“The kids who age out at 18 are able to stay on with us through funding from the ministry and through the Ready, Set, Go Program, where they stay with us until they’re 23. So if a child comes into our care and they become what we call ‘Extended Society Care Orders,’ which means that the parental rights have been severed, what do you do when you’re 18 and you don’t have a family to go back to?” she continued. “We are their family. We are their corporate parents, and so they stay with us, and we provide support. We help them find jobs, we help them get accepted to school, we help them with OSAP, we help them find places to live, and we provide support to them throughout the year as well as tutoring, and a lot of that is funded by our foundation.”
The new 25,000-square-foot building features various office spaces and meeting rooms, welcoming murals that reflect the local community, dedicated smudging areas and an EarlyON Child and Family Centre with an outdoor play area.
“EarlyON programming is funded by the Ministry of Education, and it is a wonderful program for parents who have young children, aged zero to six. It really came out of Dr. Fraser Mustard’s work at McMaster and all of the wonderful things that happen in a child’s brain when they’re under the age of six,” explained Johnson. “It’s a way for parents to come and learn how to play and relate to their babies, helping them to reach their developmental milestones. It’s just a really great program. It’s universal programming, so anyone can drop in and participate in programming with their babies anytime they want.”
The EarlyON space has a full kitchen, play sets, toys, and carpeted areas for small children, as well as an area for active movement and play for older children to develop their motor skills.
Johnson said the new building has ultimately allowed the organization to consolidate their different sites and better serve the community.
“Up until now we were in ten different sites spread out across the city but it wasn’t necessarily efficient. In the days of shrinking resources, we had a recommendation to look at our site to see if we could consolidate, and so we’ve actually downsized our space by 10,000-square-feet,” she explained. “…We’ve really designed the space for families and for our staff. We know that the old buildings, which were old, did trigger some people who may not have had great experiences there as children and so we’re really, really fortunate to have this beautiful, bright space that is intended to be welcoming of everybody.”
Having one centralized building reduces the amount of office equipment needed at each site, and generates overall savings for the organization, said Johnson.
“For instance, we had to have photocopiers at all of those sites, but now we have just four photocopiers instead of 24,” she explained. “All of these things create savings for us so most of our funding can go to families and to kids.”
While seven of the ten sites have officially been integrated into the new building, there are still three that are up and running in different neighbourhoods throughout the city.
“We lease those spaces for $1 from the City, and we provide EarlyON programming at those sites,” said Johnson. “We also have child protection staff there and lots of activities that are funded by our foundation, so we think those sites are really important to maintain, but most of our staff are now on this one site.”
The executive director said that while the building has been a long-time coming and required a lot of hard work, she’s proud of what’s been accomplished.
“It’s been a real team effort with all of our private partners. We were able to fund it through the revenue of the sale of our other buildings and so with some interim support from RBC, we haven’t spent any operating dollars on this which is great. We’re really, really excited to have this building available for our community to use,” said Johnson. “I’m pinching myself today, It doesn’t feel real to me. It’s wonderful and our staff are enjoying it, and our participation in EarlyON has tripled since we opened the new building because everybody’s wanting to come in.”
Councillor Gino Caputo, who was there speaking on behalf of the City, said that the building represents more than just a new beginning.
“It symbolizes a promise; a promise to listen, to support and to stand beside those who need it the most. It reflects countless hours of planning, collaboration and perseverance by individuals who believe deeply in creating a safer, healthier and a more hopeful future for our community. As we step into this new chapter, we honour not only the work that has brought us here, but also the possibilities that lie ahead,” he said. “This centre will be a place where families find guidance, where children find safety, and where the community finds strength and unity. Let this opening serve as a reminder that when we come together, professionals, partners and community members alike, we create environments where every child can thrive and every family can flourish.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
