Through its programs and services, the Ministry of Community and Social Services:
- helps adults with a developmental disability live, work and participate in a range of community activities,
- enforces support orders issued by the courts so that families get the money to which they are entitled,
- helps Ontarians recover from hardship and regain control of their lives.
Our responsibilities fall into the following categories:
Social assistance
Ontario has two different social assistance programs:
- Ontario Works provides income and employment supports to people who are in temporary financial need, and
- Ontario Disability Support Program provides income and employment supports to people with disabilities.
Programs for adults with a developmental disability
Working with community agencies, we fund services and supports for people who:
- are 18 years of age and older, and
- have a developmental disability.
Community services
We fund community-based supports that help:
- victims of domestic violence and their children
- people who are Deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or deaf-blind, and
- Indigenous peoples.
Working with the Ministry of Government Services, we support Ontario's adoption information laws that:
- give adults and birth parents access to information from birth and adoption records, and
- at the same time, safeguard their right to privacy.
Child and spousal support orders
Through the Family Responsibility Office, we collect and distribute court-ordered child and spousal support payments.