revoking sponsorship

[kintario]

I have a 17 year old step son, he has been in Canada for 7 years and he is having issues with mental instability. the only family that he has in Canada is myself and my wife and he is refusing to live with us. Due to the fact that he is a sponsored child and we are still willing for him to stay with us he is unable to acces children services. We are wondering if it is possible to send him back to his family in the Philippines (grandmother is willing to take him and he has multiple aunt/uncles etc that are willing to help him). We do not intend to abandon him we just feel that he will get better help there then here.

Is there anything that we as the parents or that the government/cic can do to force him to go back to the Philippines? If so how would we go about doing it?

Thanks in advance.

Concerned step father

 

[scylla]

The government / CIC legally can't and won't force him to return. To the best of my knowledge, you cannot legally force him to return either. There is also no way for you to revoke sponsorship.

I assume you have already spoken with social services to see what his options for assistance are in Canada?

 

[kintario]

we have talked with children services, mental health, the hospital, psychiatrists and we just finished a consultation with a family lawyer who suggested legal aide from an immigration lawyer, being at the end of options was hoping there was something that we can do, my son has tried to kill himself 4 times and it seems everywhere we turn we are at a roadblock

 

[scylla]

I'm very sorry to hear that.

Revoking sponsorship isn't feasible. CIC does sometimes revoke PR on their own and force someone to leave Canada. However this would be for serious criminality reasons - unfortunately your son's scenario doesn't qualify.

I don't believe any arm of the Canadian government can legally force someone in your son's situation to leave Canada. It's his right to remain in Canada as a PR. (Again, it would be different if there was a serious criminal issue involved.)

I assume he's unwilling to return on his own...

Hopefully someone else has suggestions.

 

[kintario]

on that note, if my son decides to stay in Canada but refuses to live with us, even though we are willing to have him back, are we responsible for any fees he encurs through mental health/children services or other gov't funded agencies?

 

[dominokitty]

Where are you located? He doesn't need to be homeless to access mental health services. If you provide a few more details I'd be happy to point you in the right direction. Is he still going to school? Regardless, his school's guidance counselor should be able to help a lot - it's their job to connect students in need to the services that will help them. Another option is to call your local provincial building - they often have an addictions and mental health unit that provides free counselling and can also refer him to a psychiatrist for medication if needed. Why is he refusing to live with you? How much contact with him do you currently have?

I don't know the specifics of your situation but I'm sure sending him off to the Philippines isn't the answer here. Whether you intend to abandon him or not, it will feel like abandonment to him and it will only create more instability. I'm speaking as an adult who was sent away by my family for the same reason as a teenager. Our relationship never recovered and I spent years in therapy trying to heal from it. It was more damaging to me than anything else. He's nearly an adult anyway - there's not much you can do to force him into anything.

 

[scylla]

on that note, if my son decides to stay in Canada but refuses to live with us, even though we are willing to have him back, are we responsible for any fees he encurs through mental health/children services or other gov't funded agencies?

You would only be responsible for paying back what's classified as social assistance (welfare). Mental health won't fall into that category. However if he receives money to cover living expenses because he's not living with you - that probably would.

 

[martha1901]

I am so sorry to hear this.

If his been self harming, then that is quite a serious mental health concern. I totally agree with dominokitty. There's a lot of community outreach program, try to explore those services and give him that sense of accountability in terms of decision making. When you have that consultation with Psychiatrist, ask if his competent enough to make a sound and safe decision, if he is then you have to let him.

You have to empathize with him, although his been here for 7 years, might be long enough for us to integrate with society, but for some it could be an overwhelming day by day, as they haven't settled with their new environment, explore those factors if you haven't done it yet.

I am hoping that with continues therapy and support from you both he will be okay.

Good luck.

 

[canadianwoman]

He is already a PR. You cannot revoke PR now. However, he should be eligible for provincial health coverage just like any other PR or citizen. It sounds like he needs mental health help. His doctor should be able to send him to a psychiatrist.
If he goes back to the Philippines and does not fulfill his residency requirements, he might lose his PR (eventually). Would this really be the best thing for him? He has been here for much of his childhood and adolescence, so he probably will not fit in in the Philippines anymore. He could maybe return for a couple of years, as it could be having his grandparents and aunts and uncles taking care of him will help him. But don't force him to stay so long he is in danger of losing his PR status. I think in any case it would be better to try to get him the health care he needs here.

Is he a citizen? If he applies for citizenship, and receives it, then he could go back to the Philippines without any danger of losing his status in Canada, and so could come back when he wanted to and was ready to.