Defence of devolution

The arrests Saturday of a man and a woman in connection with the death of a little girl on the Fisher River First Nation were announced in a routine police bulletin, but the result was explosive. It turned the already-stressed Child and Family Services system in Manitoba upside down and raised the question of whether the government's much-touted process to give control over the child welfare to aboriginal communities had just gone horribly wrong.

PRINT | 15/09/2007 3:50 AM | 3

In child welfare, no one dares say R-word

RACISM is the elephant in the room in any discussion about Manitoba's child welfare system.

You can't look around it. You can't ignore it. You can't pretend it's not there.

PRINT | 15/09/2007 3:50 AM | 0

A sad history

A timeline of child welfare in Manitoba.

PRINT | 16/09/2007 10:07 AM | 1

• And they call this care
• Co-opting little Gage

Who failed this child?

THE couple who took in and cared deeply for Gage Guimond for almost half his little life were proven foster parents with kids of their own. Why the boy who turned two years old Saturday, a day after he was hospitalized for the injuries that would kill him Sunday, was removed six weeks ago from this stable, safe and loving environment is the question sitting on the desk of child welfare authorities.

PRINT | 26/07/2007 5:00 AM | 0

• He had a name; it's OK to say it
• Toddler treated like a chess piece
• Gage's final 15 months in hands of troubled kin
• Gage's guardian called for help -- got voice mail
• Despite tot's fractures, 'no one followed it up'
• Social workers kept good notes of depraved care
• Review of Manitoba tot's death finds serious shortfall with child welfare agency

This disgrace must not be endured

MANITOBA'S child welfare system is in chaos.

PRINT | 17/09/2007 5:00 AM | 0

Tracia's tragedy prophesied

AUTHORITIES knew there were serious problems in Tracia Owen's family before she was born.

PRINT | 18/01/2008 5:00 AM | 0

• The child's welfare
• Help for reserve families urged
• Rapid response far from timely
• Social workers overloaded

A system that puts children's safety last

Here are a few quick facts for your consideration:

PRINT | 4/10/2008 5:50 AM | 0

It's tough to dig the truth out of CFS bureaucracy

Lies, damn lies and prevarications. That's what you can expect when you try to extract the facts of a troubling child welfare case from people sworn to protect children in care.

PRINT | 25/09/2008 5:50 AM | 0

• Boy's plea for a friend

Children die in agency's care

A northern First Nations community is reeling after two deaths of youths in the care of a Manitoba Child and Family Services agency in less than a week.

PRINT | 2/10/2008 5:50 AM | 0

Danger signs all there when baby died in '93

It has been 15 years since eight-month-old Nathaniel Meeches was removed from a caring foster home in Winnipeg, handed over to family members on a reserve and, just 29 days later, killed.

PRINT | 30/03/2008 2:45 AM | 1

The same old question whenever a child dies

The 2003 death of Zachary Andrew Turner should have served as a cautionary tale for Manitoba's child and family services system.

PRINT | 16/09/2007 3:45 AM | 0

Mapping out Manitoba's CFS system

A look at child-welfare agencies around the province.

PRINT | 21/12/2008 1:00 AM | 1

• How Child and Family Services in organized in Manitoba

First things first at CFS

MANITOBA'S child welfare system has long been characterized by two recurring themes -- upheaval and crisis. When one's around, the other is close behind. Family Services Minister Gord Mackintosh is juggling the fallout of an organizational upheaval that has been blamed for putting little kids at enormous, sometimes lethal risk. He wants to shake things up again.

PRINT | 17/09/2007 5:00 AM | 0

Will more studies, analysts really help?

The province of Manitoba is spending $1.5 million to set up a Child Welfare Secretariat it says will better co-ordinate the work of the four aboriginal agencies created under devolution.

PRINT | 10/03/2008 5:00 AM | 0

Put kids' needs over culture

SIX Winnipeg children, whose mother is in jail after being accused of running a child prostitution ring, are in danger of being yanked from their long-term foster home and moved to a reserve where they have never lived.

PRINT | 30/01/2008 5:00 AM | 1

• Help for reserve families urged

All CFS agencies struggle

PROBLEMS in the child and family Services system are not new -- as so many professionals have stated. Overworked social workers, precious few resources, growing numbers of children with special needs, and the need for more qualified foster homes are only the beginning. Children were being housed in hotels long before devolution came into play.

PRINT | 20/09/2007 5:00 AM | 0

• Ask the kids first
• CFS understaffing intentional
• Hate won't help kids who were failed

Move from blind hate towards a prevention-focused approach

What is it about July that brings out the worst in us?

PRINT | 2/08/2008 3:35 AM | 0

Child welfare hits rock bottom

Just how badly can Manitoba's fractured child welfare system fail a child in care?

PRINT | 23/05/2008 3:40 AM | 0

Caseloads no panacea

THE review of Manitoba's child welfare system released in September found, almost at every turn it seemed, that there was a problem with the way agencies respond to children and families in need. This ranged from the technology used to track cases to the fundamentals -- the education and training of front-line workers. An accompanying review found that workloads were too heavy.

PRINT | 19/11/2007 5:00 AM | 0

• CFS woes stem from caseloads

Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic

WHEN the Children's Advocate Enhancement Act passes next week -- as it surely will -- responsibility for investigating the deaths of children killed in the care of Child and Family Services will be transferred from the office of the chief medical examiner to the Manitoba Children's Advocate.

PRINT | 3/11/2007 5:00 AM | 0

Too many kids in need to spend $140K this way

If you were a beleaguered First Nations Child and Family Services Authority struggling to provide the best care to children and families in crisis, how would you spend a spare $140,000?

PRINT | 15/05/2008 3:40 AM | 0

Child-welfare devolution review urged

Progressive Conservative Leader Hugh McFadyen called on the province Thursday to create a special all-party committee to examine the devolution of Manitoba's child welfare system to aboriginal agencies.

PRINT | 6/06/2008 3:55 AM | 0

Parents involved in CFS system need more support: study

Aboriginal mothers who have lost custody of their kids say the child welfare system is often unfair, overly-complex and alienates them from their kids.

PRINT | 3/10/2008 3:12 PM | 0

Unkind, difficult system alienates kids: CFS study

Aboriginal mothers who have lost custody of their kids say the child-welfare system is often unfair, overly complex, and alienates children from their culture.

PRINT | 4/10/2008 5:50 AM | 0

Dead kids don't vote: how convenient

DEAD kids don't vote. Neither do parents or grandparents whose kids have been killed under the nominal care of Child and Family Services. They're too busy dealing with grief and addiction and poverty and any unholy litany of reasons that led their children to be seized by the government in the first place.

PRINT | 21/11/2007 5:00 AM | 0

• Don't play politics with children's lives

If people will come forward a child's life might be saved

GAGE GUIMOND died under the watchful eye of Child and Family Services, the agency that removed him from a loving foster home and placed him with a distant relative.

PRINT | 26/07/2007 5:00 AM | 0

SAFETY FIRST: Legal changes will protect kids in care

The safety of children will take precedence over all other considerations -- including cultural and family ties -- for kids in care in Manitoba's child welfare system, through legislation expected this spring.

PRINT | 28/03/2008 5:00 AM | 0

Coming in '09: A new approach

GET ready for next year's child-welfare catch phrase: Differential response.

PRINT | 21/12/2008 1:00 AM | 0

Problems, prescriptions and progress

There's been a flurry of fixes to the child-welfare system since Phoenix Sinclair's death. They come under the umbrella of Changes for Children, and they come with a hefty $42-million price tag.

PRINT | 21/12/2008 1:00 AM | 0

• Wish lists from the front line: band chief
• Wish lists from the front line: Children's advocate
• Wish lists from the front line: Medical examiner

Phoenix's legacy is just beginning

Phoenix Sinclair endured horrific abuse before she was murdered. But now the trial is over, and those of us who did pay attention need to figure out how to deal with our anger and our outrage.

PRINT | 22/12/2008 1:00 AM | 0

Province to spot-check foster homes

In the wake of two damning reports and an avalanche of criticism of the province's child welfare system, the province will spot-check thousands of foster homes to ensure they're licensed and safe and will launch an agency-by-agency review this fall.

PRINT | 8/08/2008 5:00 AM | 0

CFS audit combs files of all kids in agency's care

AN operational review of Southeast Child and Family Services will comb through the file of every child in the agency's care, looking to ensure there are no more children like Tracia Owen slipping through the cracks.

PRINT | 6/03/2008 5:00 AM | 0

Local CFS agency developing training program for social workers

Dakota Ojibway Child and Family Services is developing the first native-run training program for social workers in Manitoba.

PRINT | 2/01/2007 1:49 PM | 0

A fifth child agency probed

A fifth Manitoba child welfare agency is under review -- this time for questionable hiring practices.

PRINT | 17/05/2008 3:00 AM | 0

• Child welfare reviews

Troubled agency's director on leave

The executive director of Southeast Child and Family Services has been placed on administrative leave during an ongoing operational review of the troubled agency which faced criticism over the suicide of a 14-year-old girl in its care.

PRINT | 5/03/2008 5:55 AM | 0

First Nation votes to remove troubled CFS agency

BLOODVEIN First Nation has voted to boot the Southeast Child and Family Services agency off the reserve.

PRINT | 9/11/2007 5:00 AM | 0

Sagkeeng CFS faces scrutiny over deaths

The operations of Sagkeeng Child and Family Services agency are being reviewed as part of an ongoing probe into the death of two-year-old Gage Guimond.

PRINT | 27/03/2008 5:00 AM | 0