Province rapped in children’s advocate report

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This article was published 11/03/2021 (2014 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A report by the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth on the maltreatment deaths of 19 children shows the province is still a long way from keeping kids safe.

“Though we have witnessed changes to child welfare services over the years, these changes have not resulted in consistent or equitable services for children, youth and families, and Manitoba still has almost 9,000 First Nations and Métis children in care,” the report states.

Between Sept. 15, 2008 and Mar. 31, 2020, the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth was notified of 1,383 deaths of Manitoba children between birth and five years of age, the advocate’s report said.

”The child welfare system remains rooted in structural inequities and systemic racism and when left unaddressed, children are placed at risk of harm and even death,” the report states.

The report — Still Waiting: Investigating Child Maltreatment after the Phoenix Sinclair Inquiry — was released this morning by the independent, non-partisan office of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly.

The advocate’s role is to represent the rights, interests and viewpoints of children, youth and young adults throughout Manitoba who are receiving, or should be receiving, provincial public services.

The 63-page report delves into the cases of 19 children who died maltreatment-related deaths. Only the names of Phoenix Sinclair, Kierra Williams and Jaylene Sanderson-Redhead — whose names have previously been disclosed to the public — are identified. All other names and identifying information have been changed to protect the privacy of the children and their families.

“Phoenix Sinclair would have turned 21 years old this year,” acting advocate Ainsley Krone wrote in her introduction to the report.

Phoenix died in 2005 after being beaten and abused after being reunited with her mother and step-father. Her death and remains were not discovered until 2006 when they were found in a shallow grave near a garbage dump. Outrage over the death of the child, who had been in and out of care, was followed by a public inquiry to get to the bottom of how the child welfare system failed her. The $14-million inquiry resulted in 62 recommendations being made in 2014 that the province pledged to act on.

“Fifteen years after her death and seven years after the release of the public inquiry into her death, major changes have occurred in the child welfare system,” Krone wrote. “Yet, we are still waiting for the system to consistently support families to keep children safe.”

In 2016, 50 per cent of the Phoenix Sinclair inquiry’s recommendations were “in progress,” 21 per cent were pending and 29 per cent were complete or ongoing. The advocate is calling on the provincial government to regularly update Manitobans on its progress but it has yet to release a complete status report on those recommendations. Meanwhile, kids are still dying, the advocate’s report says.

The report uses the examples of what happened in the cases of 19 children who died — as well as the story of a mother in custody — to illustrate where gaps remain in the system and what still needs to change in the child welfare system.

The mother in custody — given the pseudonym Charlene — describes her troubled upbringing and the lack of supports available to her as a parent when she needed help after being reunited with one of her kids who had been in care. Charlene received some temporary help after suffering a heart attack, being hospitalized and returning home. When she said she was having trouble calming and bonding with one of her children, she was told if she couldn’t parent the child, CFS would take away all of her children again, so she was afraid to ask for further help.

A year later, the child died, his death was ruled a homicide by the chief medical examiner, and there was evidence of severe maltreatment. His mother was convicted.

Apprehension models and others in which children are separated from their families and then returned without the supports needed to change the safety and care environment in a family will continue to result in cases of maltreatment, serious injuries and deaths, the report states.

“Systems must aim to set families up to build their capacities and succeed, and interventions must always result in tangible improvements in the lives of those families,” it states.

Minimum service standards and quality assurance processes are critical to child safety and protection from maltreatment, but so are decent housing, food security, poverty reduction, family violence prevention and addictions care, the report states. They are key to the safe care of young children and preventing further deaths, it states.

Without appropriate funding, the advocate’s report said, child welfare services will remain inadequate and unable to meet the needs of all children, youth and families in Manitoba.

In First Nation communities, child welfare services remain inequitable compared to services provided off-reserve, the report states.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Still Waiting: Investigating Child Maltreatment after the Phoenix Sinclair Inquiry