‘Underappreciated and undervalued’ Manitoba foster parents under financial pressure, push for rate increase By: Chris Kitching Posted: 5:38 PM CST Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024 Last Modified: 6:06 PM CST Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024 Updates

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A Manitoba foster parent group is urging the NDP government to boost basic allowances and service fees, which have been frozen for more than a decade, or risk losing more caregivers to financial pressures.

The government-set rates haven’t kept up with cost-of-living increases and remain among the lowest in Canada, said Jamie Pfau, president of the Manitoba Foster Parent Association.

“(Foster parents) just feel underappreciated and undervalued and taken advantage of,” said Pfau, a Winnipegger who has fostered eight children with her husband since 2011.

Some have been forced to stop fostering or reduce the number of children in their care, because the current compensation does not cover the basic costs of caring for a child, said Pfau.

If rates remain frozen and the number of foster homes declines, the needs of vulnerable children will not be met, she said.

Pfau has spoken to dozens of parents who want to continue fostering children, but are facing financial pressures.

“What I have heard from everyone is, through tears, many foster parents are having to consider closing their home,” she said.

Foster parents have seen their income decline, while living costs soar and allowances lag well behind, according to the MFPA.

Pfau said people do not foster children for the money — they do it because they want to help children in need.

“They have a space to provide love and care to children who are among the most vulnerable in the province,” she said. “It’s clearly not about the money.”

Pfau is submitting a letter to Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine’s office Thursday, after holding a news conference alongside provincial Liberal leader and supporter Cindy Lamoureux.

The letter calls for immediate increases to basic maintenance rates and service fees.

The MFPA is also requesting a meeting with Fontaine, who took on the portfolio after October’s provincial election, to discuss allowances and other concerns.

“They have a space to provide love and care to children who are among the most vulnerable in the province … It’s clearly not about the money.”–Foster parent Jamie Pfau

Basic maintenance rates, which help to cover expenses such as food and clothing, last increased in 2012, when the NDP was in office.

The rates are about $22 to $32 per child per day, depending on age and geographic location. They are higher in northern Manitoba, due to higher living costs.

Pfau, 40, said service fees, which help parents care for children with more complex needs, haven’t increased since 2002. She said they range from $45 to $120 per child per day.

“How many people have had a raise since 2002? I would say every single person in every industry.”

Many foster parents are forced to use the service fee to cover basic costs, she said.

Foster parents in Manitoba typically receive $8,600 to $11,800 per child per year, according to the MFPA.

The expectation is one parent is a stay-at-home parent, said Pfau.

She pointed to an October 2023 Statistics Canada report, which found two-parent, middle-income families spend an average of $17,235 per year to raise a child.

On Wednesday, the NDP government wouldn’t say if it will end the freeze.

“Our government is focused on providing the best outcomes for children and youth who come into the care of a CFS agency,” Fontaine said in a statement. “We appreciate the incredible dedication of foster caregivers across Manitoba and their commitment to supporting children they welcome into their homes.”

Manitoba’s child welfare system relies on foster parents to deliver care. As of March 31, 2023, Manitoba Families reported 6,291 children in foster homes, down from 6,333 the previous year and 7,352 in 2017.

A total of 8,990 children were in care.

The 2021 Census found Manitoba’s rate of children in foster care was the highest in Canada and five times the national average.

Pfau said there is a shortage of foster homes in Manitoba, with child welfare agencies currently recruiting.

Most children in foster homes are Indigenous, while most parents are non-Indigenous, she added.

Pfau said non-Indigenous foster parents do not receive adequate training or support to help Indigenous children with their cultural needs.

She said foster parents have a critical role to play while the care of Indigenous children, who are over-represented in the system, is transferred back to Indigenous governments, organizations and communities.

Although it sets minimum or standard rates, child maintenance is no longer funded directly by the Manitoba government.

Child and Family Services authorities pay the rates as part of lump-sum funding from the province. They can choose to pay the minimum or a higher amount.

In May 2023, then-families minister Rochelle Squires said the Tory government would take a look at the standard, after foster parents told the Free Press they were struggling to cover living costs.

At the time, Fontaine, then-NDP families critic, acknowledged basic rates had been a longstanding concern for foster families. She said child-welfare authority directors had told her they were frustrated because provincial funding was lacking.

Pfau said Wednesday she has never heard of an authority paying more than the minimum rates. Lump-sum funding makes it nearly impossible to do that, because the whole system remains underfunded, she added.

In 2019, the Office of the Auditor General raised concerns the basic fostering rates had been frozen and failed to adequately compensate foster parents.

An OAG report said special rates were set inconsistently within and across agencies. It recommended the government regularly review rates to ensure costs are covered.

The recommendation had not been implemented, as of May 2023.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca