Foster home pleads guilty to giving pot to youths, charges stayed against seven people

A defunct for-profit foster-care provider has pleaded guilty to providing cannabis to kids in its care and been fined $35,000.

Spirit Rising House entered the guilty plea in a courtroom in Winnipeg Tuesday as part of a deal that saw charges stayed against the foster-care provider’s four directors — John Bennett, 57, Christine Ormiston, 38, Ian Rabb, 60, and Kelli Register, 56 — and three support-staff members.

Spirit Rising House had 14 foster homes in Winnipeg, West St. Paul and St. Andrews before the province severed ties with it and it ceased operations March 31, 2024. At the time, Spirit Rising House had 34 children under its care between the ages of 11 and 17, all of them assessed as being high risk and in need of intensive support.

According to an agreed statement of facts provided to court, providing cannabis to the children was part of Spirit Rising House’s “harm-reduction strategy.”

“I don’t think there is evidence that the individuals who were operating the organization were intending to hurt kids,” Crown attorney Alana Parishin told provincial court Judge Kusham Sharma. “I think that they went about it the wrong way and ought to have known this was not the right way to do it.”

Investigators with the Winnipeg Police Service’s child abuse unit began looking into Spirit Rising House in February 2024 after Southeast Child and Family Services — which had guardianship over 21 of the 34 children at Spirit Rising House homes — reported that an internal investigation prompted by a post on Reddit confirmed that the foster-care provider had been providing cannabis to youths without a medical prescription.

Police executed search warrants at the foster homes and seized a number of electronic devices.

“I think that they went about it the wrong way and ought to have known this was not the right way to do it.”

“The evidence establishes that Spirit Rising House was supplying cannabis both illicit and from dispensaries to youth in its care to manage their behaviour and offer an alternative to engaging in other more harmful substances and activities,” says the agreed statement of facts.

Foster parents were told the practice had been approved by the Child and Family Service agencies that had guardianship over the children, “but this was not true,” says the agreed statement of facts.

Spirit Rising House “did not consult with Child and Family Services or medical practitioners to ensure this was an appropriate means of care and in (the children’s) interests.”

Court heard some youths were provided cannabis on a daily basis and that some staff would roll joints and keep them locked up in a safe.

Spirit Rising House acted in what its directors believed was the best interests of the children, said defence lawyer Richard Wolson.

“It was the intention of this corporation to do well for the youth they had in their homes… and they did do well for the youths, in many respects,” Wolson said.

“Harm reduction is well known in the world of addiction,” he said. “For (the children and youths) to go out to try and feed their addictions… would have put them in very difficult and dangerous circumstances.”

Wolson said the fine would be paid by the end of the day.

The province’s Families Department was made aware of the drug allegations in February 2024 and severed ties with Spirit Rising House the following month.

The province launched a review of the foster-home operation and other providers and issued a compliance order for Spirit Rising to stop handing out cannabis. The province advised child-welfare authorities and agencies not to place other youth there.

The foster-home operator released a report about the allegations in May 2024, saying there was “secret and implied consent” in the child-welfare system for youth in foster-care placements to use cannabis, alcohol and hard drugs.

“As long as the youth are off property and sourcing the illicit substances for themselves at great personal peril, government, guardians, systems and caregivers can comfortably look the other way,” the document stated.

In the report, Spirit Rising blamed a social-media post by a “disgruntled former worker” that led to “negative media attention, political manoeuvring, and an investigation.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca