1 in 2 Manitoba First Nations parents with child protection services, study says | Globalnews.ca
A new joint study by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and researchers from University of Manitoba shows a stark provincial reality.
Nearly 50 per cent of all First Nation parents in Manitoba have had a child protective file opened against them. That’s nearly four times as many as a non-First Nation parent (13.1 per cent.)
According to the study, First Nations parents are almost six times (27.4 per cent) more likely to have their children placed out of home than non-First Nation parents (4.7 per cent), and about five times (9.6 per cent) more likely to experience termination of parental rights (TPR) than non-First Nation parents (1.8 per cent.)
Mary Burton of Zoongizi Ode Inc. says there needs to be a collaborative program between the child protective services and local organizations that can positively impact families instead of taking kids away from them.
“We need to have child welfare because there are families in this country, in this neighbourhood, and on my street that are treating their children horribly,” she says. “And those kids need CFS. And if there’s no child welfare, who’s going to protect them?”
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“For those times, where it’s not needed, and when a family just needs resources, call in a local organization and say, ‘Hey, this family needs some resources. Can you get them the resources that they need?”
She adds, “Nine out of 10 times, we can.”
Last week at a press conference, talking about child welfare in Manitoba, Mispawistik Chief Heidi Cook said the focus should be on removing the harms, not the children.
“The interventions need to happen much earlier than the point of apprehension,” said Cook. “We need to change from an apprehension-focused system to a prevention and supportive system.”
Burton says that child protective services are needed in the country and the province, and that progress has been made over the last few years underlining legislative changes such as banning poverty as grounds for child apprehension.
“When you separate families, you create trauma, you create anger, and you create fear,” she says, “but if you leave the children with the family and you put in resources and the services that the families need, you avoid all of that.”
She does point out that while progress is being made, the kids that are already affected and those still in the system will carry trauma for a lifetime.
“I still deal with the trauma of being torn away from my family,” she says. “In my family, my siblings and I needed to be taken out of a very bad situation but when that situation got resolved, they should’ve given us back.. but they didn’t”
The study uses data of almost 120,000 birthing parents in Manitoba between 1998 and 2019.
According to the study, First Nations parents are almost six times (27.4 percent) more likely to have their children placed out of home than non-First Nation parents (4.7 percent).
Josh Arason / Global News
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