Number of Manitoba children in care rises – Brandon Sun

WINNIPEG — The number of children in care in Manitoba has increased for the first time in several years, prompting Family Services Minister Nahanni Fontaine to say the “bump” is part of a long-term problem that will take years to resolve.

“The child welfare system has been around for generations. It will take time for us to reverse this trend,” she said Wednesday.

The department's annual report shows the number of children in care increased to 9,172 in 2024-25 from 8,919 the year before.

Ninety-one percent of them are Indigenous. The overrepresentation of Indigenous children is something the Manitoba government has been trying to reverse for decades.

Fontaine said the NDP government's reforms are working.

“You will see that we are moving towards kinship agreements and traditional guardianship. That is, children do not fall into guardianship at all, do not formally fall into the system, (while) families – parents – retain this parental guardianship,” she said in an interview.

There were 42 such cases in the last annual report and the number has almost doubled this financial year, she said.

A “whole-of-government approach” tries to prevent children from entering care by addressing poverty, housing and health issues, the minister said, pointing to the launch on Wednesday of a government website with health information for new parents.

“So while there is an uptick, it will take time,” Fontaine said.

“Over the next five to 10 years you will really see changes in child protection.”

In 2023, the Peguis became the first First Nation in Manitoba to assume legal control of a child welfare agency after the federal government passed Bill C-92, the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families Act, in 2020.

The legislation recognizes the inherent right of Indigenous people to exercise jurisdiction over their children and family services, and sets out national guidelines to reduce Indigenous over-representation in the system.

Fontaine touted the agreement with Peguis as a model for the decolonization of child protection.

However, earlier this month, Peguis Chief Stan Bird called on the province to abandon the agreement, saying a lack of oversight and transparency at Peguis CFS has resulted in children being turned away without receiving help.

Fontaine said she met with Bird last week and that the government is working with Peguis First Nation and Peguis CFS “to be able to address these issues.”

The jurisdiction gives them “all the tools and all the means to solve any problems that arise,” she said.

The president of the Manitoba Foster Parents Association said the rise in the number of children in care is not just a “bump” as the minister described it, but an indicator that Manitoba is heading in the wrong direction.

“While the minister has repeatedly stated her intention to decolonize child protection, there has been no transparent or detailed plan outlining how this will be achieved,” Jamie Pfau said. Without it, “these alarming numbers will only continue to grow,” she said.

Customary and kinship-based care agreements need to be expanded, but the province has not made enough investments in community capacity development, support for birth families or strong oversight and accountability mechanisms, she said.

“Chief Byrd's recent concerns highlight this reality: children in Peguis First Nation are currently at risk,” Pfau said.

A Manitoba Children's and Youth Advocate said there is a need for a federal children's advocate who can make recommendations because children under First Nations jurisdictions have no one “to do this important work.”

Tory families critic Jodie Byram said Fontaine was being defensive and trying to silence people who have critical or opposing views when she should be taking advice on ways to improve children's welfare.

“She gets very defensive when things get heated.”

She asked why the minister, who was a critic of families in the opposition, had not presented a detailed plan to decolonize child protection.

“She had years to come up with a plan. She saw how things were going, so she had time to come up with something.”

» Winnipeg Free Press