‘Abominable’ child abuse case prompts ministerial reminder

WINNIPEG — Manitoba’s families minister has issued mandate letters to First Nation and general child-welfare authorities for the first time — spelling out their responsibility to keep kids safe — after an Indigenous foster child was assaulted last year in an “abominable case of abuse.”

Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said Monday that she sent the letters to the Northern Authority, the General Authority and the Southern First Nations Network of Care, “bringing together the whole of the CFS infrastructure to work together to make sure that we’re doing what’s in the best interest of children.”

The letters tell them to ensure their CFS agencies support the transition of jurisdiction to Indigenous Nations, to prioritize keeping more children with their families and to ensure agencies meet national standards to keep kids safe.

Fontaine penned the letters after police and provincial authorities launched an investigation into the case of a six-year-old girl from a northern First Nation sent to hospital in critical condition on Sept. 19 with what police search-warrant documents described as “life-altering injuries.” She was one of four children living at the foster placement in north Winnipeg at the time.

The girl’s foster mother, 25, was charged with aggravated assault, assault and failing to provide the necessaries of life. The foster father is charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life. Fontaine described it earlier as an “abominable case of abuse,” and launched an internal probe that is still underway, she said.

Her mandate letters to the authorities set priorities and expectations and list the tens of millions in additional funds the authorities overseeing child-welfare agencies received since 2023-24. Increases of $25 million to the Southern First Nations Network of Care and $12.9 million to the Northern Authority were for such things as supporting the rising cost of care, implementing customary and kinship care agreements and to prepare for more Indigenous governing bodies enabling their own child-welfare laws under Canadian law that went into force in 2020.

Fontaine called it an “historic moment of change” that comes with uncertainty. The province can’t withhold funding to authorities if the CFS agencies that they oversee don’t meet expectations, she said.

“Authorities are legislative bodies, with a legislative responsibility,” the minister said. “It’s not like if I find an organization’s not doing what it’s supposed to be doing I can just cancel a service purchase agreement,” she said.

“In the past, other governments have put an authority in third-party administration,” she said. “That is not something that we’re contemplating. What I’m contemplating is making sure that we are all working together and rowing in the same direction.”

The president of the Manitoba Foster Parents Association said the minister retains clear authority over funding, provincial priorities, oversight, compliance and investigations and can intervene when outcomes fall short.

“What happened to this six-year-old child is not only a tragic individual failure, but also a systemic one,” Jamie Pfau said in an email Monday. “Ultimately, the responsibility for that system rests with the minister of families.”

“While Manitoba’s child-welfare system operates through authorities and agencies, the province has not stepped away from responsibility.”

The foster parent said she continues to hear from front-line workers that reunifications are being rushed, sometimes without comprehensive safety planning or adequate supports in place.

“I am also hearing concerns that kinship and customary care placements — which are critically important and culturally appropriate when done well — are being implemented without sufficient assessment, training or resources to meet the needs of children with complex trauma and high-care needs.”

In the case of the six-year-old foster child, the search warrant application said the girl was found to have a broken sternum and broken vertebrae, along with severe bruising, burns from tape on her mouth and apparent small stab wounds on the bottom of her feet.

A respite worker had last seen the girl on Sept. 17, but when she arrived to help the foster parents with child care on Sept. 18, she didn’t go in the girl’s bedroom, because the parents said she was ill.

On Sept. 19, the parents emailed the worker and said she didn’t need to visit because the girl was sick. Later that day, the foster parents called for paramedics.

The Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth said it is reviewing the case.

“Reviews are conducted on any serious injuries which meet the definition under the (Advocate for Children and Youth Act,” a MACY spokesperson said in an email Monday. “An investigation occurs if the advocate deems that a more in-depth examination is required. That would be determined at a later date.”

» Winnipeg Free Press