Manitoba to spend $42M to improve child welfare system

The Manitoba government announced Friday it will spend an initial $42 million in new money to act on more than 220 changes to the province's child welfare system recommended in two critical reports released earlier this week.

Family Services and Housing Minister Gord Mackintosh said Friday his department will invest the funding over the next three years. It will be worked into the provincial budget in the coming years, he said.

"To me, it's unprecedented. I haven't seen that in my 30 years. So hopefully that's a sign of good things to come, and for us the challenge will be to do it right," said Elsie Flette, chief executive officer of the Southern First Nations CFS, on Friday.

On Wednesday, Mackintosh released two reports that identified flaws in the existing child welfare system. The reports prepared by the provincial children's advocate, provincial ombudsman, and external parties said the system needs more money, additional workers, and improved training and resources for workers and foster parents, including the creation of a computerized tracking system.

As well, the workloads of caseworkers should be reduced so they can visit children and families more often, the reports said.

The reports, including one that examined the deaths of 99 children who were in care between 2004 and 2006, were sparked by the death of five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair on the Fisher River Cree Nation.

RCMP say Phoenix was abused and killed in June 2005, three months after Child and Family Services returned her to the custody of her birth mother.

Samantha Kematch, 24, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with Phoenix's death. Kematch's boyfriend, Carl Wesley McKay, 43, was also charged with first-degree murder.

In releasing the reports Wednesday, Mackintosh had pledged to spend "tens of millions" of dollarsto acton the 220 recommendations in both reports. He also called a full public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Phoenix Sinclair's death.

Some money being spent right away

In addition to Friday's $42-million spending announcement, Mackintosh also introduced "Changes for Children" action plan to implement the recommended changes and improve the child welfare system.

He also named two people who will oversee those changes: Dr. Catherine Cook, regional director of aboriginal health at the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, and former children and youth secretariat Reg Toews.

About $5 million of the $42 million will be spent immediately to add more staff to its crisis response system, relieve case workers' workloads, upgrade information systems and establish incident debriefing and support for families facing tragedies.

Mackintosh also said he will make a "significant first effort" to improve the province's foster care system by actively recruiting more emergency foster beds.

Over the next three years, the province will invest in hiring more staff, providing early intervention programs, and offering more training to frontline staff.