Manitoba will change how it publicly reports

Manitoba will change how it publicly reports the number of children in its care by excluding those who are voluntarily transferred by their guardians. More than 10,000 children are currently reported, but about 700 will be discounted once the voluntary placements are removed from the publicly-reported numbers. Other provinces don’t count their voluntary placements, which include children under customary care legislation placed with family members in First Nations communities.

Family Services Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross said there is world of difference between apprehension and a voluntary placement.

Guardians are “reaching out to us and saying, ‘Please come and help us.’ They can come at any time and say, ‘I want my child back’,” she said. “It’s very different than a case of a child coming to school with bruises and Child and Family Services being called ... and feeling they have to apprehend for the child’s safety.”

The number of kids in Manitoba’s care has jumped 55 per cent since 2006, reports the Canadian Press, 90 per cent of which are Indigenous, which gives the province the highest child apprehension rates in Canada, seizing an average of one newborn baby a day.