Manitoba CFS intervened with 50% of First Nations parents from 1998 to 2019: study

A "striking level" of First Nations parents came into contact with child protective services in Manitoba over the last couple decades, which could ultimately burden the health and well-being of their communities, a new study says.

Published last week, the joint study by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and University of Manitoba researchers identified nearly 120,000 birth parents who had their first child in Manitoba between 1998 and 2019. First Nations parents made up nine per cent of that number.

The study found half of the First Nations parents had an open file with a child protective services agency during that period.

"This was almost four times higher among First Nations parents compared to non-First Nations parents," said Kathleen Kenny, the U of M researcher who led the study.

The study also found just over a quarter of First Nations parents had their child or children put in an out-of-home placement — a rate nearly six times higher than their non-First Nations counterparts. About 10 per cent had their parental rights terminated, compared to less than two per cent for non-First Nations parents.

Kenny says most child welfare research tends to focus on rates of contact among individual children, but a more accurate picture can be gleaned from looking at their families as a whole.

"I think that paints … a bigger picture of how these events are not isolated, they're very patterned," she said.

The study analyzed anonymized population-based data from the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, linking it to individual information from Child and Family Services, hospital birth records, employment and income assistance case reports and the Canadian census.

The head of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs says the report's findings aren't a surprise for many First Nations people.

"It just further verifies and confirms what we've already known for so long," Grand Chief Kyra Wilson told CBC News on Tuesday.

Manitoba's child welfare system should be focused on supporting families, children and parents through their difficulties, Wilson said,

"We need to make sure that we have capacity within our nations to ensure that children don't fall through the cracks, through any transitional period."

But she says the province hasn't been forthcoming on how the current system is being improved.

"Transparency and communication [are] the key to ensuring that changes are being made, but we're not hearing anything from the province in that regard."