Stories of children who died of maltreatment highlight gaps in Manitoba's child welfare system

The woman who cared for Phoenix Sinclair for much of her short life says little has changed in the years since a public inquiry into her death made sweeping recommendations meant to reform Manitoba's child welfare system.

"Everything that's happened in the last [seven] years, it's made it worse for the children and it's made it worse for the families. Children are less protected and families are even less involved," said Kim Edwards, who was a foster parent to Phoenix Sinclair from the time she was three months old until she was three years old.

The Indigenous girl was eventually returned to her mother and stepfather, who were convicted of abusing and killing her in 2005, when she was five years old.

The Phoenix Sinclair Inquiry delivered its final report, which included 62 recommendations, to the provincial government in 2013.

On Thursday, Manitoba's Advocate for Children and Youth released a report tracking the progress on implementing those recommendations, which found that just over half of them had been completed. 

While the report noted that significant progress has been made on implementing recommendations related to the establishment of an independent advocate for children in Manitoba — which is 90 per cent complete — limited progress had been made on recommendations related to the direct care of children. 

Recommendations regarding funding for child welfare services had a completion rating of 25 per cent. Service improvement recommendations were 29 per cent complete. More modest progress had been made on reforms related to service integration (46 per cent), reforming the social work profession (54 per cent) and quality assurance (68 per cent). 

Between 2008 and 2020, 19 children under the age of five died as a result of maltreatment, the report said. 

Details of the lives of some of the children included in the report highlight many of the factors that contribute to the risk of abuse and death. The report identified two key areas of case management that are often overlooked in cases involving infants and toddlers: assessments and reunification planning.

Nine years after the death of Phoenix Sinclair, Kierra Williams died of multiple injuries after a prolonged period of abuse at the hands of her parents. Like Phoenix, she had been taken into custody at a young age and placed in foster care.

Although she had visits with her parents and siblings while in foster care, the report notes these did not always go well because of the limited opportunities to develop family bonds. 

Kierra was returned to her family at nine months old, but no individual child assessment was done. 

For the next six months, a case worker visited the family regularly and observed that the girl seemed happy and smiling, and her mother was able to comfort her when she was upset.

Seven months after the agency last documented seeing Kierra, she died from multiple injuries. She was not yet two years old.

In another case, a child identified in the report as Terry died of multiple injuries six months after being returned to their mother's care. No assessment of the needs of Terry or their mother was done before reunification. 

Like Phoenix and Kierra, Terry was First Nations. Of the 19 cases examined in the report, eight were First Nations children, and two were Métis. 

There are almost 10,000 children in care in Manitoba and 90 per cent are Indigenous. 

Ten of the 19 children included in the report lived in the Winnipeg Health region at the time of their deaths. 

The report found 74 per cent of families were receiving support from child-welfare agencies when the deaths occurred. Fourteen of the children were living in their family homes when they were injured. Three were in foster homes.

Reunification process lacks support: report

When children were returned to their families, the report noted that too often agencies treat it as the end of the process.

"The time period immediately following reunification can be one of increased stress on each family member," the report says.

"Reunification may signal a decrease or ending of services to parents, when in fact, this is a critical time for family members to re-establish relationships, recognize strengths, address needs and support healthy coping strategies."

The story of one child identified in the report as Sky illustrates what can happen when a family isn't given adequate supports after a child is returned to their care. 

Sky was apprehended shortly after birth, but was returned to their family shortly before their first birthday. Weeks later, the agency received reports from the community that Sky's family was struggling, but there is no evidence of any follow-up action taken. 

The agency had minimal contact with the family, and reports made little reference to Sky. Within a year of reunification, Sky died. The child was dehydrated, underweight and had healing bone fractures of varying ages.

The report makes five recommendations, including implementing all outstanding recommendations from the Phoenix Sinclair Inquiry, funding parenting supports, improving reunification practices and supports, ensuring follow-up after reunification and improving training for social workers.