Number of youth in care ‘unacceptably high,’ advocate says as Manitoba posts 1st increase in years

ManitobaThe number of children in care in Manitoba is up for the first time in several years, as Indigenous youth in the system continue to vastly outnumber non-Indigenous children.91% of kids in care are Indigenous, a ‘stark reflection’ of persisting inequities: Sherry GottBryce Hoye · CBC News · Posted: Oct 22, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoManitoba’s latest families department report suggests the number of youth in care has risen nearly three per cent. There were 9,172 youth in care in 2024-25, compared to 8,919 in 2023-24. (Costea Andrea M/Shutterstock)The number of children in care in Manitoba is up for the first time in several years, as Indigenous youth in the system continue to outnumber non-Indigenous children nine to one.There were 9,172 youth in care across various Child and Family Services agencies in 2024-25, up from 8,919 in 2023-24, according to the annual Department of Families report, released last week. “The number of children in care remains unacceptably high, with Indigenous children continuing to be disproportionately affected,” Sherry Gott, Manitoba’s advocate for children and youth, said in a statement last Friday.”Despite efforts to decolonize these structures, the outcomes continue to uphold status quo.”There were 253 more children recorded in CFS care in 2024-25 than the year before — a nearly three per cent rise, according to the report.It’s the first time there’s been a notable increase reported since 2016-17.Sherry Gott, Manitoba’s advocate for children and youth, says despite efforts to decolonize child welfare, ‘the outcomes continue to uphold status quo.’ (Submitted by Sherry Gott)The provincial report also states 91 per cent of youth in care as of March were Indigenous — a higher proportion than a decade ago, when Indigenous youth made up 87 per cent of the then 10,295 youth in care.Gott called that a “stark reflection” of persisting inequities, despite decolonizing efforts.The latest report comes one year after amendments came into effect for the Child and Family Service Act, which were passed under the former Progressive Conservative government in 2023, its last year in power.Those changes aligned with recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to reduce the number of Indigenous children in care, keep First Nation, Métis and Inuit youth within their cultural communities, and work to transfer child-welfare authority to Indigenous governments.One feature introduced in the provincial system last fall are kinship or customary care agreements, which emphasize trying to place children with family or kin as opposed to within conventional CFS systems.In those arrangements, parents retain guardianship rights and are “actively part of the agreement and planning” for their children, according to the Department of Families.As of March, 42 children had been placed in kinship or customary care arrangements, according to the report. CFS agency case managers are required by provincial standards to do an in-person house call within five days of a child being placed in a kinship arrangement, and once a month for the first three months. After that, face-to-face meets with case managers should be based on support needs of the youth, according to provincial guidelines.”These new agreements are anticipated to result in reductions to the number of children in the care of a CFS agency in future years,” Ryan Stelter, spokesperson for Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine, said in a statement Friday.”While the overall trend for the number of children in CFS care continues to decrease … there are fluctuations within the trend due to specific circumstances facing families or communities.” Youth in kinship or customary arrangements are also not considered “wards” of the system or included in overall provincial totals. However, youth in “family placements” are.Family placementsFor the first time, the annual report also makes a distinction between family placements and “other placements,” the latter representing a variety of conventional CFS settings where the care provider typically isn’t related to the child, including foster homes.On paper, family placement bears some semblance to kinship or customary care arrangements, but there are a few differences.In family arrangements, children are placed with family or kin where possible, but parents may not retain guardianship or the same involvement in the life of their child as in kinship arrangements, according to a provincial spokesperson.Individual CFS agencies determine whether a care arrangement is technically a family placement or something else, and it’s on them to conduct regular visits and check-ins in line with legislated standards.One-quarter of children in care in Manitoba (2,351) were listed as being in family placements as of March, the report states. A subcategory called “places of safety” are designated as temporary or emergency placements. There were roughly the same number of youth listed in these arrangements (2,361) as in family placements in the report. Places of safety arrangements are meant to be with people with a significant connection to the family, but that’s not always the case.After a month in a place of safety arrangement, if a child is going to stay, the guardian must apply for foster care licensing.Kinship foster care arrangements are ‘very complex and much more complicated than traditional foster care,’ says Jamie Pfau, president of the Manitoba Foster Parent Association. (Mike Arsenault/CBC)The annual report suggests there 88 fewer licensed foster homes in Manitoba in 2024-25 compared to a year prior.Gott has raised concerns around licensing requirements for fostering, as has Manitoba Foster Parent Association president Jamie Pfau.Pfau suggested part of the drop in foster homes may be linked to a rise in the number of “non-pay care living arrangements.” These are situations where a child is living in a health-care environment or one involving incarceration. That number nearly doubled from 73 in 2023-24 to 129 last year.Pfau said these youth may have complex health conditions, and foster parents who aren’t receiving enough support from within the system are forced to turn over their care. Those kids sometimes end up in hospitals or long-term care facilities.Gott and Pfau also agree kinship and customary care should be prioritized, though they note there are issues with oversight.Pfau said she has spoken with kinship foster parents who face unique challenges typical foster homes don’t.”They maybe are raising their sister’s children, and their sister may not be able to have access to these children. And how do you navigate that?” said Pfau, a PhD candidate in community health sciences and foster parent of 15 years.”It is very complex and much more complicated than traditional foster care, and when we have even less oversight and accountability in customary and kinship care, that’s alarming,” she said.”We should be focused on building capacity and promoting that, but there needs to be supports in place for that — and right now, I am not seeing any.”ABOUT THE AUTHORBryce Hoye is a multi-platform journalist with a background in wildlife biology. He has worked for CBC Manitoba for over a decade with stints producing at CBC’s Quirks & Quarks and Front Burner. He was a 2024-25 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. He is also Prairie rep for outCBC. He has won a national Radio Television Digital News Association award for a 2017 feature on the history of the fur trade, and a 2023 Prairie region award for an audio documentary about a Chinese-Canadian father passing down his love for hockey to the next generation of Asian Canadians.Selected storiesEmail: bryce.hoye@cbc.caFacebookMore by Bryce Hoye