Global Courant 2023-04-21 07:00:59
An Indigenous family plans to take legal action after saying a newborn baby was detained without warning by the Children’s and Family Service.
A taxi was on its way to take the mother and baby home on Monday when a child welfare worker unexpectedly showed up at the Winnipeg hospital, the mother’s older sister said in an interview.
“It was a wrongful, illegal detention that happened when the baby had multiple homes for her to go to, within the family,” she said.
The family posted a video of their exchange with the child welfare worker online, which made the rounds on social media and caught the attention of politicians who raised the family’s plight in the Manitoba legislature on Thursday.
That same afternoon, Youth and Family Services met with the family and apologized for the detention, blaming it on miscommunication, the sister said.
The newborn was returned to their mother on Thursday evening.
“She is happy that the baby is home, but she is also still frustrated with how this all turned out. This could have easily been avoided with good communication,” said her sister.
Under Manitoba law, no members of the family can be identified.
LOOK | Family tries to reason with child welfare worker to avoid arrest
Manitoba Family Records CFS Newborn Arrest
The family of an Indigenous newborn protests when a CVS officer comes to arrest the baby at a Winnipeg hospital. The baby has since been returned to the family.
The sister says that the explanation given for the removal of the newborn makes no sense. It said the mother, who is 17 and a ward with CFS, made no effort to participate in parenting programs and the family had no plan to care for the baby, which the family disputes.
She said the employee apologized Thursday for the miscommunication and said it shouldn’t have happened.
The provincial government did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but a spokesperson has previously said the province cannot comment on specific comments due to privacy concerns.
Nahanni Fontaine, critic of NDP families, said the family involved in the detention took all appropriate steps, and yet the child welfare system took their baby away. She raised the issue of the family during question time Thursday.
Fontaine told reporters afterwards that the older sister had made arrangements for the mother and newborn to live with her. The sister also moved to a bigger place to make sure they had enough space.
NDP family critic Nahanni Fontaine said the family who endured the fear of the newborn did everything they could to ensure the baby came home with their mother. (Darin Morash/CBC)
“Here is an Indigenous family who all came together to develop a kinship plan. Here is an Indigenous young mother who did everything she had to do, and during this process there were no concerns that were advised or outlined to the family,” said Fontaine. .
And yet CVS still showed up with no explanation, she added.
“The family is rightly concerned and angry that this has taken place.”
Fontaine told reporters that before the reunion, the only possible solution was for the baby to be returned to their mother.
Liberal leader Dougald Lamont told question time that fears show that the mauling of Indigenous families that took place in residential schools is not a thing of the past.
“It’s not just intergenerational trauma,” he said. “It’s a trauma that’s being created right now and it’s affecting thousands of families.”
Number of arrests is falling
Families Minister Rochelle Squires said she was unable to speak on the details of the family’s case, but during question time on Thursday she directed the General Child and Family Services Authority to monitor the case and liaise with the family.
She pointed out that the number of babies being cared for each year has decreased in recent years.
In 2018-19, 289 newborns were apprehended. That fell to 84 detentions in 2021-22, the last fiscal year in which figures are available, according to statistics provided by the county on Thursday.
The government says the decision to end birth alerts in 2020 has contributed to the falling number of babies taken in. Birth alerts were the controversial practice of notifying hospitals and child welfare agencies that a parent deemed high-risk was going to have a baby.
