Advocates speak out over newborn apprehensions in Manitoba

Manitoba's practice of apprehending newborn babies is being criticized after a family recorded a CFS worker taking a young Indigenous mother's baby even though advocates say she did everything right.

Manitoba NDP Families Critic Nahanni Fontaine said earlier this week a young Indigenous woman in Winnipeg was preparing to return home from the hospital with her newborn baby.

"While waiting for discharge papers and a taxi to go home with baby, Winnipeg Child and Family Services unexpectedly showed up with hospital security to apprehend the baby," Fontaine said during an exchange in the Legislative House on Thursday.

"(The) family were threatened with police if the family did not give up the baby to CFS. Under duress, the family had no choice but to do so."

The baby's aunt posted a video of the apprehension on social media earlier this week. The video has since been shared on various social media platforms thousands of times. It prompted outcry online and in Manitoba's Legislature, as well as protests outside the Winnipeg Child and Family Services office.

Fontaine demanded answers from the province saying the mother, who is also under CFS care, had a kinship plan in place in which she and her baby would live with her adult sister – the baby's aunt. Fontaine said the mother had met all standards and criteria to ensure her baby would come home.

"No matter what Indigenous families do, the level of criticism or concern that's levelled against families in many respects is unwarranted," she said. "Here's a family that did everything they were supposed to do, and it still wasn't enough."

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs told CTV News its First Nations Family Advocate Office is in contact with the family, and confirmed the baby has since been returned.

WHY WAS A BABY APPREHENDED WHEN MANITOBA ENDED BIRTH ALERTS YEARS AGO?

Fontaine questioned why this baby was apprehended even though the province ended the use of birth alerts nearly three years ago.

"You can't talk about living in this era of reconciliation and still take our children," she said.

The province's birth alerts were used to notify hospitals and child welfare agencies that a parent deemed 'high risk' required an assessment before their baby could go home with them. Often it resulted in the apprehension of the child.

The practice ended in Manitoba on June 30, 2020.

"The end of birth alerts should not be interpreted to mean the end of newborn apprehensions," a provincial spokesperson told CTV News in an email, saying if it is determined an infant is not safe, CFS may get involved.

"This may include the need for intervention when an infant is in the hospital. Sometimes this may result in apprehension, however, apprehension is always the last resort."

The spokesperson said they can't comment on specific CFS cases due to privacy concerns.

In response to Fontaine's questions Thursday, Manitoba Families Minister Rochelle Squires said she had instructed the general authority to give 'extreme oversight' in this case.

HOW MANY NEWBORN BABIES ARE APPREHENDED IN MANITOBA?

In an interview with CTV News on Friday, Squires said since birth alerts ended in Manitoba, the number of newborn babies apprehended has dropped 70 per cent.

"Apprehensions unfortunately still occur," she said.

"The ultimate goal is to ensure all families are kept together," Squires said. "If there's supports that are needed to ensure that the parents have the skills and the tools necessary to raise their child, it is our job to provide those resources."

Squires said in all cases, child reunification is a priority. The number of apprehended newborn babies that are reunified with their families was not immediately available.

MANITOBA'S CHILD WELFARE 'ROOTED IN COLONIALISM,' FAMILIES MINISTER SAYS

Squires said while the province is looking to overhaul the entire child welfare system, more work is needed to be done.

"We're dealing with a system that is rooted in colonialism and is decades old," she said.

"We're transforming this system so that we move away from a system of having record high apprehensions; we're moving away from having newborn apprehensions; we're moving away from having numerous families broken apart and with their children coming into care."

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs' Grand Chief Cathy Merrick told CTV News the First Nations Family Advocate Office has responded to at least 47 cases where First Nation mothers are under the intimate threat of a newborn apprehension.

"This type of thing shouldn't be happening to our children anymore," Merrick said. "It doesn't sit well with any leader, and it shouldn't sit well with any leader in terms of taking our children from hospitals and for them to not be able to be with the mother."

Merrick said the AMC is calling for changes to ensure First Nation child welfare agencies handle these situations.

"We have to develop a way where we'd be able to support the mother and the child from the communities, from the First Nations," she said, adding one way is providing more options for Indigenous women to give birth in their communities instead of having to travel to larger cities.

"AMC and (the First Nations Family Advocate Office) are prepared to work together on a collaborative strategy to ensure expecting First Nations families can safely access health resources without fear of retaliation for family separation," she said.

Merrick said she has written a letter to Squires and Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson and is awaiting a response.