Matthew Shorting was taken into care at five-months-old and lived in 11 foster homes by the age of 6.
He then became a permanent ward of the system until age 18, he said.
"Day by day, you're experiencing grief, you're experiencing loss,” said Shorting.
Shorting believes he was apprehended because social workers worried he was living in poverty.
"My mother worked a night time job and during the day wasn't as available and so I'd be with my grandmother, my grandmother had other people living with her so it looked overcrowded,” said Shorting.
NDP MLA Bernadette Smith says her office receives a lot calls about children being apprehended by social workers because of poverty. Smith introduced a private member's bill that, if passed, would prevent a child from being taken solely on the basis of a family's economic or social situation. Smith says providing help for families in the home is a better solution.
"Almost daily we have families coming into our office, are calling our office that need support, whether it's housing, food or simply furniture," said Smith.
The province points out the act governing CFS already states social workers should not place children in care based on a family’s bottom line alone. But Families Minister Scott Fielding says a review of the act is being done to make sure children are only seized when necessary.
"There needs to be some clarifications on the triggers as to why someone needs to be taken into care. Manitoba has some of the broadest reasons as to why someone needs to be taken into care,” said Fielding.
As for Matthew Shorting, he doesn't want any child to experience what he and his family went through.
"My number one hope and one of my dreams would have been to watch my mother heal and to be with her and receive that love,” said Shorting.
Right now almost 11,000 kids are in care in Manitoba.
