Child and Family Services (CFS)

Child and Family Services (CFS) in Canada and Manitoba is seen by many as today's version of Indian Residential Schools, given that over 80% of the over 11,000 children and youth in care of CFS in Manitoba are Indigenous. This assessment is also based on the understanding of the long term impact due to intergenerational trauma of IRS and other forms of colonization that undermine many Indigenous clans and families to care for their children.

Manitoba simply can't continue this injustice of separating families and generations, while also preventing the cultural integrity of Indigenous ways of life and ways of being. Indigenous People have struggled to maintain their parenting approaches in keeping with their cultural values and worldview. And while the federal government of Canada has embarked on a process of CFS Transformation, moving to self-governance and self-determination in respect of the TRC and other reports like MMIWG, Manitoba does not have a plan for how to decolonize and reform CFS.

There was a task force and report led by the Manitoba government linked below, that included community members, but there is no public plan to implement this report. These are the aims of the Reweaving Support Project related to CFS. The GBA+ lens or intersectional gender based analysis of CFS helps explain how poverty, sexisms, racism, cultural genocide, and white privilege have contributed to creating a system where Indigenous People do not seek support they need, when they need it, for fear that CFS authorities will take their children.

Similar to gender based violence during the pandemic being a shadow pandemic, the pressure felt by families without school or child care for children meant and increase in tension, abuse and violence towards children. Without the access to resources at school or the many youth services that were also often closed children were more vulnerable to care givers repeating a cycle of abuse. For decades there has been conversations about how CFS needs to flip its model to invest more in prevention of the need for apprehending children, and less resources on apprehending children and youth. We need a plan to make this shift in the system, creating that vision and plan is what Reweaving Support aims to do.

Key Groups	Given the widespread reach and impact of the CFS system in Manitoba, Reweaving Support is strategizing the best approach and what voices to bring to the table. Reach out to us if you would like to be at the table of these discussions.
System Mapping	Who are the partners in advocating for improvements in the CFS system? How do they relate and communicate with each other?
Reweaving Support Baseline Change Matrix	This tool shows the current spending and fiscal framework, legal and policy framework, staffing and programming, public education, community engagement or partnerships and governance frameworks for CFS programs and organizations.
Historical overview and evolution of our child care and early childhood education systems
Situation Assessment	Drivers of gender based violence – sense making and situation analysis
Change Matrix for a new child care and early learning system	The main work of the project is engaging as many Manitobans as possible with experience in supporting children, youth and families to re-imagining our CFS. This includes supports for all people, all parents and families, all Manitobans no matter their age, ethnicity, gender, location, ability or citizenship. Of particular interest in the inter-jurisdictional role clarification for Manitoba between the local agencies, provincial, federal governments as well as other partners.