Manitoba’s Child Welfare System Background

Background In Manitoba, the Child and Youth Services (CYS) Division of the Department of Family Services oversees family supports and protection services to children delivered under the mandate of The Child and Family Services Act (1985), The Child and Family Services Authorities Act (2003) and The Adoption Act (1999). [...] The Authorities are empowered to mandate agencies to exercise the powers and duties of The Child and Family Services and other Acts.1 The Authorities have mandated 28 legally distinct agencies, of which 18 are First 1 Employees of the General Child and Family Services Authority are civil servants, and the General Authority’s Board of Directors is appointed by the Minister of Family Services (accor. [...] Rural and Northern Child and Family Services (RNCFS) The RNCFS branch provides a comprehensive continuum of child protection, early intervention and family support services in accordance with The Child and Family Services Act and The Adoption Act from 15 locations across rural Manitoba (Manitoba Minister of Families, 2022). [...] Indigenous Child and Family Services In 2019, Bill C-92 was passed: An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Children, Youth and Families, which “affirms the rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis in relation to child and family services and establishes national principles to help guide the provision of child and family services in relation to Indigenous children” (Government of Canada,. [...] The proportion of Indigenous children in care in Manitoba is the highest of the Canadian provinces for which data is available: Of the 9,166 children in care in Manitoba in 2022, 91% of all children in care are Indigenous (Manitoba Minister of Families, 2022).