The overrepresentation of Indigenous children under the Child and Family Services’ care
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Abstract
The overrepresentation of Indigenous children under Child and Family Services (CFS) is a human rights issue. Currently, in Manitoba, Indigenous children make up approximately 90 percent of all the children apprehended and placed by CFS in foster care. Indigenous parents and leaders have sounded the alarm regarding this issue of an excessive number of their children being placed in foster care, away from their immediate families and communities. Government-sanctioned reports (see Appendix) indicate systematic failures within CFS, including allegations of racism, neglect and abuse. These reports also provide recommendations from Indigenous peoples’ perspectives to mitigate the number of children placed in foster care. Along with information derived from scholarly articles, this paper summarizes some of the findings in these government-sanctioned reports, including systematic failures of CFS, human rights concerns of Indigenous children in foster care, the importance of incorporating Indigenous laws, and four key recommendations from Indigenous leaders to mitigate the overrepresentation of Indigenous children under CFS care.