Children in Care
SPECTRUM Demonstration Project
Manitoba’s rate of children in out-of-home care is the highest in Canada and Indigenous families are disproportionately affected. In Manitoba there are currently more Indigenous children in government care than there were Indigenous children in residential schools. This current phenomenon has been termed the Millennial Scoop as a comparison to the historical 60s Scoop. While out-of-home care can at times be a necessary intervention there are no rigorous evaluations comparing outcomes of children in care compared with children involved with CPS but remaining at home.
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Upon the first convening of the SPECTRUM partnership, we set upon establishing a "Demonstration Project" to provide evidence that a tripartite partnership is feasible and beneficial for community, government, and academics. There was an overwhelming consensus that a deeper dive into children in care was needed in order to advocate for and inform policy reform.
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Read more about the quantitative study undertaken by SPECTRUM and the launching of our research partnership!
Exploring Child Apprehension Variance in Manitoba Child Welfare Agencies: A Qualitative Research Study
The Demonstration Project highlighted worse outcomes for children who were taken into care. These were children who maybe didn't need to be taken into care and the decision may have been a result of different practices within agencies.
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SPECTRUM's fellow, Jamie Pfau, is dedicating her PhD studies toward a qualitative study exploring differences in practices that may protect children from being taken into care.F