The Manitoba government says it’s making progress on an inquiry report into the murder of a five-year-old girl, but some of the recommendations may take years to implement.
The province says it is so far following through on 31 of the 62 recommendations made by Commissioner Ted Hughes out of the $14-million inquiry into the death of Phoenix Sinclair.
The girl was repeatedly failed by the child-welfare system and was confined and beaten to death by her mother and mother’s boyfriend.
Family Services Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross said on Wednesday that the province is already making changes such as more training for social workers and more funding to keep caseloads down.
Other initiatives are being brought in to improve the quality of care for vulnerable children, such as expanding programs that help build healthy families and increasing the number of social workers and the number of foster families.
“We will introduce legislation in the upcoming session that will allow for public reporting on critical incidents, which will give more transparency to Manitobans and most importantly, to families,” Irvin-Ross said at a press conference.
But she says other measures, such as a new central database to track children, may be years away.
Irvin-Ross has also announced other child welfare measures, including a new six-bed secure facility in Winnipeg for older children who are at risk of running away.
“The safety of children is our primary concern. We know the work being done by AMR Planning and Consulting on the remaining recommendations of the Hughes inquiry will help us as we continue to strengthen the child-welfare system,” she said.
While AMR’s work is ongoing, Irvin-Ross said the province is:
Introducing more funding flexibility to take into account family size, complexity of needs, geography and other individual factors.
Offering more support services that address the needs of the most vulnerable families, parents and children.
Ensuring services are provided to families as early as possible to reduce the number of children coming into care.
“We are looking forward to seeing AMR’s final report in January so we can continue implementing the recommendations from Commissioner Ted Hughes,” she said.
“Commissioner Hughes provided us with an invaluable road map that is helping us strengthen protections for children, while providing more supports for Manitoba Child and Family Services agencies, families and communities.”
