Here is an article calls for changes for dealing with runaways in the system after the death of Tina Fontaine.
The family of Tina Fontaine and those who support them are calling for changes to how runaways are dealt with in the care of Child and Family Services. The article mentions how youth that often runaway are a costly problem for the system to deal with.
The article talks of Tina and is quoted as "Tina Fontaine was being exploited and had repeatedly run away from hotel rooms and a Winnipeg youth shelter in the weeks before her death in August, 2014. She was last seen walking away from a hotel room where she had been housed."
Tina's great aunt who raised her for most of her life Thelma Favel is quoted in the article as saying, “I don’t know what else we can do to keep a child like Tina safe – and there are so many other Tinas out there that just keep running." And “I wish there was something they could do to keep them safe – maybe a placement where they’re not allowed to leave, for a period of time anyway, just to get some kind of counselling for them to show them what could happen to them out there.”
I think this is a good idea but I would add that more is done to hunt those who sexually exploit the wards of CFS. And that very severe punishments are brought upon those that sexually exploit our city's most vulnerable. Also we need to develop healthy ways for the youth to earn money so they can empower themselves outside of those that seek to exploit them.
The article mentions how the system cannot force kids to not leave where they are placed. Unless its a lock up facility like a mental health facility or drug treatment facility. Many youth in CFS can leave the "home" they are placed in no matter what time it is.
Daphne Penrose Manitoba’s children’s advocate is quoted in the article as saying “I believe there is a place for children who are so exploited and on the risk of imminent danger when they are out, those kids need help until they can make safe decisions for themselves,” and “You’re dealing with kids who oftentimes owe people money or are threatened to get out there to work ... or their pimps are making them work,” she also said “If you don’t see it from that perspective ... then you see them as chronically running away because they want to leave, and that’s not the case.”
The article touches on a teenage girl who hung herself after being in 14 different placements and was being sexually exploited. In the article Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta spoke on this case and is quoted as saying “repeatedly ran from foster placements, including a specialized placement in Winnipeg for sexually exploited youth, to resume work in the sex trade.”
After the girls death one of then men that sexually exploited her was held accountable for his actions and will be doing 15 years in jail. Which in Canada could mean he is back on the street in 5 years. He should spend the rest of his life in jail for pimping out a vulnerable youth.
First Nations family advocate for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Cora Morgan is quoted in the article as saying “When they come into care, they’re taken from everything they know – their home, their family, their friends, their school. Every connection that they have in the world, they lose all of it.”
Scott Fielding the Minister of Child and Family Services wrote a statement and is quoted in the article as “We believe better assessments and earlier planning will result in less children in care and shorter duration in care."
I like that more people are calling for change into the machine known as Child and Family Services. But it didn't come soon enough for me and their are others just like me who have had their children stolen from them.
