Manitoba looks to reform child-welfare system

WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government is promising to reduce the number of kids in the province’s child-welfare system and help families reunite sooner. Families Minister Scott Fielding says the government is going to speed up assessments of children when they are first taken into care, which currently can take up to four months.

The province is also going to look at narrowing and clarifying the reasons for taking children from their families.

Fielding also says subsidies will be expanded to people who become permanent guardians and adoptive parents.

Some First Nations leaders have said children have been seized because of overcrowded housing conditions, even when there is no risk to their safety or health. Manitoba has the highest proportion of kids in care among the provinces, and almost 90 per cent are Indigenous.