'No time for childhood,' says woman who was under Manitoba CFS care for 8 years

Karlii Beaulieusays she spent much of her teenage years figuring out how to sustain herself on her own instead of trying to enjoy her youth while living as a ward of Manitoba's Child and Family Services.

Beaulieuwas under CFS care for eight years after moving from Sandy Bay First Nation to Winnipeg. She first lived in a foster home, then two emergency placements and, later, a group home.

"You need to worry about putting a roof over your head and keeping that roof over your head. So there's just a lot of things that I think that we missed out on when we're being transitioned from home to home," she told Marcy Markusa on CBC's Information Radio Tuesday morning.

"There is no time for childhood."

Beaulieu, now 26, spoke to CBC News as part of an ongoing series about child welfare in the province. She said her experience with parts of the system were sometimes "privileged" but other times challenging.

She first moved in with two white, non-gender-diverse foster parents when she was 10 years old, and Beaulieusaid it was difficult for her to explore both her gender identity and her culture.

WATCH | More support urged for youth in care:

Advocates agree more support needed for youth in care after rash of violence in Winnipeg

7 months ago

Duration 2:29

Advocates who work with children and youth are reacting after Winnipeg police Chief Danny Smyth linked a recent series of violent attacks to a lack of support for teens in the CFS system.

"I valued my culture a lot but there was just a lot of conflict with looking into my culture, more so around the fact of them feeling comfortable with exploring certain things," she said.

"I went at it with the assurance of I'm not doing this for the wrong reasons. I'm doing this because I want to be a girl and I think that there was a lot of confusion and just mixed feelings around that."

She eventually ended up at two emergency placement shelters meant to be used as a last resort for a short period of time after calling her social worker and telling her she wanted to leave the home.

"I just wasn't getting through to them. And at that point I had said 'This isn't a safe space for me to grow,'" Beaulieusaid, adding that she stayed at the shelters until her social worker found a group home for her to live in long-term.

At age 13, she was eventually placed in a group home, a locked facility where she had a curfew and lived with nine other youths. Three staff members, some of whom were also Indigenous,were working at any given time.

"Those were the staff members that, you know, we confided in. We told everything to because we just felt comfortable with them. They opened up doors for our cultural programming," said Beaulieu.

At 14, Beaulieu had "one of the worst experiences of [her] life" when she was being considered a suspect in a crime. She said Winnipeg police would use the curfew imposed on her against her.

"Keep in mind I'm only a 14-year-oldkid right?" she said. "And so I am being sent to jail for not coming home by 8:30? That's not a reason to go to jail."

Beaulieu says the charges against herwere later dropped.

Decolonizing the system

While advocates say a lack of social supports in the province's child welfare system puts youth at risk of being put in conflict with the law, Manitoba's Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said most youth in the system aren't getting involved in that type of conflict.

"The vast majority of children and youth who are in care are not getting in conflict with the law and are actually thriving and doing well given the circumstances," she told Faith Fundal on CBC's Information Radio on Wednesday.

Her comments come after Winnipeg police Chief Danny Smyth faced criticism for saying a slew of violent and random robberies earlier this month appear to have been carried out mainly by youth living in group or foster homes.

At a news conference last week, he said staff working in those facilities often don't have the resources they need to meet youth's needs.

While Fontaine said she acknowledged Smyth's concern she doesn't want all children in care to be painted with the same brush.

"Chief Smyth, when he held his news conference, he didn't have all the facts in front of him. And so I want to be sure that when we are discussing this issue, that we're looking at it within its totality."

She said the province is moving toward transferring the jurisdiction of child welfare to Indigenous communities. That means transition away from "stranger-based care" to customary and kinship care," in which youth stay in the care of their family and community.

"There has been for years and years family members that have taken on the responsibility of having their grandchildren or their nieces or their nephews, and the system hasn't provided any financial support," said Fontaine.

She said decolonizing the child welfare system has been her priority since becoming a minister.

WATCH| Winnipeg non-profit celebrates kids' strengths:

Winnipeg non-profit social service agency aims to reconnect kids with culture, family

7 months ago

Duration 2:29

As debate continues to swirl around the role of group homes amid a recent spate of violence in Winnipeg by a handful of teens in the care of CFS, CBC's Josh Crabb visits one local organization that's aiming to help turn the tide. The Knowles Centre runs a group home, foster care program and independent living for kids who age out of care.

One local organization is hoping to address the root causes behind the trauma and hurt some kids are facing.

The Knowles Centre is a non-profit social services agency that runs a group home, foster care program and independentliving for kids who age out of care. More than 80 per cent of kids at the centre identify as Indigenous.

CEO Mia Guenther says the organization wants to make sure it's celebrating children's strengths and offering appropriate support. She saidit's also working toward implementing bill C-92, which gives jurisdiction to Indigenous communities and families to make care decisions for children.

Knowles Centre offers teachings, practices,ceremonies andalso has a sweat lodge and healing sessions.The centre has two group homes on campus along Henderson Highway and four off site with three to four kids livingin each home.

Indigenous Inclusion co-ordinatorCara Widrick said Indigenous kids in care struggle with their identity, but hopes to reconnect them with their culture and families.

"That's your base of your identity to build your gifts and your abilities and your purpose in life," she said.

Woman who was under Manitoba CFS care shares experience in system

7 months ago

Duration 13:43

Karlii Beaulieu shares her experience in system with Information Radio's Marcy Markusa, following Winnipeg police chiefs comments about kids in care.