(CP)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008

WINNIPEG—Documents from an investigation into a Manitoba toddler’s death suggest child welfare officials knew they were placing the boy in sketchy homes.
The Winnipeg Free Press says the documents are believed to be part of ongoing reviews into the two-year-old’s death last July.

The newspaper says the documents show that Sagkeeng Child and Family Services took the boy and his older sister from foster care and placed them with their grandmother—despite repeated suggestions the woman was unreliable, unstable, and likely an alcoholic.
The children later were placed with their great-aunt, who was identified as a low risk in a safety assessment.
Still, the woman had a criminal record for stealing a car and spent time in jail for assault. She has since been charged with manslaughter in the boy’s death.
Manitoba Liberal leader Jon Gerrard said the province needs to call an inquest into the case, and to investigate the sensitive issue of placing kids with family members at all costs.
“There are a lot of things swirling around on this case,” said Gerrard. “We need a calm, careful look at what happened.
“This is not about laying blame,” he stressed. “This is about learning and making things so it doesn’t happen again.”
A spokesman for Family Services minister Gord Mackintosh said it’s up to the chief medical examiner to call an inquest.
On July 20, 2007, the boy was rushed to Children’s Hospital in Winnipeg with severe head trauma after allegedly falling down the stairs at his great aunt’s home.
He was taken off life support two days later—the day after his second birthday.
His sister was apprehended from the same home covered in bruises.
Jim Compton, spokesman for the Southern First Nations Child and Family Services Authority, which is responsible for the Sagkeeng agency, said there has not been any policy changes due to factors in the case and won’t be for at least another three months when the review is completed.