A for-profit foster care provider that allegedly provided cannabis to kids in its care is fighting back after the provincial government “ripped 34 youth from their homes and put 130 support professionals out of work.”
Spirit Rising House has released a 16-page “report” defending itself, saying there is “secret and implied consent” in the child-welfare system for youth in foster-care placements to use cannabis, alcohol and hard drugs.
“As long as the youth are off property and sourcing the illicit substances for themselves at great personal peril, government, guardians, systems and caregivers can comfortably look the other way,” the report said.
Spirit Rising House had nine foster homes and two specialized group homes before the provincial government severed ties with it in February.
“Our government took swift action to ensure the safety of the youth in care at Spirit Rising House,” a spokesperson for Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said Thursday.
“The safety of the youth has been the No. 1 priority and our department supported agencies to develop individualized care plans to identify appropriate placements and monitor the transition of each youth.”
Due to the police investigation, there would be no further comment, the statement said.
The minister was not made available for an interview.
Kelli Register, one of Spirit Rising House’s owners, said she wrote the report because “my conscience will not rest if I don’t try to say the truth on my way out.”
In its report, the business blames a social-media post by a “disgruntled former worker” that led to “negative media attention, political manoeuvring, and an investigation.”
The Winnipeg Police Service confirmed in February its child abuse unit had launched an investigation into Spirit Rising House. Const. Claude Chancy said Thursday there was no update on the investigation.
Police are also investigating the firm’s finances and took some computers when executing a warrant, Register said.
“They’re going to find a lot of hard work over three years,” said Register. “They’re going to find training, they’re going to find incident reporting — all the stuff that any other provider is doing, but they’re not going to find a misuse of money.”
Register co-owns Spirit Rising House with husband and executive director John Bennett and Ian Rabb, a recovering addict who is the founder of a number of addictions treatment facilities in Manitoba. In 2016, Rabb challenged Canada’s legalization of recreational cannabis, calling it a “gateway drug” that led him to harder drugs.
Register said the investigation “started with weed” and has ballooned.
“It’s turned into some big thing that we’re not even 100 per cent sure of what’s going on,” she said.
“It’s turned into some big thing that we’re not even 100 per cent sure of what’s going on.”–Spirit Rising House co-owner Kelli Register
She blames the provincial government. “I think they’re looking for justification for the way they terminated the business.”
Register said the last of 34 young clients was transitioned out of Spirit Rising House on Monday. She says the youth weren’t placed into safety as promised.
“It’s a small city. You hear about the kids you cared for for three years.”
In her report she wrote that those as young as 14- and 15 have been placed into independent living with little support, established schooling has not been continued, addiction and mental-health needs have not been addressed and some have even gone missing.
The spokesperson for the minister did not respond to a request for information about the placements the 34 youth were moved to.
Moving them was a “political move and knee-jerk reaction” to negative publicity — not because there were genuine protection concerns or compliance issues, said Register.
Weighing in on Spirit Rising House’s defence
Some of the complaints made by a for-profit provider, which was blackballed by the Manitoba government for allegedly giving youth in its care cannabis, are “valid and experienced widely across the province,” said one child welfare expert.
“This includes the systemic issues repeatedly mentioned, including antiquated policies and practices that are riddled with gaps,” said Jamie Pfau, president of the Manitoba Foster Parents’ Association.
Some of the complaints made by a for-profit provider, which was blackballed by the Manitoba government for allegedly giving youth in its care cannabis, are “valid and experienced widely across the province,” said one child welfare expert.
“This includes the systemic issues repeatedly mentioned, including antiquated policies and practices that are riddled with gaps,” said Jamie Pfau, president of the Manitoba Foster Parents’ Association.
“At the same time, I believe this was what allowed Spirit Rising House the ability to run without any oversight and accountability.”
Pfau, a foster parent and researcher who’s working on her doctorate, said matters “were dealt with in haste and with limited plans for the children and youth. The youth who were removed from their homes so quickly undoubtedly were harmed,” she said Thursday.
“If there were adequately supported foster parents in this province, there would have been safe and caring options for the children to go, without the need for so many group homes that operate on a for-profit basis.”
She said the biggest concern she has about the Spirit Rising House report is its failure to disclose staff expertise, training, education, and ethnicity.
It talks about the large number of Indigenous children in care, the systemic racism of child welfare in Manitoba and the need for reconciliation, but doesn’t say if it had an advisory circle, elder, or knowledge keeper on staff, Pfau said.
“This would be imperative — not just to respond to the needs of the children, but to also inform policy and practice, and ensuring staff are working with youth in a good way.”
Pfau took exception to some of the language used in the Spirit Rising House report.
“Referring to children in care as ‘addicted youth’ is problematic and outdated. Language matters, and the phrases ‘youth addicts’ or ‘addicts’ was used almost 50 times in a 16-page report.”
“To best respond to the needs of vulnerable youth who are using substances, one must have an education and expertise. Otherwise, as the authors of this report have indicated, good intentions are not all that is required, and in the end, can cause harm to the very youth they had proposed to help.”
She provided excerpts of encouraging emails she received from an official at the families department: “We know that the children SRH serves are alive and stabilizing however, harm reduction requires strong policy to support the work.” It said the department was willing to work with them on it.
A probation officer at the Manitoba Youth Centre wrote that one of the youths placed in a Spirit Rising House home went from “using substances/alcohol on a fairly regular basis, to hardly using either at all” and that the home and the staff were “what she needed in order to stabilize her life.”
Register said they had staff who were devoted to the kids but the families department has “destroyed the chances of good people finding employment.”
On April 16, the families department posted a “caution” on a Child and Family Services online bulletin board. It advised against agencies buying services from Spirit Rising House and to “use caution when hiring individuals who previously worked at Spirit Rising House or who are now rebranding as REVIVE.”
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
After 20 years of reporting on the growing diversity of people calling Manitoba home, Carol moved to the legislature bureau in early 2020.
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