“They’re not a commodity:” Indigenous kids in care allegedly targeted by for-profit companies

The way that they used those kids as cash cows that’s the name that people say cash cows indigenous youth are being monetized by the child welfare system they were legitimately a paycheck doesn’t that strike you as incredibly racist absolutely it’s racist I remember hearing we can’t lose them we make x

Amount of dollars and pum off them a month do you feel that indigenous youth are being exploited today yes and the motivation is money the people you’re hearing from are too scared to show their faces worried the companies they used to work for will sue them for speaking out or they’ll be

Blacklisted in the industry we’ve changed their voices to protect their identities you’re worried that if you show your face today they will sue you yeah why wouldn’t they put money down to dismiss me these are some of more than 50 child welfare are insiders who told global news they believe some for-profit

Group home companies in Ontario are targeting or in some cases even charging more to care for indigenous youth there continue to be dollar signs placed on indigenous people in this country certainly our children and youth Sylvia maracle’s life’s work has been supporting and advocating for indigenous peoples it’s no different than the

Process of residential Schools they’re taking them away from their famili they’re taking it away from their culture they’re taking it away from their language non-indigenous people are making money on the backs of these children group homes are supposed to be safe havens for kids and teens who may

Have come from abuse or have complex needs the vast majority are located in Southern Ontario and more than 40% of them 130 homes are operated by for-profit companies I don’t think people realize what goes on behind those closed doors and I think that the average person would would be quite shocked and frankly

Horrified it’s Children’s Aid societies that place youth in group homes a select few run their own but most turn to outside operators and as we uncovered some agencies are charged more than others with the highest daily rates build to one group indigenous Children’s Aid Societies in the north agencies

Serving kids from remote communities with few resources what was the talk that we are aware that these youth can be difficult to place because of the limited resources in their communities so they’re willing to increase the cost of the contract because they have limited options an exclusive analysis by

Global news of how much Children’s Aid Societies in Ontario spent on group homes run by outside operators found that on average indigenous agencies in the north paid 26% more per child per day compared to non-indigenous agencies across the province between 2012 and 2021 that translates to an estimate of

Nearly $28 million more over a decade at the heart of those transactions indigenous youth pulled from community and culture often moved hundreds of kilometers away the system needs to know it’s failing Megan Taylor was 10 when she first entered the child welfare system from grassy Nero’s First Nation in Northwestern Ontario she eventually

Landed in a group home in the South what is the impact of moving an indigenous child so far away from their home and placing them into care they they just don’t know who they like I didn’t know who I was did you have access to your

Culture no it’s very like scary too it’s like you’re moving on a different planet you know I didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere you don’t know where you belong mhm I belonged to that little girl inside of me and I need to take care of her cuz nobody else

Did every child placed in a for-profit group home comes with a contract in some cases worth hundreds of thousands of dollar a year this contract with a company called Connor homes in Southeastern Ontario was worth over $1,000 a day for one child it was all money it was never ever about the youth

It was always about money in 2017 its president Bob Connor sent an email soliciting Children’s Aid societies across Ontario we would like to include you in our new Endeavor he wrote we have 37 indigenous youth in our care we aim to provide treatment that is culturally relevant to specific

Tribes this former worker says Connor wasn’t shy about the goal it was about we need to recruit youth from up North straight out of his mouth yes we need to get kids from up North why do you think companies are going after the north they see our children as Addicted to

Money each for-profit group home negotiates a minimum daily rate with Ontario’s Ministry for children but there are ways of increasing the price like charging for multiple beds for one child if a youth needs a quieter home with more attention or billing for one-on-one Staffing for a child with

Complex needs group home companies say extra services are rationalized documented and approved by the placing agency but workers on the front line say youth didn’t always receive that extra care so they will profit off of the money that’s allocated in the contract without actually Staffing the Ono one

And were they still billing for that Ono one care did you ever see the time sheets yes in 2017 a local Children’s Aid Society investigated Connor homes and asked how it was possible for an indigenous youth whose agency was paying for one toone supervision to attempt suicide

Twice in a statement to Global News Connor Holmes said indigenous children have not been funded differently all are based on individual need requested approved and managed by their native agencies some staff said there were occasional cultural offerings though not always specific to a youth’s nation the company defends it offered culturally

Appropriate programming through an indigenous treatment coordinator child welfare isn’t Child and Family Services it’s the consumption of children as assets because it brings the money the Ontario government was long ago warned there were issues in 2016 the association of Children’s Aid societies submitted a report to a government panel

Reviewing the child welfare system it found Aboriginal youth are more likely to be placed hundreds of kilometers away that pums are very high in some Rural and remote regions and for youth with complex needs Ministry approved pums are frequently augmented as a condition of admission do you think there is space in

The system for the for-profit model no not over children nope the buzzing highways of Southern Ontario stand in contrast to Heather papacy’s home also grassy Narrows First Nation but she’s lived in the South for years bounced between more than 30 different Foster and group homes among the most traumatic she says

A group home in eastern Ontario run by Bayfield treatment centers most of the youths who were there were indigenous yes former workers did not allege Bayfield charge more for indigenous youth but say it was the environment they were living in that was alarming there was locks on everything were the

Beds bolted to the ground yeah even the taable stands and the dressers a safety measure some say I cried most nights I was not proud to work there former workers say the use of physical restraints was frequent kids and teens pushed against walls or pinned To The Ground by staff

They left more traumatized than they came in by law in Ontario restraints are only to be used if a child is about to hurt themselves or others but this former Bayfield worker says they were a means of control and power a lot of them joked about it it was like I smashed his

Face against the ground so hard that his teeth came out and they laughed about it that person who bragged she was a trainer or a supervisor she was a trainer and a supervisor yes Sheen a kid unbroken in Restraint Ethan pcno whose father was from bachaana First Nation near suain Marie

Lived at Bayfield from 2014 to 2017 I’ve seen like staff going to grab the kid restrain them literally smash their whole face off the table and no was bleeding staff don’t care was there any of that cultural richness where you ended up no you weren’t allowed to talk

In your tongue staff would get mad send you to your room restrain you 6 months after Ethan arrived at Bayfield a delegation of workers from an indigenous Children’s Aid Society in the far north traveled to check on their kids Global News obtained notes about that meeting which show one boy told

Them he gets in trouble for using his language on the phone with his grandparents each boy asked if they could leave with them one put it in chilling terms are you here to rescue me Bayfield management declined an on camera interview but but in an email said the company was cleared of any

Misconduct related to that visit and at the time the local Children’s Aid Society said Bayfield had staff that were responsive to the needs of Highly challenging youth the northern indigenous agency says it never placed a child with Bayfield again Bayfield also said the information Global News is presenting is incomplete

It does not seek out or Target indigenous youth and restraints are only used when escalation attempts have been unsuccessful it says the small percentage of verified allegations have been addressed and any comparison to residential schools it rejects so we took that to the companies one of them in particular said we are

Not residential schools we’re not run by the church we don’t go and take kids out of their home these are Children’s Aid societies placing their children voluntarily with us to that you say what BS you can pretend but if you’re not indigenous if you don’t have an indigenous child and you

Get paid to care for them you are part of the Schism that’s being created for the Next Generation while some former workers say Bayfield made attempts to connect youth with culture and language and the company says it funds hotel stays for parents who come from afar other workers

Say daytoday there was very little in our training it was also very much promoted Ed that they provide various cultural experiences and they honor individuals cultures and there was nothing management said they work with a youth’s team including the placement agency legal guardian and in some cases Consultants to ensure cultural needs are

Met somebody has to teach the child or the child is not connected anywhere why don’t you do it you got all the money by law in Ontario operators including group homes must make reasonable efforts to to connect youth with their culture and while Bayfield says it is compliant an analysis by

Global news of more than 60 provincial inspections across multiple companies from 2019 to 2022 found more than 200 cultural failings including little evidence of cultural programming inadequate staff training and in some cases no indication staff even asked a child about their background nothing not that I recall so you’ve got a home where

90% of the kids in your estimation are indigenous and you’re saying there are no cultural offerings not that I saw the Ontario government says it’s improving oversight of group homes and increasing access to Prevention Services to keep indigenous youth in their communities we had all the promises from

Governments in this country to say we’re going to do it differently but they don’t know how to change the sister ultimately the cost falls to the child marle says and is greater than that of any contract what are we doing to these kids you broken them the child’s

Broken it was with an eagle escort we experienced The Humbling beauty of grassy Nero’s First Nation a territory equally home to a bear sauntering into the Boreal forest and a curious Beaver as a group of teens spending a summer’s day on The Cliffs of the Canadian chep

This is the trail to the cliffs it was a day just like this Megan Taylor was swimming at the cliffs when her life was forever changed she was 10 her family life wasn’t stable and she was placed into care moved farther away with each Foster and group home until grassy became a distant

Place we traveled back here with Megan my mom used to sit me on that porch and braid my hair a sight of Simplicity and familiarity one store one gas pump the band office and though she doesn’t live on the reserve anymore it’s still home the road Megan has walked in her 21

Years is paved with hurt like the foster home where she says she was so lonely she would talk to herself they made these two priests like throw water on me they were saying like I was possessed or something and the group home outside Toronto where she almost took her life I really felt

Like they didn’t care like I was just going to be another native that killed themselves because you don’t feel like anybody’s there mhm and like all those people that promised that they would be here for me where are they the agony of leaving home is one the children of grassy have known for

Generations residential schools the 60s scoop today’s child welfare system I know what it feels like to be removed Mariah Swain was a young girl when she was taken away to residential school today as the manager of grass’s child and family advocates office child care expenses so bread she fights to

Keep kids out of the system and in the community our children come back more damaged so it’s got stop the ripples of trauma quite literally flow through the waters of grassy Narrows in the 60s a pulpin paper mill Upstream dumped more than 9,000 kg of mercury into the river destroying the

Fishing industry and leaving many irreversibly ill more than 40 years later leading researchers found 90% of people still had symptoms of mercury exposure today roughly one in five people in grassy is without work the federal government says the water is now safe to drink but most still don’t trust

It and from this nation of only, 1600 people more than a hundred children are in care as mothers and fathers like we instinctively know how to take care of our loved ones but the fact is that something got in the way Heather papacy was sent south so

This is the last place you lived before you left yeah basically it took 30 hours by bus to travel back for a visit a chance to reconnect with a way of life that was missing for so many years what does that feel like being away from your community and your

Culture for that long it hurts all I think about is like the day I’m going to go back and like the day I’m going to see a power again you know your culture is a strong part of who you are but Justice Heather was able to

Leave the system it haunts her again a mom at 17 whose baby has also been in care I want to break that cycle I want to get her back in the face of so much adversity in grassy family structures broken down livelihoods wiped away coping can be

Near impossible two men have turned to drugs and alcohol with some ending up on the nearby streets of canora and so on a summer’s day community members March through town to say enough hi I’m Chrissy including Chrissy isacs I’m raising my grandkids because my daughter is an addict and uh

She’s not capable of looking after them right now I chose for them not to be in the child welfare system Grand grandchildren too young to understand the complexity of why their mother is not here people need to know how to be parented and cuz they weren’t parented and guess why they weren’t

Parented because they were sent to residential school when they all lived in peace Sylvia maracle the former longtime executive director of the Ontario Federation of indigenous friendship centers I talked about Indian residential schools and here’s the official apology says for healing to happen the money spent on sending youth

To private group homes in the South needs to be redirected where should that money be spent mom could be sent to treatment mom could be sent to uh to a parenting class that same amount of money that’s being invested could create these safe homes could make sure that

Grandmothers have enough food and enough money could make sure that they’re child and youth workers the barrier she says is the way the current child welfare system in Ontario is built we have to stop trying to recreate it we have to lose it and create something that empowers

Communities a landmark decision by the Canadian Human Rights tribunal confirmed what indigenous communities across the country have been saying for years that they were discriminated against by chronically underfunding child welfare services on reserve creating an incentive to put children into care as a result the Federal Court of Canada

Approved the largest class action settlement in Canadian history last fall $23 billion for those children and families across Canada Cindy Blackstock led the human rights complaint this in some ways is a sad day because when you pay compensation it means that a child has lost her childhood and that could have been

Prevented the federal government has also pledged another 20 billion to reform child welfare services on reserve across the country over the next 5 years among the most urgent needs in grassie housing there are many houses where there’s like 10 people in one tiny two-bedroom house in a striking symbol

Of just how dire it is even the child Advocates office is a condemned trailer we needed an office so that’s kind of where they stuck us when a child in grassy requires a new home relatives and foster parents simply may not have the space I would really like to bring a

Family home they have uh six children how many of those kids are in the child welfare system um all of them and the barrier is housing Housing that’s our goal is to try to keep our kids in the community Chief Rudy Turtle says 50 homes are needed and has asked the federal government for help and while the funding hasn’t come through yet a foundation for optimism is being built on the west side of the reserve so

This is going to be a game changer in this community it definitely it’s going to be a game changer yeah five houses all fourplexes for kids in care or those leaving the system funded by the feds so this gives a place for kids to live who’ve been in the child welfare system

Yeah and then is the next concerned Staffing uh we’re hoping it’s going to be grassy people so giving jobs to people who live and work in grassy yes Mhm I’m hoping that as we we move on further in our program more communities will start saying you know we want our children back we want them home because home is more than a starting place in grassy it is a place of Return

A sweeping, year-long investigation by Global News has uncovered startling allegations that for-profit companies which operate group homes in Ontario’s child welfare system may be targeting Indigenous kids to make more money.

And as our chief investigative correspondent, Carolyn Jarvis reports — the impact on Indigenous kids — moved hundreds of kilometres from home — can be traumatic and lasting.

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